The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention was instrumental in raising awareness for women's equality and right to vote. Over the following decades, several important events advanced women's rights, such as the 19th amendment granting women's suffrage in 1920 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting employment discrimination based on sex. However, full equality was still not achieved as the Equal Rights Amendment failed to be ratified and biases remained in areas like the military, criminal justice system, and family courts. The women's rights movement continued working to address injustices and expand opportunities through the late 20th century.

1. 1848 Seneca Falls Conventioninstructional in raising awareness for equality for women and their right vote The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world – Declaration of Sentiments

2. Jack Bee Garland is an early example of transgender living in the US: born a woman, he lived as a man for 40+ years even serving in the US military – for which he was locked in a mental institution after arrest. Gay by the Bay Elvira Mugarrietta - 1828

3. 1884 - BelvaLockwood: First woman to run for president as a National Equal Rights Party candidate “Mrs. Lockwood was a member of the bar of several states in addition to Washington DC she applied for admission to the Virginia bar but was denied. The Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia decided that she was not a ‘person’ Because ‘person’ meant ‘male’ and affirmed that she could be denied membership to the bar. The federal Supreme Court upheld the decision” Law, Gender, & Injustice A Legal History of US Women Joan Hoff

4. “1920 – 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920 after a 72-year campaign, guaranteed women the vote on an equal basis with men…” “But woman’s chief discontent is not with her political, but with her social, and particularly her martial bondage.”

5. Women were first allowed to serve In the US military in an official capacity In World War I, working in the Army and Navy Nurse Corps 1920 – first women allowed to participate in Military activity, but only as nurses Women can now serve aboard combat aircraft and combat ships, but still prohibited from participating in direct combat

6. 1923 Equal Rights amendment first drafted, “ affirming equal application of the US Constitution both females and males”

7. 1924 – first investigation of hate crimes under J. Edgar Hoover ( though the terminology “hate crime” did not enter the public discourse until the 1980’s)

8. 1947- Fay Vs. New York : Supreme Court holds that women have no constitutional right to serve as juries.

9. 1949- CA State Penal codes restricting sex acts. “... The law approves and recognizes only one method of sexual intercourse. That method is the relationship between the sex organ of a man and the sex organ of the woman. Other practices of sexual gratification such as connections per anus or per os (mouth) are forbidden. These other practices are here classified as ‘unnatural’ in the sense that they are proscribed by law.” Gay by the Bay (pg. 33) Current state laws throughout the US still restrict sex acts between consenting adults. Your Text Here

10. Miss Star lived as a woman since the age of 18. Although she was male in gender, she knew she was female and ended up completely converted into a woman. A team of five of the foremost doctors in their various specialized fields did the final operation. This consisted of plastic surgeons, urologist, psychiatrist and two other surgeons. There has been a great change in her mind and heart. She thinks better and clearer. She is very, very happy. If it is true that life begins at forty, she has been reborn at forty-two. This must prove Gods approval. Who are we to question? -Sideshow World “… Later my doctor explained to me that what she was planning to do is illegal under New York law, which is the reason the other specialists she consulted wished to remain anonymous. It was alright, she said, for a doctor to straighten a cripple’s twisted limbs, but not all right to straighten a sexual cripple.” The Riddle of Gender (pg. 116) 1956

11. 1964 – Civil Rights Act, Title VII, prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex and race. Also establishes EEO standards 1972 ERA passed but not ratified by states In the Corning Glass case, the US Supreme Court decided that companies could not pay women a lower wage Than men simply because there was a “lower going rate” for female employees in the local marketplace.

12. 1973 – Roe Vs. Wade: Supreme Court establishes woman’s right to safe And legal abortion

13. 1973 – Frontiero Vs. Richardson. The law had automatically awarded a salary supplement to all married male personnel, as well as medical benefits to their wives, but gave the same benefits to female service members and their husbands only if they could demonstrate that the husband was dependent on the wife for at least half of his income. 1974 – Equality Act. A federal bill to ban discrimination against lesbians, gay men, unmarried persons and women in employment, housing and public accommodations. 1976 – first law against martial rape ( husband to wife ) Is passed in Nebraska

14. 1990’s – as divorce rates increase, more men lose financial rights due to gender bias in the Family Courts That assumes better child caring is inherently provided by the mother 1981 – Sandra O’Connor is appointed as the first female Supreme Court Justice by President Regan

15. 1993 - “ Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” Military Policy on homosexuality is signed by president Clinton 1993- intersex sociology of North America Is formed

16. 1995 – Kelly Flinn, first female B-52 pilot is charged with military adultery for her relationship with an enlisted married man. 1998 – Karla Tucrer and Judy Buenoano are the 38th and 39th Women executed in the 20th century , adding to thetotal of 533 capital punishments enacted on women in the US, compare to over 19,000 men.

17. 2009 – Matthew Shepard and Jim Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act “ … widens Federal hate crime laws to include crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity…”

18. 2010 – ERA has still not been ratified by the required 39 states to become US law 2009 - Sonia Sotomayor is third woman and first Hispanic appointed to the US Supreme Court