Editing Sexism (section)

== <span class="anchor" id="History of gender discrimination"></span> History ==
===Pre-agricultural world===
Evidence is lacking to support the idea that many pre-agricultural societies afforded women a higher status than women today,<ref>{{cite book |last=Eller |first=Cynthia |year=2000 |title=The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory |location=Boston |publisher=[[Beacon Press]] |isbn=978-0-8070-6793-2}}</ref> however, historians are reasonably sure that women had roughly equal social power to men in many such societies.<ref name="Lockard 2014">{{cite book |author=Craig Lockard |title=Societies, Networks, and Transitions: A Global History |publisher=[[Cengage Learning]] |isbn=978-1-305-17707-9 |year=2014 |pages=88–89 |access-date=March 2, 2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FLg8AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA88}}</ref> 

=== <span class="anchor" id="Ancient sexism"></span> Ancient civilizations ===

[[File:A Hindoo Widow Burning Herself with the Corpse of her Husband.jpg|thumb|alt=Engraving of a woman preparing to self-immolate with her husband's corpse |[[Sati (practice)|Sati]], or self-immolation by widows, was prevalent in [[Hindu]] society until the early 19th century.]]

After the adoption of agriculture and sedentary cultures, the concept that one gender was inferior to the other was established; most often this was imposed upon women and girls.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Brief History of the World Course No. 8080 [Audio CD] |author=Peter N. Stearns (Narrator) |publisher=The Teaching Company |asin=B000W595CC}}</ref>  

The status of [[women in ancient Egypt]] depended on their fathers or husbands, but they had property rights and could attend court, including as plaintiffs.<ref name="Silverman 2003">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7p_QMIjESwC&pg=PA80 |title=Ancient Egypt |author=David P. Silverman |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-19-521952-4 |pages=80–84 |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref> Examples of unequal treatment of women in the ancient world include written laws preventing women from participating in the political process; for instance, [[women in ancient Rome]] could not vote or hold [[Roman magistrate|political office]].<ref>{{cite book |first1=Bruce W. |last1=Frier |first2=Thomas A. J. |last2=McGinn |title=A Casebook on Roman Family Law |publisher=Oxford University Press |others=American Philological Association |year=2004 |pages=31–32, 457, ''et passim'' |isbn=978-0-19-516185-4}}</ref> Another example is scholarly texts that indoctrinate children in female inferiority; [[Women in ancient and imperial China|women in ancient China]] were taught the [[Confucian]] principles that a woman should [[Three Obediences and Four Virtues|obey]] her father in childhood, husband in marriage, and son in widowhood.<ref name="Wu 2009">{{cite journal |title=周代男女角色定位及其对现代社会的影响 |trans-title=Role orientation of men and women in the Zhou Dynasty and their effects on modern society |last1=Wu 吴 |first1=Xiaohua 晓华 |language=zh |journal=Chang'An Daxue Xuebao (Shehui Kexue Ban) |date=2009 |volume=11 |issue=3 |page=87}}</ref> On the other hand, [[Anglo-Saxon women|women of the Anglo-Saxon era]] were commonly afforded equal status.<ref name="Lehmberg 2013">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FXlTAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA35 |title=A History of the Peoples of the British Isles: From Prehistoric Times to 1688 |author=Stanford Lehmberg |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-134-41528-1 |page=35 |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref>

=== Witch hunts and trials ===

{{Main|Witch hunt}}
[[File:Malleus maleficarum, Köln 1520, Titelseite.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Titlepage from the book Malleus Maleficarum |"The Hammer of Witches which destroyeth Witches and their heresy as with a two-edged sword". Title page of the seventh [[Cologne]] edition of the ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'', 1520, from the [[University of Sydney Library]].<ref>The English translation is from [http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/notes/n192863.html this note] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006103829/http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/notes/n192863.html |date=October 6, 2013}} to [http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/mm00c7.html Summers' 1928 introduction] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225301/http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/mm00c7.html |date=September 27, 2007}}.</ref>]]

Sexism may have been the impetus that fueled the witch trials between the 15th and 18th centuries.<ref>[[#Thu01|Thurston 2001]]. p. 01.</ref> In [[early modern Europe]], and in the European colonies in North America, claims were made that [[witch]]es were a threat to [[Christendom]]. The misogyny of that period played a role in the persecution of these women.<ref>Barstow, Anne Llewellyn (1994) ''Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts'' San Francisco: Pandora.</ref><ref>[[#Thu01|Thurston 2001]]. pp. 42–45.</ref>

In ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'' by [[Heinrich Kramer]], the book which played a major role in the witch hunts and trials, the author argues that women are more likely to practice witchcraft than men, and writes that:

: All wickedness is but little to the wickedness of a woman&nbsp;... What else is a woman but a foe to friendship, an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic danger, a delectable detriment, an evil of nature, painted with fair colors!<ref>Kramer and Sprenger. Malleus Maleficarum.</ref>

Witchcraft remains illegal in several countries, including [[Saudi Arabia]], where it is [[punishable by death]]. In 2011, a woman was beheaded in that country for "witchcraft and sorcery".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/13/world/meast/saudi-arabia-beheading/ |work=[[CNN]].com |title=Saudi woman beheaded for 'witchcraft and sorcery' |date=December 14, 2011}}</ref> Murders of women after being accused of witchcraft remain common in some parts of the world; for example, in [[Tanzania]], about 500 elderly women are murdered each year following such accusations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=World Health Organization |title=World Report on Violence Chapter 5 – Abuse of the elderly |url=https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/global_campaign/en/chap5.pdf |access-date=June 20, 2020 |website=who.int}}</ref>

When women are targeted with accusations of witchcraft and subsequent violence, it is often the case that several forms of discrimination interact – for example, discrimination based on gender with discrimination based on [[caste]], as is the case in India and Nepal, where such crimes are relatively common.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shrestha |first=Deepesh |date=February 15, 2010 |title=Witch-hunts of low-caste women in Nepal |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7241937/Witch-hunts-of-low-caste-women-in-Nepal.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7241937/Witch-hunts-of-low-caste-women-in-Nepal.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=June 20, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Iaccino |first=Ludovica |date=July 22, 2014 |title=Witch Hunting in India: Poor, Low Caste and Widows Main Targets |work=International Business Times |url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/witch-hunting-india-poor-low-caste-widows-main-targets-1457809 |access-date=June 20, 2020}}</ref>

=== Coverture and other marriage regulations ===

{{Main|Coverture|Marital power|Restitution of conjugal rights|Kirchberg v. Feenstra|Marriage bar}}
[[File:Say no to dowry.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=An Indian Anti-dowry poster headed Say No To Dowry |Anti-[[dowry]] poster in [[Bangalore, India]]. According to Amnesty International, "[T]he ongoing reality of dowry-related violence is an example of what can happen when women are treated as property."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/women-s-rights/violence-against-women/violence-against-women-information |title=Violence Against Women Information |website=Amnesty International USA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110529111202/http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/women-s-rights/violence-against-women/violence-against-women-information |archive-date=May 29, 2011}}</ref>]]

Until the 20th century, U.S. and [[English law]] observed the system of [[coverture]], where "by marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage".<ref name="Blackstone's Commentaries">{{cite web |author=Blackstone, William |author-link=William Blackstone |title=Extracts from William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England 1765–1769 |url=http://www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/xblack.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005032946/http://www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/xblack.htm |archive-date=5 October 2008 |access-date=15 March 2015}}</ref> U.S. women were not legally defined as "persons" until 1875 (''[[Minor v. Happersett]]'', 88 U.S. 162).<ref name="Legacy '98 2001">{{cite web |url=http://www.legacy98.org/timeline.html |title=Legacy '98: Detailed Timeline |publisher=Legacy98.org |date=2001-09-19 |access-date=November 20, 2010 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702081142/https://www.legacy98.org/timeline.html |archive-date=July 2, 2010}}</ref> A similar legal doctrine, called [[marital power]], existed under [[Roman Dutch law]] (and is still partially in force in present-day [[Eswatini]]).{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Restrictions on married women's rights were common in Western countries until a few decades ago: for instance, French married women obtained the right to work without their husband's permission in 1965,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allwood |first=Gill |year=1999 |title=Women in France |url=http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/cmcf-vsi-women-in-france.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Modern and Contemporary France |volume=7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092212/http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/cmcf-vsi-women-in-france.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parisvoice.com/-archives-97-86/282-frances-leading-women-show-the-way |title=France's leading women show the way |publisher=Parisvoice.com |access-date=July 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728175142/http://www.parisvoice.com/-archives-97-86/282-frances-leading-women-show-the-way |archive-date=July 28, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/TWR-07.html |title=Lesson – The French Civil Code (Napoleonic Code) – Teaching Women's Rights From Past to Present |website=Womeninworldhistory.com |access-date=July 20, 2013}}</ref> and in West Germany women obtained this right in 1977.<ref>{{cite news |last=Benhold |first=K. |date=2010 |title=20 years after fall of wall, women of former East Germany thrive |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=April 17, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/world/europe/06iht-letter.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Trzcinski |first1=E. |last2=Holst |first2=E. |year=2012 |title=Gender Differences in Subjective Well-Being In and Out of Management Positions |journal=[[Social Indicators Research]] |volume=107 |issue=3 |pages=449–463 |doi=10.1007/s11205-011-9857-y |citeseerx=10.1.1.621.3965 |s2cid=189873867}}</ref> During the [[Francisco Franco|Franco]] era, in Spain, a married woman required her husband's consent (called ''permiso marital'') for employment, ownership of property and traveling away from home; the ''permiso marital'' was abolished in 1975.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://countrystudies.us/spain/43.htm |title=Spain – Social Values And Attitudes |publisher=Countrystudies.us |access-date=July 20, 2013}}</ref> In Australia, until 1983, a married woman's passport application had to be authorized by her husband.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.passports.gov.au/Web/passport_history.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614171552/http://www.passports.gov.au/Web/passport_history.aspx |archive-date=June 14, 2006 |title=The History of Passports in Australia |date=June 14, 2006}}</ref>

Women in parts of the world continue to lose their legal rights in marriage. For example, [[Yemen]]i marriage regulations state that a wife must obey her husband and must not leave home without his permission.<ref>{{cite web |author=Amnesty International |date=2009 |title=Yemen's dark side: Discrimination and violence against women and girls |access-date=April 17, 2015 |url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/Yemen%27s%20darkside-discrimination_Yemen_HRC101.pdf}}</ref> In [[Iraq]], the law allows husbands to legally "punish" their wives.<ref>{{cite web |title=The law states: "The punishment of a wife by her husband, the disciplining by parents and teachers of children under their authority [is permitted] within certain limits prescribed by law or by custom" |url=http://law.case.edu/saddamtrial/documents/Iraqi_Penal_Code_1969.pdf |publisher=Law.case.edu |access-date=March 31, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021100954/http://law.case.edu/saddamtrial/documents/Iraqi_Penal_Code_1969.pdf |archive-date=October 21, 2012}}</ref> In the [[Democratic Republic of Congo]], the Family Code states that the husband is the head of the household; the wife owes her obedience to her husband; a wife has to live with her husband wherever he chooses to live; and wives must have their husbands' authorization to bring a case in court or initiate other legal proceedings.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/drc/Congo0602-09.htm |title=The War Within the War |website=Hrw.org |access-date=March 31, 2015}}</ref>

Abuses and discriminatory practices against women in marriage are often rooted in financial payments such as [[dowry]], [[bride price]], and [[dower]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2012/12/unw-legislation-supplement-en%20pdf.pdf |title=Handbook for Legislation on Violence Against Women: Supplement to the "Harmful Practices" against Women |publisher=UN Women |date=2012 |location=New York |access-date=April 25, 2015 |archive-date=June 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610131259/http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2012/12/unw-legislation-supplement-en%20pdf.pdf}}</ref> These transactions often serve as legitimizing [[coercive control]] of the wife by her husband and in giving him authority over her; for instance Article 13 of the [[Code of Personal Status (Tunisia)]] states that, "The husband shall not, in default of payment of the dower, force the woman to consummate the marriage",<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=4322925 |title=The Tunisian Code of Personal Status (Majallat Al-Ahw Al Al-Shakhsiy Ah) |first=George N. |last=Sfeir |date=1 January 1957 |journal=[[Middle East Journal]] |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=309–318}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Code du Statut Personnel – Tunisie |url=https://www.jurisitetunisie.com/tunisie/codes/csp/Csp1015.htm |access-date=August 26, 2019 |website=www.jurisitetunisie.com |language=fr}}</ref> implying that, if the dower is paid, [[marital rape]] is permitted. In this regard, critics have questioned the alleged gains of women in [[Tunisia]], and its image as a progressive country in the region, arguing that discrimination against women remains very strong there.<ref>{{cite web |date=August 13, 2013 |title=7 raisons pour les hommes et les femmes de remettre en cause le CSP&nbsp;... ou pas |url=http://www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2013/08/13/raisons-hommes-femmes-csp_n_3747952.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702190813/http://www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2013/08/13/raisons-hommes-femmes-csp_n_3747952.html |archive-date=July 2, 2015 |access-date=June 14, 2015 |website=[[Al Huffington Post]] |url-status=usurped |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Nouveaux progrès, mais il ne faut pas pour autant pavoiser |url=http://www.letemps.com.tn/article/83765/nouveaux-progr%C3%A8s-mais-il-ne-faut-pas-pour-autant-pavoiser |access-date=June 14, 2015 |website=[[Le Temps]] |language=fr |archive-date=May 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505093933/http://www.letemps.com.tn/article/83765/nouveaux-progr%C3%A8s-mais-il-ne-faut-pas-pour-autant-pavoiser}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=FIDH |title=Les violences sexuelles en Tunisie: après le déni, un début de (...) |url=https://www.fidh.org/La-Federation-internationale-des-ligues-des-droits-de-l-homme/maghreb-moyen-orient/tunisie/15424-les-violences-sexuelles-en-tunisie-apres-le-deni-un-debut-de |access-date=June 14, 2015 |website=FIDH – Worldwide Human Rights Movement |language=fr}}</ref>

The [[World Organisation Against Torture]] (OMCT) has recognized the "independence and ability to leave an abusive husband" as crucial in stopping mistreatment of women.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/dv/droi_090121_9omct/DROI_090121_9OMCTen.pdf |title=Combating extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the Philippines by addressing their economic, social and cultural root causes |access-date=November 18, 2019}}</ref> However, in some parts of the world, once married, women have very little chance of leaving a violent husband: obtaining a [[divorce]] is very difficult in many jurisdictions because of the need to prove [[Divorce#At-fault divorce|fault]] in court. While attempting a ''[[de facto]]'' separation (moving away from the marital home) is also impossible because of laws preventing this. For instance, in [[Afghanistan]], a wife who leaves her marital home risks being imprisoned for "running away".<ref>{{cite web |author=Human Rights Watch |date=2012 |title='I had to run away': The imprisonment of women and girls for 'moral crimes' in Afghanistan |access-date=April 17, 2015 |url=https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/afghanistan0312webwcover_0.pdf |website=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22614536 |title=More Afghan women jailed for 'moral crimes', says HRW—BBC News |publisher=BBC.com |date=May 21, 2013 |access-date=March 31, 2015 |work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> In addition, many former British colonies, including [[India]], maintain the concept of [[restitution of conjugal rights]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1382895/ |title=Smt. Saroj Rani vs Sudarshan Kumar Chadha on 8 August, 1984 |publisher=Indiankanoon.org |access-date=March 31, 2015}}</ref> under which a wife may be ordered by court to return to her husband; if she fails to do so, she may be held in [[contempt of court]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=Samta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gN1dEJuiZ0cC&q=india+if+a+woman+fails+to+return+to+her+husband+she+may+be+held+in+contempt+of+court&pg=PA205 |title=Women and Labour in Late Colonial India: The Bengal Jute Industry |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=205 |isbn=978-0-521-45363-9}}</ref><!--<ref>[http://www.esocialsciences.org/Download/repecDownload.aspx?qs=Uqn/rN48N8UOPcbSXUd2VF1L1gqR3i8qEifUw/RWYQS4WrMWtyLI/TA9E5klz08DFzwCoAiC8f6t7I6f0nJIyFlx6CcmXz+JQ6yidtSIGFPvVUamcPjvFryZSnf5DDLHPJyg1qcTMLOU0iDofyuYvfkJ5r4jItzZJarbB26DeQg9z8RmNAfNvHTnWIR5ZcITDFUD14lrCeNgxZ3nYAWuzg] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20150402172914/http://www.esocialsciences.org/Download/repecDownload.aspx?qs=Uqn/rN48N8UOPcbSXUd2VF1L1gqR3i8qEifUw/RWYQS4WrMWtyLI/TA9E5klz08DFzwCoAiC8f6t7I6f0nJIyFlx6CcmXz+JQ6yidtSIGFPvVUamcPjvFryZSnf5DDLHPJyg1qcTMLOU0iDofyuYvfkJ5r4jItzZJarbB26DeQg9z8RmNAfNvHTnWIR5ZcITDFUD14lrCeNgxZ3nYAWuzg|date=April 2, 2015}}</ref> ---><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.manupatrafast.com/articles/PopOpenArticle.aspx?ID=797c51f7-0615-4fa8-b92e-7d7d24d03689&txtsearch=Subject:%20Family%20Law |title=Manupatra Articles |publisher=Manupatrafast.com |access-date=March 31, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402092830/http://www.manupatrafast.com/articles/PopOpenArticle.aspx?ID=797c51f7-0615-4fa8-b92e-7d7d24d03689&txtsearch=Subject:%20Family%20Law |archive-date=2015-04-02}}</ref> Other problems have to do with the payment of the [[bride price]]: if the wife wants to leave, her husband may demand the return of the bride price that he had paid to the woman's family; and the woman's family often cannot or does not want to pay it back.<ref>{{cite web |author=Equality Now |date=2007 |title=Protecting the girl child: Using the law to end child, early and forced marriage and related human rights violations |access-date=April 17, 2015 |url=https://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/Protecting_the_Girl_Child.pdf |archive-date=March 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329215211/https://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/Protecting_the_Girl_Child.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Lelieveld, M. (2011) Child protection in the Somali region of Ethiopia. A report for the Bridges project Piloting the delivery of quality education services in the developing regional states of Ethiopia. Retrieved April 17, 2015 from {{cite web |url=http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/FINALChild_Protection_in_the_Somali_Region_30511.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=March 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924095119/http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/FINALChild_Protection_in_the_Somali_Region_30511.pdf |archive-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Stange, Mary Zeiss |editor2=Carol K. Oyster |editor3=Jane E. Sloan |entry= |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World |volume=1 |year=2011 |publisher=Sage |isbn=978-1-4129-7685-5 |page=496}}</ref>

Laws, regulations, and traditions related to marriage continue to discriminate against women in many parts of the world, and to contribute to the mistreatment of women, in particular in areas related to [[sexual violence]] and to self-determination regarding [[sexuality]], the violation of the latter now being acknowledged as a violation of [[women's rights]]. In 2012, [[Navi Pillay]], then [[High Commissioner for Human Rights]], stated that:

<blockquote>Women are frequently treated as property, they are sold into marriage, into trafficking, into sexual slavery. Violence against women frequently takes the form of sexual violence. Victims of such violence are often accused of promiscuity and held responsible for their fate, while infertile women are rejected by husbands, families and communities. In many countries, married women may not refuse to have sexual relations with their husbands, and often have no say in whether they use contraception{{nbsp}}... Ensuring that women have full autonomy over their bodies is the first crucial step towards achieving substantive equality between women and men. Personal issues—such as when, how and with whom they choose to have sex, and when, how and with whom they choose to have children—are at the heart of living a life in dignity.<ref>{{cite web |last=Pillay |first=Navi |author-link=Navi Pillay |date=2012 |title=Valuing women as autonomous beings: Women's sexual reproductive health rights |website=United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner |access-date=April 18, 2015 |url=http://www.chr.up.ac.za/images/files/news/news_2012/Navi%20Pillay%20Lecture%2015%20May%202012.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313210726/http://www.chr.up.ac.za/images/files/news/news_2012/Navi%20Pillay%20Lecture%2015%20May%202012.pdf |archive-date=March 13, 2017}}</ref></blockquote>

=== Suffrage and politics ===

[[File:Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Two woman carry a sign reading "Votes for Women". |[[Annie Kenney]] and [[Christabel Pankhurst]]]]

Gender has been used as a tool for discrimination against women in the political sphere. [[Women's suffrage]] was not achieved until 1893, when New Zealand was the first country to grant women the right to vote. Saudi Arabia is the most recent country, as of August 2015, to extend the right to vote to women in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |title=Timeline of Women's Suffrage Granted, by Country |url=https://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0931343.html |publisher=Infoplease |access-date=December 1, 2013}}</ref> Some Western countries allowed women the right to vote only relatively recently. [[Switzerland|Swiss]] women gained the right to vote in federal elections in 1971,<ref name="Switzerland's Long Way">{{cite web |url=http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/chronology-womens-right-vote-switzerland.html |title=The Long Way to Women's Right to Vote in Switzerland: a Chronology |publisher=History-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch |access-date=August 1, 2011}}</ref> and [[Appenzell Innerrhoden]] became the last [[Cantons of Switzerland|canton]] to grant women the right to vote on local issues in 1991, when it was forced to do so by the [[Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/WOM1373.doc.htm |title=Experts in women's anti-discrimination committee raise questions concerning reports of Switzerland on compliance with convention |date=January 14, 2003 |publisher=United Nations Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women |access-date=September 2, 2011}}</ref> French women were granted the right to vote in 1944.<ref>{{cite web |author=Jean-Pierre Maury |title=Ordonnance du 21 avril 1944 relative à l'organisation des pouvoirs publics en France après la Libération |url=http://mjp.univ-perp.fr/france/co1944-2.htm |access-date=January 8, 2011 |publisher=Mjp.univ-perp.fr |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/femmes/citoyennete_politique_de-Gaulle.asp |title=La citoyenneté politique des femmes—La décision du Général de Gaulle |author=Assemblée nationale |access-date=December 19, 2007 |language=fr}}</ref> In Greece, women obtained the right to vote in 1952.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.db-decision.de/CoRe/Greece.htm |title=European Database: Women in Decision-making – y Country Report Greece |author=Kerstin Teske: teske@fczb.de |website=db-decision.de |access-date=June 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109110102/http://www.db-decision.de/CoRe/Greece.htm |archive-date=November 9, 2013}}</ref> In [[Liechtenstein]], women obtained the right to vote in 1984, through the [[Liechtenstein women's suffrage referendum, 1984|women's suffrage referendum of 1984]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1066106.stm |title=BBC News—Timeline: Liechtenstein |access-date=14 June 2015 |date=March 31, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/02/world/around-the-world-liechtenstein-women-win-right-to-vote.html |title=Liechtenstein Women Win Right to Vote |date=July 2, 1984 |website=The New York Times}}</ref>

While almost every woman today has the right to vote, there is still progress to be made for women in politics. Studies have shown that in several democracies including Australia, Canada, and the United States, women are still represented using gender stereotypes in the press.<ref name="Kittilson 2008">{{cite journal |last1=Kittilson |first1=Miki Caul |last2=Fridkin |first2=Kim |title=Gender, Candidate Portrayals and Election Campaigns: A Comparative Perspective |journal=[[Politics & Gender]] |volume=4 |issue=3 |year=2008 |pages=371–392 |issn=1743-923X |doi=10.1017/S1743923X08000330 |s2cid=145574989}}</ref> Multiple authors have shown that gender differences in the media are less evident today than they used to be in the 1980s, but are still present. Certain issues (e.g., education) are likely to be linked with female candidates, while other issues (e.g., taxes) are likely to be linked with male candidates.<ref name="Kittilson 2008"/> In addition, there is more emphasis on female candidates' personal qualities, such as their appearance and their personality, as females are portrayed as emotional and dependent.<ref name="Kittilson 2008"/>

There is a widespread imbalance of lawmaking power between men and women. The ratio of women to men in legislatures is used as a measure of gender equality in the [[United Nations|United Nations']] [[Gender Empowerment Measure]] and its newer incarnation the [[Gender Inequality Index]]. Speaking about China, Lanyan Chen stated that, since men more than women serve as the gatekeepers of policy making, this may lead to women's needs not being properly represented. In this sense, the inequality in lawmaking power also causes gender discrimination.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chen |first=Lanyan |title=The Gendered Reality of Migrant Workers in Globalizing China |date=2009 |publisher=The [[University of Ottawa]] |location=Ottawa |isbn=978-0-7766-0709-2 |pages=186–207}}</ref>

=== Menus ===

Until the early 1980s, some high-end restaurants had two [[menu]]s: a regular menu with the prices listed for men and a second menu for women, which did not have the prices listed (it was called the "ladies' menu"), so that the female diner would not know the prices of the items.<ref name="Frost 2018">{{cite web |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ladies-menus-no-prices-lawsuit |title=The Court Case That Killed the 'Ladies Menu' |last=Frost |first=Natasha |date=February 2, 2018 |website=www.atlasobscura.com |publisher=[[Atlas Obscura]] |access-date=February 23, 2019}}</ref> In 1980, Kathleen Bick took a male business partner out to dinner at L'Orangerie in West Hollywood. After she was given a women's menu without prices and her guest got one with prices, Bick hired lawyer [[Gloria Allred]] to file a discrimination lawsuit, on the grounds that the women's menu went against the California Civil Rights Act.<ref name="Frost 2018"/> Bick stated that getting a women's menu without prices left her feeling "humiliated and incensed". The owners of the restaurant defended the practice, saying it was done as a courtesy, like the way men would stand up when a woman enters the room. Even though the lawsuit was dropped, the restaurant ended its gender-based menu policy.<ref name="Frost 2018"/>

=== Trends over time ===
{{Globalize|date=March 2021|section}}A 2021 study found little evidence that levels of sexism had changed from 2004 to 2018 in the United States.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Archer |first1=Allison M N |last2=Kam |first2=Cindy D |date=2021 |title=Modern Sexism in Modern Times Public Opinion in the #Metoo Era |journal=Public Opinion Quarterly |volume=84 |issue=4 |pages=813–837 |doi=10.1093/poq/nfaa058 |issn=0033-362X}}</ref>