Women's Rights In The 19th Century Essay

Fortunately, with the coming of England’s period of reformation during the 19th century, the strict shackles on typical gender stereotypes stemming from the Victorian era gradually became undone. The suffrage movement in the 1870s seeking for equal rights to vote represented the first wave of feminism in the UK. This movement resulted in the enactment of the Representation of the People Act 1918, and gave suffrage to women over 30 for the first time. Subsequent developments in the law then extended equal voting rights to both genders in the Representation of the People Act 1928 once they turn 21, considering the fact that women constituted the majority of the electorate. Other important social legislation of this period included the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act (1919), which gave women the right to join the legal profession and the civil
In doing so, the UK demonstrated a willingness to make a commitment to adopt measures that would promote gender equality and women’s rights in certain areas such as education, employment, and family relations. However, the UK has only ratified the Optional Protocol that allows women to make a complaint directly to the UN if their rights have been violated, and maintains a pile of “reservations” to the Convention that do not conform to the object and principles of the Convention. Aside from not acknowledging the Convention in domestic legislations and policies, this lackadaisical attitude shows a lack of commitment to the substantive equality for women, and is no doubt, disappointing to say the least. As a result, this has attracted censure from the CEDAW Committee for its poor record in complying with several articles in the Convention, and for failing to meet certain important issues raised by the Committee in the 2008