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	Civil rights
	Feminism
	Women's rights
	Women, History
	Women, Suffrage
	Women's rights, Timeline
	Civil rights, Timeline

LEADING ISSUES TIMELINES
2009

Compiled by ProQuest staff. Copyright © 2009 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved.

Women's Rights Timeline

Abigail Adams

Background

     In colonial America, women had very few rights, with married women having even fewer rights than single women. Once married, a woman was generally required to give her husband control of her property. Most women were not allowed to keep their own wages, have custody of their children, or vote. One exception of note occurred in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, in 1756, when Lydia Chapin Taft voted as her deceased husband's proxy in a town hall meeting. She voted two more times, in 1758 and in 1765. Abigail Adams, whose husband John would become the second president of the United States, was an early advocate of women's rights. In a letter from March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams implored her husband, who was attending the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to "Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands."

1776

     July: The State Constitution of New Jersey allows women the right to vote by granting all property-owning inhabitants the right to vote. However, the state revokes this right in 1807.

1789

     The U.S. Constitution is ratified. This original Constitution uses neutral language. It addresses "people," rather than "men." For example, its preamble states, "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

1792

     Mary Wollstoncraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women is published in England. This book helps to inspire the women's rights movement in America.

1821

     Emma Hart Willard founds the Troy Female Seminary in Troy, New York. Students at this private secondary school for girls are taught academic subjects usually reserved for boys and men. Subjects offered include algebra, anatomy, natural philosophy and geography. In 1895, the school's name is changed to Emma Willard School.

1830s

     Two sisters from South Carolina, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, campaign against slavery and for women's rights. In 1838, Sarah writes her Letters on the Equality of the Sexes in which she contends that the rights of African Americans and women are linked. Also during that year, Angelina becomes the first woman to speak to a legislative body when she addresses the Massachusetts State Legislature on abolition and women's rights.

1833

     • Oberlin Collegiate Institute, today called Oberlin College, is established. Located in Oberlin, Ohio, the Oberlin Collegiate Institute is the first coeducational college in the United States. In 1841, four women earn the Bachelor of Arts Degree at Oberlin. One year later, Sarah J. Watson Barnett becomes the first African American woman to enroll in Oberlin. In 1862, Mary Jane Patterson graduates from Oberlin, becoming America's first African-American woman to receive a college degree.

     • William Lloyd Garrison, editor of the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator, Lucretia Mott, and others form the American Anti-Slavery Society. Women soon begin forming separate female anti-slavery branches.

1839

     • Mississippi passes a Married Women's Property Act. Other states begin enacting women's property laws. In 1848, New York enacts a married women's property law that provides for a married woman to be the sole owner of the property she brings into a marriage. This law also protects the wife from her husband's creditors. In 1860, New York's law becomes even more comprehensive and includes rights such as allowing married women to keep their earnings.

     Jan. 7: Georgia Female College, now called Wesleyan College, opens its doors, becoming the first degree-granting women's college.

1840

     Abolitionist and Quaker Lucretia Mott meets Elizabeth Cady Stanton at the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England. The female delegates to the Convention are denied a place on the floor and instead made to sit in a partitioned area. This unfair treatment of women at the Convention spurs Mott and Stanton to join together to fight for women's rights and organize the first women's rights convention in 1848. (see entry for 1848)

1845

     The Lowell Female Labor Reform Association (LFLRA) of Lowell, Massachusetts, sends their president, Sarah G. Bagley, before the Massachusetts Legislature to demand a 10-hour workday for women working in the mills. At that time, it was common for women in the mills to work 13 hours a day under unhealthy conditions.

1848

     • American abolitionists and feminists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organize the first women's rights convention in America at Seneca Falls, New York.

     • Astronomer Maria Mitchell becomes the first woman elected to the Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Mitchell crater on the moon is named after her.

1849

Editorial Cartoon: Bloomerism Scandal circa 1855: A woman asks her boyfriend to marry her in a cartoon depicting how masculine women have become by wearing bloomers. Original Artwork: Cartoon by Leech (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

     • Lucretia Mott publishes her Discourse on Woman.

     • Harriet Tubman escapes to Pennsylvania from a life of slavery in Maryland. Tubman then slips back into the South on many occasions to lead more than 300 slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

     • Elizabeth Blackwell graduates from New York's Geneva Medical College, becoming the first woman in the United States to earn a doctor of medicine (M.D.) degree. In 1854, she opens the New York Infirmary for Women and Children with her sister Dr. Emily Blackwell and Dr. Marie Zakrzewska. Elizabeth Blackwell is also the sister-in-law of both Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first woman minister in America, and famous women's rights activist Lucy Stone.

1851

     • Elizabeth Smith Miller appears in public in her shocking new short dress with pants. Miller considers her dress to be more healthful than the conventional dresses of her day. The dress becomes known as the Bloomer, after social reformer and women's rights advocate Amelia Jenkins Bloomer also begins wearing this new style of dress and publicizes it in her temperance journal the Lily.

     May 29: Former slave and legendary speaker Sojourner Truth addresses a convention of white suffragettes at the Woman's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.

1853

     Sept. 15: Antoinette Brown (later Blackwell) is ordained as a minister of the Congregational Church of South Butler in New York, making her the first ordained woman minister in America. She is the sister-in-law of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive an M.D. degree in America.

1855

     • In Missouri v. Celia, the Circuit Court of Calloway County in Missouri orders a black female slave named Celia to be hanged for the murder of her master. The Circuit Court defines her as property and without the right to defend herself against her master's act of rape. The Missouri Supreme Court agrees with the Circuit Court, and she is hanged on December 21.

     • The University of Iowa becomes the first public university in America to admit women on an equal basis with men.

     May: Abolitionists and women's rights advocates Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell marry. As part of their wedding ceremony, a protest is read concerning the unequal treatment of women in marriage. Henry B. Blackwell is the brother of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman doctor in America and the brother-in-law of Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first ordained woman minister in America.

1866

Sojourner Truth and Abraham Lincoln 1862: Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865) reads the Bible with former slave and abolitionist Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), originally Isabella Van Wagener, in a print presented to the President by the black community of Baltimore to commemorate the Emancipation Proclamation. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

     • Dr. Mary Edwards Walker of the Civil War Union Army becomes the first--and only--woman to receive the Medal of Honor for wartime service. In 1917, the Army asks her to return the medal, but President Jimmy Carter restores it to her posthumously in 1977.

     • The American Equal Rights Association is founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to advocate civil rights for all Americans.

1868

     The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified. This Amendment defines "citizens" and "voters" as male.

1869

     • The women's rights movement splits into two separate organizations: the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) and the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). This split is the result of disagreements over the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) and soon-to-be ratified Fifteenth Amendment (1870), which grants African-American men the right to vote. The AWSA is led by Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell and Julia Ward Howe. The NWSA is led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. In 1890, the two groups merge. (see first entry for 1890)

     • Wyoming becomes the first territory in America to grant women the right to vote. In 1890, Wyoming is admitted to the Union, becoming the first state to grant women full enfranchisement.

1870

     • The Fifteenth Amendment is ratified. As its wording does not explicitly deny women the right to vote because it guarantees the right to vote to all "citizens", several suffragists, including Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth, attempt to exercise voting rights in the elections of 1872.

     • Wyoming allows women to serve as grand jurors.

1872

American Feminist Reformer Victoria Woodhull Portrait of American feminist reformer Victoria Claflin Woodhull (1838 - 1927), the first woman to run for US president from a nationally recognized ticket as the candidate of the Equal Rights Party in 1872. Claflin Woodhull, along with her sister, Tennessee Claflin, was also one of the first female stock brokers on Wall Street as the cofounder of the brokerage firm Woodhull, Claflin & Company in 1870. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

     • Stockbroker Victoria Woodhull runs for U.S. President.

     • During their national convention, the Republican Party mentions women in their platform. This political party recognizes women's contributions "to the cause of freedom" and states that "the honest demand of any class of citizens for additional rights should be treated with respectful consideration."

1873

     • In Bradwell v. Illinois, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that Myra Bradwell has no right to be admitted to the Illinois state bar. Bradwell had been denied admission to the bar because she was a married woman. Justice Joseph P. Bradley argues that "[t]he paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother."

     • The U.S. Congress passes the Comstock Act which prohibits the sending of "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail, including contraceptive devices and information. It is not until 1971 that Congress repeals most of the provisions of Comstock.

1874

     The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is founded. The WCTU, still in existence today, becomes a major force in fighting for woman's suffrage.

1875

     • In Minor v. Happersett, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that the privileges and immunities clause and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment do not extend the vote to women.

1878

     A Woman Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is introduced to the U.S. Congress, but the Amendment does not pass both houses until 1919.

1879

     Attorney Belva Lockwood secures the passage of a bill that allows women lawyers to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, and in 1906, she becomes the first woman to argue before the Court. She also runs as a presidential candidate for the National Equal Rights party in 1884 and 1888.

1881

     The Knights of Labor, a national labor federation in the United States, admits women members.

1888

     The International Council of Women is established. Issues supported by the Council include the opening of all institutions of learning to women, equal wages for equal work, and industrial training for men and women.

1890

Editorial Cartoon: 'An Inauguration of the Future' 1897: A political cartoon titled 'An Inauguration of the Future' shows the effects of the women's suffrage movement, which include a female president, female soldiers and military commanders, and a man carrying a crying baby. (Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images)

     • The two American women's suffrage organizations, the NWSA and the AWSA, merge to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). (see first entry for 1869)

     • Jane Addams and Ellen Starr establish a settlement house project in Chicago, Illinois, known as the Hull House. Later, Addams becomes a leader of the woman's peace movement.

1893

     Hannah Greenebaum Solomon founds the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW).

1895

     Elizabeth Cady Stanton publishes The Woman's Bible.

1896

     The National Association of Colored Women is established. Mary Church Terrell is elected its first president. Members include Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Harriet Tubman.

Early 1900s

     Madam C.J. Walker, the daughter of sharecroppers, begins selling hair care products for African-American women. In 1910, she opens her first factory. Madam Walker is believed to be the first self-made female millionaire in America.

1900

     The General Federation of Women's Clubs rejects the membership application of African American Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin. Rebecca Lowe, president of the Federation, says that Mrs. Ruffin belongs "among her own people."

1902

     President of NAWSA Carrie Chapman Catt holds the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Legal Citizenship. Representatives from nine countries attend this suffrage conference. This event leads to the founding of the International Women's Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) two years later to fight for suffrage worldwide. In 1926, IWSA becomes the International Women's Alliance (IWA). In 1946, the IWA becomes the International Alliance of Women (IAW). The motto of IAW is "Equal Rights - Equal Responsibilities."

1903

     The National Women's Trade Union League of America is established in Boston, Massachusetts. Early members include social reformers such as Mary McDowell, Jane Addams, and Margaret Dreir Robins. The aims of the League are to secure better working conditions for women and to organize working women into trade unions. The League's first platform, adopted on November 17, includes equal pay for equal work, an eight-hour workday, and full citizenship for women. It disbands in 1950.

1908

     In Muller v. Oregon, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Oregon's 10-hour workday for women.

1911

Men at NAOWS Headquarters in New York 1910s: Men read literature posted in the window of the headquarters of the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS) in New York, New York. The NAOWS was founded by Josephine Dodge in 1911 with the belief that woman suffrage would decrease women's work in communities and their ability to effect societal reforms. (Photo by FPG/Getty Images)

     The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS) is organized. Mrs. Arthur Dodge, a wealthy New York society woman, is elected as its president.

1912

     Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party pledges equal suffrage for men and women.

1913

     March 3: NAWSA officials tell African-American reformer Ida Wells Barnett not to march with the Illinois delegation in a suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. As it is feared that her presence will offend Southern white women, she is told to march at the back of the parade with the rest of the colored women. Two white women, Virginia Brooks and Belle Squire, defend her. Ida Wells Barnett disappears, but is later seen leaving the crowds to join the marchers of the Illinois delegation. She is flanked by the two women who had earlier defended her.

     April: Alice Paul, Lucy Burns and others organize the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, which becomes known as the National Woman's Party in 1916. The group's goal is ratification of a suffrage amendment to the United States Constitution. The women use militant techniques learned from the suffragettes in Great Britain. They engage in acts of civil disobedience such as hunger strikes and picketing the White House. Many of the picketers are arrested and imprisoned, and those who hunger strike are forcibly fed.

1915

     Jane Addams and others form the Women's Peace Party (WPP). In 1919, WPP becomes known as the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Addams goes on to become the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 for her work in international peace.

1916

     • Margaret Sanger, her sister Ethel Byrne and Fania Mindell open the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York, to provide contraceptive advice to primarily poor and immigrant women. They are jailed and the clinic is closed within days.

     Nov. 6: Pacifist Jeanette Rankin becomes the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She takes the oath of office on April 2, 1917. Rankin is the only member of Congress to vote against U.S. entry into both world wars.

1920

Anti-Suffrage Mob Members of anti-suffrage mob tear a suffragette banner to bits during protests outside the White House. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

     • The League of Women Voters is established by Carrie Chapman Catt and others to help women carry out their new responsibilities as voters.

     Aug. 26: The Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, granting women the right to vote.

1922

     Oct. 3: Rebecca Felton (D), an eighty-seven-year-old, becomes the first woman senator, but only for one day. She is appointed to the Senate by Governor Thomas Hardwick to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Thomas E. Watson. Her appointment comes after Congress had already adjourned for the fall elections. When the new session begins, Senator-elect Walter George, who was to replace her, agrees to claim his seat a day late, so she had an opportunity to serve for a day.

1923

     • The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is introduced by Alice Paul. This amendment states, "Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction." (see entry for March 22, 1972)

     April 9: In Adkins v. Children's Hospital, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that the minimum wage for women in the District of Columbia infringes on the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the implied constitutional principle of liberty of contract.

1924

     Nellie Taylor Ross of Wyoming becomes the first woman elected governor of a state. She is formally inaugurated as governor on January 5, 1925.

1925

     Grace Coolidge, wife of President Calvin Coolidge, opens the Women's World Fair in Chicago, Illinois, to show what women have accomplished up to this time.

1928

     Genevieve Cline becomes the first female federal judge after being appointed to the U.S. Customs Court by President Calvin Coolidge.

1932

     • Hattie Wyatt Caraway of Arkansas becomes the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. On October 19, 1943, she becomes the first woman to preside over the Senate.

     • The National Recovery Act forbids more than one family member from holding a federal job. Many women lose their jobs as a result.

1933

     Frances Perkins becomes the first woman in a presidential Cabinet when she is named Secretary of Labor.

1935

     Dec.: Mary McLeod Bethune organizes the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). The NCNW is a coalition of black women's groups that take action against the racism and sexism faced by African-American women.

1937

'Wendy the Welder' Oct. 1943: With the flame from her torch ignited, a female welder adjusts her goggles at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, Connecticut. Later known as General Dynamics Electric Boat, the company produced more than 70 submarines and almost 400 PT boats during World War II. (Photo by Bernard Hoffman/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

     In West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds Washington State's minimum wage laws for women and minors.

1938

     The Fair Labor Standards Act establishes national maximum hour and minimum wage standards in America without regard to gender and enacts limitations on child labor.

1940s

     As men go overseas to fight in World War II, millions of American women enter the workforce. The U.S. government creates a poster of a factory worker called Rosie the Riveter to entice women into civilian and defense jobs. Rosie quickly becomes a new icon of femininity that challenges women's traditional roles.

1942

     The Planned Parenthood Federation of America is established. Planned Parenthood, along with its predecessor organizations, is one of the leading advocates for the accessibility of birth control, as well as reproductive services such as abortion, to all women.

1947

     June 23: In Fay v. New York, the U.S. Supreme Court affirms a state's use of a "blue ribbon" jury in which women are granted a special exemption from service.

1948

     Dec. 10: The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Eleanor Roosevelt is a key figure in drafting this declaration, which provides that all people are entitled to basic human rights.

1949

     Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex is published. This work on the treatment of women throughout history influences modern feminism.

1950s

Housewife in Apron UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1950s: Housewife in apron holding a can of fruit. (Photo by George Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images)

     During the postwar era, America experiences a domestic decade in which women are expected to fill traditional roles as housewives and mothers.

1953

     Pilot Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.

1960

     Searle pharmaceutical company receives FDA approval to sell Enovid, the first birth control pill. Enovid is effective but has severe side effects such as life-threatening blood clots due to a high dosage. This method of contraception uses hormones to prevent pregnancy. The birth control pill fuels the sexual revolution of the 1960s, giving women greater control over their fertility, and quickly becomes the most popular form of contraception.

1961

     • President John F. Kennedy establishes the President's Commission on the Status of Women.

     Nov. 20: In Hoyt v. Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a Florida statute that exempts a woman from jury duty unless she volunteers for it. The Court maintains that the "woman is still regarded as the center of home and family life."

1963

Women's Rights Demonstrator "The women's rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s prompted no small backlash from indignant men opposed to so-called 'women's libbers.' Here, one such man carries on a vigorous debate with a sign-wearing New York City feminist near Herald Square." (Archive Photos)

     • Congress passes the Equal Pay Act to ban the practice of paying women less than men for doing the same work.

     • Feminist Betty Friedan publishes The Feminine Mystique. In her book, Friedan attacks the theory that women's fulfillment is to be found only in motherhood and family.

     • The President's Commission on the Status of Women reveals discrimination against women based on myths.

1964

     • Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964, codifying the right to equal opportunity in employment and the right to nondiscrimination in public accommodations. It seeks to end legal discrimination with respect to race, color, national origin, religion, and sex.

     • Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine runs for president and becomes the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for the presidency at a major party's convention.

1965

     June 7: The Supreme Court, in Griswold v. Connecticut, legalizes birth control for married couples.

     Sept. 24: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs E.O. 11246: Equal Employment Opportunity. E.O. 11246 states that "the contractor will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." In 1967, it is amended to include women in the protected categories.

1966

     Oct.: The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded, and Betty Friedan becomes its first president. This group is a potent force in the women's liberation movement of the time.

1968

     • Democrat Shirley Chisholm of New York becomes the first black woman elected to Congress.

     April: Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, to ban discrimination in the rental, financing and sale of housing. In 1974, Congress amends the Act to prohibit discrimination based on sex.

1970

     Marie Cox founds the North American Indian Women's Association.

1971

     • President Richard M. Nixon includes women in his Philadelphia Plan, after having extended the Plan in the previous year to include nearly all federal contractors. This Plan had been first issued in 1969 to require contractors working on large federally funded construction projects to establish affirmative action goals and timetables.

     Jan. 25: The U.S. Supreme Court holds in Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corporation that private employers cannot refuse to hire women who have preschool-age children if they are hiring men with preschool-age children.

     Sept.: The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) releases a report that shows a continued bias in the workplace against women and African Americans. Only 1.7% of African-American workers and 2.7% of all women workers hold managerial or policymaking jobs.

     Nov.: In Reed v. Reed, the Supreme Court strikes down an Idaho law requiring that men be given preference over women as administrators of an estate.

     Dec.: Ms. Magazine appears for the first time as an insert in New York Magazine. Feminist author and political activist Gloria Steinem is its co-founder.

1972

Rosalynn Carter and Betty Ford at a Rally for ERA Rosalynn Carter and Betty Ford attend a rally for the Equal Rights Amendment. Supporters of the ERA organized marches, rallies and demonstrations to mobilize states to ratify the amendment. Thirty-eight states needed to ratify the amendment in order for it to become part of the Constitution. A total of thirty-five states ratified it.

     • Title IX Education Amendment of 1972 is enacted to prohibit sex discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funds.

     March 22: The U.S. Congress passes the ERA to guarantee sex equality. Anti-ERA activists, such as Phyllis Schlafly, voice their opposition to the Amendment, which fails to win ratification by the states. On July 14, 1982, the Equal Rights Amendment is reintroduced in Congress, and since that time, it continues to be reintroduced before every session of Congress.

     • The Supreme Court, in Eisenstadt v. Baird, legalizes the sale of contraceptives to unmarried people.

     June 3: Sally J. Priesand becomes the first ordained woman rabbi in America.

1973

     • American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) agrees to pay cash payments totaling between $12 million and $15 million to women and minority employees of the company who were victims of discriminatory hiring and promotion practices.

     • Female tennis player Billy Jean King defeats male tennis star Bobby Riggs in front of millions of television viewers. Her win changes the way people view women athletes because, up until this moment, women athletes were thought to be inferior to men in sports.

     Jan. 22: The Supreme Court rules 7-2 in Roe v. Wade that a woman's right to an abortion falls within the right to privacy (as recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut) protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision grants women autonomy during the first trimester and designates levels of state interest for the second and third trimesters. As a result of the ruling, laws in 46 states are affected. In Doe v. Bolton, the Supreme Court strikes down restrictions on facilities thereby allowing the creation of abortion clinics.

     June 21: In Pittsburgh Press v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations, the U.S. Supreme Court prohibits sex-segregated "help wanted" advertising.

1974

     • The Women's Educational Equity Act is enacted to provide federal funds for implementation of gender-equity in educational policies, programs, activities, and initiatives.

     • The National Women's Football League is founded.

     Jan. 21: In Cleveland Board of Education v. La Fleur the U.S. Supreme Court holds that forcing a pregnant woman to take maternity leave violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

     Oct.: The Equal Credit Opportunity Act is enacted to prohibit discrimination in access to consumer credit based on marital status or gender. It is later amended to include other protected classes.

1975

     Jan. 21: The U.S. Supreme Court holds in Taylor v. Louisiana that Louisiana's jury selection system that excludes women from petit juries unless they have filed a written declaration of their desire to serve on a jury violates the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

     March 8: The United Nations begins celebrating International Women's Day and the Decade for Women.

1976

     July 12: Barbara Jordan addresses the Democratic National Convention, becoming the first African-American woman to give a keynote speech.

     Dec. 7: In General Electric Company v. Gilbert, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that a disability benefits plan that fails to cover pregnancy-related disabilities does not violate the Civil Rights Act.

     Dec. 20: The U.S. Supreme Court in Craig v. Boren declares unconstitutional an Oklahoma statute permitting 18- to 20-year-old females to purchase beer while prohibiting men in the same age range to do so. This landmark case establishes new standards for reviewing laws that treat women and men differently.

1977

     • The Public Works Employment Act of 1977 requires that a state or local government set aside 10% of the federal money it receives to obtain services or supplies from minority or women contractors.

     Nov. 4: Surviving Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) who served as pilots in World War II win the right to receive veteran's benefits.

1978

     • The Pregnancy Discrimination Act is passed to prohibit employment discrimination based on pregnancy.

     July 9: Thousands march in Washington, D.C., in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.

1979

     May 18: President Jimmy Carter issues E.O. 12138 to establish a National Women's Business Enterprise Policy. E.O. 12138 requires federal departments and agencies to take affirmative action to support women's business enterprises.

1981

Conservatives Protest Sandra Day O'Connor "Evidently concerned that Republican Supreme Court nominee Sandra Day O'Connor would not prove to be sufficiently conservative, protesters gathered in September of 1981 to oppose her historic nomination (she was quickly confirmed to become the first woman to serve on the nation's highest bench); here, these marchers hold signs expressing their opposition to abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment and no-fault divorce." (Archive Photos)

     Feb. 28: President Jimmy Carter signs a proclamation for the first National Women's History Week.

     March 23: In Kirchberg v. Feenstra, the U.S. Supreme Court affirms the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit by holding that Louisiana's law allowing a husband the right to dispose of jointly-owned community property without his wife's consent violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

     June 25: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Rostker v. Goldberg that it is constitutional to exclude women from the draft.

     Sept.: Sandra Day O'Connor becomes the first female Supreme Court Justice.

1983

     Astronaut Dr. Sally Ride flies aboard the space shuttle Challenger, becoming the first American female astronaut to reach outer space.

1984

     • Mississippi ratifies the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This Amendment had taken effect in 1920, but was never formally ratified by Mississippi until now.

     • Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first woman to be a major party candidate for vice president when Democratic nominee Walter Mondale selects her to be his running mate.

     May 22: In Hishon v. King and Spaulding, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Elizabeth Hishon, a woman lawyer who charged the law firm King and Spaulding with sex discrimination, is entitled to a day in court to prove her allegations.

     July 3: In Roberts v. U.S. Jaycees, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that the U.S. Jaycees, a civic organization, must allow women the right to become full members because the club's "local chapters lack the distinctive characteristics that might afford constitutional protection to their members' decision to exclude women." According to the Court, making women full members would not abridge the male members' freedom of expressive association. This ruling gives women access to many previously all-male organizations.

1985

     • EMILY's List, which stands for Early Money Is Like Yeast, is established as a financial network to elect pro-choice Democratic women running for national political office.

     • A group of feminist artists known as the Guerrilla Girls band together to promote women in the arts.

1986

     In Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, the United States Supreme Court addresses sexual harassment. The Court rules that sexual harassment is sex discrimination and therefore illegal according to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

1987

     March: U.S. Congress expands the Women's History Week celebration to an entire month.

     March 24: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Johnson v. Transportation Agency that it is not unreasonable to use gender as one factor among many in choosing among qualified candidates.

1988

     March: The Civil Rights Restoration Act mandates that an entire organization comply with anti-discrimination requirements, not just the specific programs within larger organizations that directly receive federal dollars. This Act corrects the Supreme Court decision, Grove City College v. Bell (1984), which limited the government's ability to withhold federal funds from organizations that discriminated on the basis of race or sex.

1989

     July 3: The Supreme Court ruling in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services upholds a Missouri law to restrict funds, personnel and facilities in abortions and require doctors to test any fetus at least 20 weeks for survival outside the womb.

     Nov. 12: Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators participate in abortion rights events across the nation.

1990-1991

     More than 40,000 U.S. servicewomen are deployed during the Gulf War, making this the largest deployment of women in uniform to date. Media coverage of the war shows Americans the capabilities of these servicewomen and helps lead to the decisions by Congress to allow women to serve on in attack aircraft (1991) and on surface ships (1993).

1991

     • AT&T settles a pregnancy-bias case in which they agree to pay $66 million to 13,000 phone workers who were denied company benefits when they became pregnant.

     Sept.: Dozens of women are sexually assaulted by naval officers at a convention of the Tailhook Association, a private club of Navy and Marine aviators.

     • Anita Faye Hill testifies under oath at then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas' Senate confirmation hearings that he sexually harassed her. Thomas is still confirmed and appointed to the Court.

     • The Civil Rights Act of 1991 is passed. This act places the burden on the employers to show they did not discriminate. This act was created "to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to strengthen and improve Federal civil rights laws, to provide for damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination, to clarify provisions regarding disparate impact actions, and for other purposes."

1992

     June 29: In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court votes 5-4 to reaffirm Roe v. Wade in Pennsylvania. The Court upholds the 24-hour waiting period and parental consent and rejects spousal consent. The justices impose the "undue burden" standard for abortion that requires state regulations to not present any "substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before the fetus attains viability."

1993

     In Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court rules that a victim of sexual harassment does not need to prove serious psychological or physical injury in order for such harassment "[t]o be actionable as 'abusive work environment' harassment."

1995

Mitsubishi Motors Manufacturing of America Protest Chicago, IL - April 22, 1996: Mitsubishi Motors Manufacturing of America (MMMA) employee Eldon Berg leads coworkers in a protest against the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for filing a lawsuit on behalf of a class of female MMMA employees. Twenty-nine women have filed suit against the company claiming sexual harassment in their Normal, Ill., plant. (Photo credit: BRIAN BAHR/AFP/Getty Images)

     March: The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission releases a report on barriers that deny women and minorities access to jobs in upper management.

     July 27: Senator Robert Dole and Representative Charles Canady introduce the Equal Opportunity Act in Congress that would end all Federal affirmative action. In 1997, the measure is scuttled after receiving strong bipartisan opposition.

1996

     • The National Women's History Museum (NWHM) is founded.

     June 26: In United States v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Virginia Military Institute's male-only admissions policy is unconstitutional.

1998

     Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America (MMMA) agrees to pay $34 million to settle a sexual harassment case that had been filed by the EEOC on behalf of a class of female MMMA employees.

1999

     Women earn approximately 76 cents for every dollar a man earns.

2000

     • CBS Broadcasting agrees to pay $8 million to approximately 200 of its female technicians to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit.

     May 15: In United States v. Morrison, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that Congress exceeded its authority when it relied on the Commerce Clause and Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to enact 42 USC section 13981, part of the Violence Against Women Act, which allows rape and domestic violence victims to sue their attackers in federal court.

     Sept. 28: The FDA approves the distribution of RU-486. Women can receive a prescription from their doctors and use the pill up to seven weeks after their last menstrual cycle.

2003

     Nov. 5: President George W. Bush signs the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.

2006

     • Women earn 77 cents for every $1 their male counterparts earn.

     • The FDA approves over-the-counter status for Plan B emergency contraception for women 18 and older.

2007

Hillary Clinton Concedes Primary Election Washington, D.C. - June 7, 2007: U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) bows as she thanks supporters after speaking at the National Building Museum. Clinton endorsed Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and thanked her supporters for standing behind her in one of the longest Democratic primary seasons in history. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

     Jan. 4: California Representative Nancy Pelosi takes the oath of office to become the first female Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. She is the highest-ranking elected woman in American political history.

     Jan. 20: New York Democratic Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton, announces her intention to run in the 2008 presidential election. She is the first woman to ever be considered as a top candidate for the U.S. presidency. She loses in a tight race against Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

     April 18: In Gonzales v. Carhart, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a partial birth abortion ban signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2003.

2008

     Feb. 26: The U.S. Supreme Court issues an opinion in Sprint United Management Co. v. Mendelsohn, an age-discrimination case. The Court holds that it is for the trial court to decide whether to admit as evidence testimony by non-parties who allege discrimination by persons "who played no role in the adverse employment decision challenged by the plaintiff." Some worry that this case may also make it difficult for plaintiffs to prove their claims in sex discrimination or sexual harassment cases.

     June: The U.S. Census Bureau conducts a study that indicates that women veterans had higher salaries and worked longer hours than women civilians with no military experience.

     July: A study published in the journal Science reveals that the gender gap in math has disappeared among students.

2009

     • According to the report, "Assessing the Double Burden: Racial and Gender Disparities in Mortgage Lending," Black and Latina women are more likely than white borrowers to encounter discriminatory and predatory lending practices.

     Jan. 26: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County that employees who provide evidence during an informal investigation of workplace discrimination are shielded from employer retaliation. In this case, three women had been fired after answering questions during an informal investigation into allegations that an employee relations director had engaged in sexual harassment of female workers.

     Aug. 18: An Oklahoma judge rules that doctors are not required to perform ultrasounds before performing abortions.

     Oct.: The U.S. Navy considers allowing women to serve aboard submarines for the first time.

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