woman suffrage
Right of women by law to vote in national and local elections. Women's voting rights became an issue in the 19th century, especially in Britain and the U.S. In the U.S. the woman suffrage movement arose from the antislavery movement (see abolitionism) and from the advocacy of figures such as Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who believed that equality should extend to both women and African Americans. They organized the Seneca Falls Convention (1848), which issued a declaration calling for woman suffrage and for the right of women to educational and employment opportunities. In 1850 Lucy Stone held the movement's first national convention. Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 to secure an amendment to the Constitution granting women the right to vote, while Stone founded the American Woman Suffrage Association to seek similar amendments to state constitutions; in 1890 the two organizations merged as the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Following Wyoming's lead in 1890, states began adopting such amendments; by 1918 women had won suffrage in 15 states. After a woman suffrage amendment was passed by Congress, a vigorous campaign brought ratification, and in August 1919 the 19th Amendment became part of the Constitution. In Britain the first woman suffrage committee was formed in Manchester in 1865. In the 1870s suffragists submitted petitions bearing nearly three million signatures. Despite growing support, suffrage bills were continually defeated; in frustration, some suffragists became militant activists under the leadership of Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. Parliament finally passed the Representation of the People Act in 1918, by which time women had already won voting rights in New Zealand (1893), Australia (1902), Finland (1906), Norway (1913), the Soviet Union (1917), Poland (1918), Sweden (1919), Germany (1919), and Ireland (1922). After World War II woman-suffrage laws were adopted in many countries, including France, Italy, India, and Japan.
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Diverse social movement, largely based in the U.S., seeking equal rights and opportunities for women in their economic activities, personal lives, and politics. It is recognized as the “second wave” of the larger feminist movement. While first-wave feminism of the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on women's legal rights, such as the right to vote, the second-wave feminism of the “women's movement” peaked in the 1960s and '70s and touched on every area of women's experience—including family, sexuality, and work. A variety of U.S. women's groups, including the National Organization for Women, sought to overturn laws that enforced discrimination in matters such as contract and property rights and employment and pay. The movement also sought to broaden women's self-awareness and challenge traditional stereotypes of women as passive, dependent, or irrational. An effort in the 1970s to pass the Equal Rights Amendment failed, but its aims had been largely achieved by other means by the end of the 20th century.
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U.S. Army unit. It was established (as the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps) by Congress to enlist women for auxiliary noncombat duty in World War II. Its first head was Oveta C. Hobby. By 1945 nearly 150,000 women had served. Women relieved thousands of men of their clerical assignments, and many performed nontraditional jobs such as radio operator, electrician, and air-traffic controller. After the war the government requested former servicewomen to reenlist to meet the staffing needs of army hospitals and administrative centres. The WAC became part of the regular army with the passage of the 1948 Women's Armed Services Integration Act. The WAC remained a separate unit of the U.S. Army until 1978, when male and female forces were integrated.
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U.S. women's rights organization. It was founded in 1966 by Betty Friedan to promote equal rights for women, particularly in the area of employment. With some 500,000 members (both women and men) and 550 chapters, it addresses, through lobbying and litigation, issues such as child care, pregnancy leave, and abortion and pension rights. In the 1970s its major concern was passage of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, though the amendment failed in 1982. NOW has been more successful at the state level, where it has lobbied for state equal rights amendments and comparable-worth (equal pay for equal work) legislation.
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Current program
100 metres
200 metres
400 metres
| 1964 Tokyo | |||
| 1968 Mexico City | |||
| 1972 Munich | |||
| 1976 Montreal | |||
| 1980 Moscow | |||
| 1984 Los Angeles | |||
| 1988 Seoul | |||
| 1992 Barcelona | |||
| 1996 Atlanta | |||
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing |
800 metres
| 1928 Amsterdam | |||
| 1932–1956 | not included in the Olympic program | ||
| 1960 Rome | |||
| 1964 Tokyo | |||
| 1968 Mexico City | |||
| 1972 Munich | |||
| 1976 Montreal | |||
| 1980 Moscow | |||
| 1984 Los Angeles | |||
| 1988 Seoul | |||
| 1992 Barcelona | |||
| 1996 Atlanta | |||
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing | |||
1500 metres
| 1972 Munich | |||
| 1976 Montreal | |||
| 1980 Moscow | |||
| 1984 Los Angeles | |||
| 1988 Seoul | |||
| 1992 Barcelona | |||
| 1996 Atlanta | |||
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing |
5000 metres
| 1996 Atlanta | |||
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing |
10000 metres
| 1988 Seoul | |||
| 1992 Barcelona | |||
| 1996 Atlanta | |||
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing |
Marathon
| 1984 Los Angeles | |||
| 1988 Seoul | |||
| 1992 Barcelona | |||
| 1996 Atlanta | |||
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing |
100 metres hurdles
| 1972 Munich | |||
| 1976 Montreal | |||
| 1980 Moscow | |||
| 1984 Los Angeles | |||
| 1988 Seoul | |||
| 1992 Barcelona | |||
| 1996 Atlanta | |||
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing |
400 metre hurdles
| 1984 Los Angeles | |||
| 1988 Seoul | |||
| 1992 Barcelona | |||
| 1996 Atlanta | |||
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing |
3000 metre steeplechase
| 2008 Beijing |
4 x 100 metres relay
4 x 400 metres relay
20 km walk
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing |
High jump
Pole vault
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing |
Long jump
Triple jump
| 1996 Atlanta | |||
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing |
Shot put
Discus throw
Hammer throw
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing |
Javelin throw
Heptathlon
| 1984 Los Angeles | |||
| 1988 Seoul | |||
| 1992 Barcelona | |||
| 1996 Atlanta | |||
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing |
Discontinued events
3000 metres
| 1984 Los Angeles | |||
| 1988 Seoul | |||
| 1992 Barcelona |
80 m hurdles
| 1932 Los Angeles | |||
| 1936 Berlin | |||
| 1948 London | |||
| 1952 Helsinki | |||
| 1956 Melbourne | |||
| 1960 Rome | |||
| 1964 Tokyo | |||
| 1968 Mexico City |
Pentathlon
| 1964 Tokyo | |||
| 1968 Mexico City | |||
| 1972 Munich | |||
| 1976 Montreal | |||
| 1980 Moscow |
10 km walk
| 1992 Barcelona | |||
| 1996 Atlanta |
References
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Tuesday September 16, 2008 at 03:45:19 PDT (GMT -0700)
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