Ancient Egypt can be seen as a cradle for gender equality as ancient Eqyptian women were legally equal to their male counterparts for over 1000 years. Furthermore this equality was not dictated by their marital status. Women in Ancient Egypt could work, own property, go to court, serve on a jury and much more within their private lives such as choose their partner freely, have detailed prenuptial agreements as a means of financial protection in marriage as well as divorce for any reason they pleased. This was possible because marriage in Ancient Egypt was not linked to religion but it was more so a social construct. Despite the equality many 19th century western civilizations would have envied women in Ancient Egypt were not allowed to study medicine until the arrival of Agnocide after which female doctors became highly regarded. Despite the legal and professional equality afforded to women, the upper classes of Ancient Egypt remained predominantly male.
Moving to Ancient Rome, in the 3rd century BC, the first feminist act of rebellion was displayed when a group of women barricaded the forum to attempt to force consul Marcus Porcius Cato to repeal laws that placed limitations on women using expensive goods. This was however an isolated event. Over in Ancient Greece, Plato argued for the political and sexual equality of women.
Andal, the only female Alvar among the 12 Alvar saints of South India, which are known for their connections to the Sri Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism divinely married Vishnu which was seen by many as a feminist act and Andal inspired womens groups such as Goda Mandoli.
The renaissance saw the emergence of the feminist intellectua. Defences of women are well documented in a variety of renaissance literature. By feminising society, women were able to utilise literature as a way to create interdependence and systems away from a hierarchical structure for women and men alike. During the enlightenment period many philosophers defended the rights of women. Mary Wollstone was the first feminist philospher and she argued that both genders were to blame and contributed to gender inequality.
The introduction of the Victorian ideal during the 19th century contributed to the widening of gender inequality. The Victorian ideal created the dichotomy of the separate spheres where men dominated the public sphere and women were confined to the domestic sphere. The Cult of Domesticity can best be encapsulated by Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. Additionally Queen Victoria was rather opposed to women's rights and equality. 19th century feminist fiction prevailed in the works of Austen, the Bronte Stisters, Gaskell, Eliot and Alcot.
Monumental change had developed in a woman's legal status during the 19th century that paved the way for the first wave of feminism. Legally a woman had no custodial infant rights however this changed in 1839 where The Custody of Infants Act gave a mother legal custody of a child under 7. This arrangement needed to be agreed by the Lord Chancellor and the character of the mother was always put under speculation. Following on from this, the 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act also known as the Divorce Law, required the husband to prove his wife's adultery if he desired a divorce. Divorces were rare in the 19th century for plenty of reasons however divorce was extremely expensive and highly frowned upon within society. If a woman had been found guilty of adultery, she had to forfeit custody of any children. Clearly, there were prejudices in the 19th century legal system but many women viewed the divorce law as a big step in the right direction to gaining more rights in all aspects of life. Nonetheless, there is no evidence to support that these acts were implemented in society due to the fact that women were still seen as property of their husbands. Subsequently, in 1882 the Married Women's Property Act was introduced. This allowed women to protect their earnings, property and inheritance. Prior to this it was all in the possession of the male but this act saw a slight shift in control.
With concerns for education, the Education Act of 1870 introduced a framework that gave free national education to all children between 5 and 12. In the late 1870 women were allowed to sit examinations. Due to prejudices from all aspects of society, it wasn’t until 1920 that women were allowed to obtain certificates for their degree or officially enroll with Annie Mary Anne Henley Rogers being the first woman to graduate Oxford with a degree equal to that achieved by men in 1920. Previously, in the Victorian era, working class girls were taught at the home of a Dame whereas upper class girls were taught by a live in governess. Additionally the Bluestocking Society provided education from highly educated women and also participated frequently in intellectual discussions which deferred from the normal, unintellectual activities women were often expected to participate in.
When discussing these developments of women's rights and feminism it is crucial to acknowledge that it was mainly white women who largely benefited from the legislative and social changes that transpired during the age of the suffragettes. Emmaline Pankhurst's infamous phrase ‘I’d rather be a rebel than a slave” suggests that black people had a choice in their enslavement. Nevertheless, British Suffragettes did not campaign for just the enfranchisement of white women such as Australia and or the United States which presented and still do present with more prominent racial hatred whereas Britain's racism is and was at that time more subdued in comparison. When the Representation of the People Act was passed in 1918 it did include all commonwealth subjects thus by default including women of other races. There was one person of Indian and German-Ethiopian ethnicity who was a prominent British suffragette in her own right. Sophia Duleep Singh, the daughter of the Maharaja Duleep Singh, was the goddaughter of Queen Victoria. Thus the argument could be made that she was given special consideration due to her high social standing. Sophia took part in ‘Black Friday’ alongside 300 other women who wished to protest against the Government's refusal to take the Conciliation Bill further. The women were met with brutal force in November 1910 and to suffragette deaths have been attributed to the events that transpired. Sophia was also a well-known member of the Women’s Tax Resistance League, refusing to pay her taxes as a sign of protest until all women were awarded the vote.
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