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Defining Documents in World History: Human Rights

Gender, Sexuality, and the Family

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The recognition and codification of human rights related to gender and sexuality is, unfortunately, a relatively recent development. Several aspects of human rights are encompassed in the category of gender and sexuality. One aspect is equality between genders. Across the world, for millennia, women have possessed fewer political, legal, social, and cultural rights compared to men. This disparity has, often, placed women at a disadvantage with regard to their personal safety, security, and independence. The documents in this section address an array of human rights issues related to gender and sexuality.

One area of particular inequality has traditionally been within marriage. While laws have varied in different countries, laws about marriage and divorce in 19th century England placed women at a severe disadvantage. An excerpt from Caroline Norton’s “A Letter to the Queen on Lord Chancellor Cranworth’s Marriage and Divorce Bill” clearly, logically, and affectingly lays out the damage suffered by married women in a system that does not allow them to divorce abusive husbands, gives them no control over their own property and finances, or have control over their children. Norton’s argument and activism for changes in English laws helped lead to the passage of the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857, which addressed many of the issues she raised. One factor that made progress toward political and legislative solutions to inequalities that women faced was that in many countries they did not possess the right to vote. This is the subject of Emmeline Pankhurst’s 1913 speech, “Freedom or Death.” Decades later, in many places, women had obtained political rights and risen to high office. One who did so was Indira Gandhi who, as president of India used her position to advocate for women’s education in her 1974 speech “What Women Can Do.”

During the 20th and into the 21st centuries, a number of nations, regional organizations, and global organizations sought to reach agreements to recognize and guarantee human rights that were protected equally for men and women. The International Labour Organization’s 1952 Maternity Protection Convention sought protections for women who were pregnant and nursing. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women compelled member nations to guarantee and defend an array of economic, political, social, cultural, and medical rights of women while the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women acknowledged that systemic, often legally sanctioned violence suffered by women presented a significant barrier to women being able to enjoy their innate human rights. The National Women’s Conference Plan of Action and 2006 European Union Summary of Directive on Gender Equality illustrates efforts and the national and regional levels to promote women’s rights and equality.

With regard to sexuality and reproductive rights, this section presents four decisions of the United States Supreme Court that illustrated the development of court’s recognizing a right to privacy as being embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In 1965’s Griswald v. Connecticut, the court ruled that governments could not forbid married couples from obtaining and using contraceptives for birth control. Seven years later, the decision in Eisenstadt v. Baird held that not only a right to privacy but the principle of equal justice under the law meant that states could not outlaw the sale of contraception to unmarried people as well. The next year, in Roe v. Wade, the court ruled that the right to privacy and personal autonomy meant that states could not outlaw abortion. In the 21st century, a recognition of human rights with regard to sexual orientation emerged from both courts and legislatures, with Lawrence v. Texas ending states’ ability to criminalize homosexual acts and Obergefell v. Hodges extending equality of marriage rights to same-sex couples. In the United Sates there are still, however, instances of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) groups. The 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act seeks to target those who commit crimes against people based on their race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. While debates and court cases continue to surround these issues, steps taken in the 20th and 21st centuries have helped ensure that gender and sexuality are recognized facets of the human rights movement.

Citation Types

MLA 9th
"Gender, Sexuality, And The Family." Defining Documents in World History: Human Rights, edited by Aaron Gulyas, Salem Press, 2023. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=DDHumRights_0040.
APA 7th
Gender, Sexuality, and the Family. Defining Documents in World History: Human Rights, In A. Gulyas (Ed.), Salem Press, 2023. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=DDHumRights_0040.
CMOS 17th
"Gender, Sexuality, And The Family." Defining Documents in World History: Human Rights, Edited by Aaron Gulyas. Salem Press, 2023. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=DDHumRights_0040.