The Protestant Reformation brought about an expansion of viewpoints, roles, and possibilities for many Western European women. On the whole, Protestantism was a relatively female-positive religion when compared to Catholicism, which at the time had been teaching its followers for centuries that women, as a whole, were morally susceptible and best kept submissive. Not only did Protestantism criticize this stance but it took things several steps further by actually supporting its words through a range of actions. Many Protestant leaders, from John Calvin to Martin Luther, publically praised women, declaring them essential to the health of every family unit and every religious community. Because Protestant teachings exalted marriage and family life as sacred, women were therefore seen as the indispensable, morally-strong force who held the family together. In order to make sure that women were able to carry out this role, Protestants advocated for women to be educated, especially in theology. They also supported divorce, both religiously and legally – a radically unique stance for the era; however, in spite of all these desperately-needed improvements, the Protestant view of women had quite definite limits. From their perspective, a woman’s proper place was in the home and so Protestant leaders actively discouraged women from seeking any sort of leadership position within religious life itself. Women were permitted to assume a less submissive role at home, provided of course that they followed where their husbands, as proper Protestant men, first led them.

The domestic system was aimed primarily at women. The idea was that women could help make money for the household while working at home. At this time the idea of women working in public positions was less widely accepted. This made it so women could work in the same industries as men. It also allowed businesses to cut down costs because they did not need to have space for these women to work in these textile operations.

All three women were pivotal in the fight for equal voting rights in the USA and Great Britain. Emmeline Pankhurst and the British Suffragettes received the vote decades before American women. The British movement also employed violent tactics, while the American movement remained more peaceful.

Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of Rights of Woman in 1792 at the height of the Enlightenment period. In this text, she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, as was generally thought by people at the time, but rather appear that way because they are poorly educated and taught to be subservient.

The Taiping Rebellion is the name given to a massive Civil War that was waged in China from 1850 to 1864. The Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping was led by a man who believed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ. He, along with his followers, wanted to replace the religions and traditions of China with Christianity. The rebels were also inspired by equal rights for women, shared property, and an overthrow of existing moral and legal traditions. The rebellion was eventually crushed by the Qing government of China with the help of the French and the British.

The Feminist movement in the Western world began to pick up steam toward the end of the Enlightenment era, highlighted by Mary Wollstonecraft’s 1792 essay titled A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In the nineteenth century, the movement progressed slowly but steadily and was almost exclusively dominated by upper class elites (highlighted by the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention). It was almost constantly opposed by the federal governments of the United States and Britain, which of course were dominated exclusively by men. In the twentieth century, the expansion of the role of women during World War One greatly encouraged the movement towards female equality—a movement that is still ongoing.

After the French Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria on April 20th, 1792, many Frenchwomen immediately began to campaign to be allowed to serve in the military. These women were led by the French social activist Pauline Léon, who personally authored a petition to the Legislative Assembly, seeking official permission to serve as soldiers fighting in defense of the Revolution. A stirring and fiery writer, Léon urged her fellow women to prove their worth by becoming soldiers or members of the National Guard. Léon was not alone in her desire; many Frenchwomen joined her campaign, writing passionate entreaties to the Assembly. But in spite of their requests, in 1793 the Assembly passed an official ban on women’s military service (most men disapproved of, or were outright skeptical, of women’s martial abilities). However, several women managed to infiltrate the ranks and fight in their country’s defense in defiance of the prohibition.

Many French women strenuously objected to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen’s and the new Constitution’s prohibitions against female political participation. Some of the most vehement criticisms of the new political structure were leveled by Olympe de Gouges, a celebrated playwright and proponent of the Revolution. De Gouges used her prodigious literary skills to her advantage by composing the Declaration of the Rights of Woman. A direct response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man, her version did far more than simply insert women into the written political equation; her treatise explicitly defined women as citizens of the nation, with political interests, ambitions, and passions of their own. She urged that women be allowed to hold political office, vote in elections, own property, and receive greater access to education.

The rise of modernization after WWI led to a spread of Western values that were adopted by President Ataturk of Turkey and the Shah of Iran, both of whom sought to bring progress to their nations. They made laws promoting equal rights, and allowed women to dress in modern, Western clothing as opposed to the traditional rules of Islam. 

Rosie the Riveter was an American propaganda figure and symbol of the contribution of women to the war effort during World War Two. She is a cultural icon meant to stand for the millions of women who worked in munitions factories and worked other jobs traditionally held by men.