Women’s rights are human rights.

1. 1945 UN Charter

With the goal of international co-operation in mind, the UN Charter gave “fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”

2. 1946 Commission on the Status of Women

The CSW was the first global intergovernmental body dedicated to gender equality and female empowerment.

3. 1948 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The first global acknowledgment that basic, inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms apply to every human being, regardless of sex.

4. 1973Battle-of-the-Sexes

Billie Jean King inspires equal rights and athletic opportunities for women after her tennis match win against Bobby Riggs.

5. 1979 Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher becomes Europe’s first female elected head of state, elected as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

6. 1990-Present third/fourth wave feminism

Largely characterized by social media, modern feminism allows women around the world to unite over modern equal rights injustices. The most common topics of the modern feminist agenda include the wage gap, human trafficking and representation in government.

7. 1993 Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Appointed as a justice to the American Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is only the second women to hold the position. She continues to crusade for women’s rights and set precedents for future and international court rulings.

8. 1993 The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (DEVAW)

Acknowledges on an international level that “violence against women constitutes a violation of the rights and fundamental freedoms of women and impairs or nullifies their enjoyment of those rights and freedoms.”

9. 2000 The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The goals to be developed include a goal to promote gender equality.

10. First All-Female Peacekeeping Unit

An all-female police unit from India traveled to Liberia on a UN peacekeeping mission.

11. 2008 Sexual Violence Categorized as a War Crime

The UN Security Council Resolution in 1820 was adopted, calling for protection from violence in refugee and displaced person camps as well as affirming the need for women’s full participation in peace-building processes.

12. 2008 Nigerian Women Defeat Nudity Bill

Women vote down a bill that was drafted to limit state control over girls’ and women’s bodies.

13. 2010 UN Women

Women and girls get a voice at the UN to catalyze global equality. Results in the successful HeForShe campaign were led by Emma Watson.

14. 2011 Mass March for Women and Peace in Congo

20,000 Congolese women and men march in solidarity against war and gender violence.

15. 2011 First Successful Use of CEDAW in Rape Case

Rape case repealed by the United Nations Committee, which ruled that the dismissed rape allegations of a female rape survivor violated the human rights of the survivor.

16. 2014 Malala Yousafzai

Malala becomes the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which recognized her tireless and perilous campaign for equal education rights.

17. 2015 Sudan Sentence Quashed

The sentence of 10 female students charged with indecent dress is overturned in Sudan.

18. 2015 Nigeria Bans Female Genital Mutilation

Genital mutilation is made illegal, after millions of harmful and invasive procedures performed on women.

19. 2016 International Justice Must Include Women

The UN mandated position will strengthen international female representation.