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          Women form half of the human beings inhabiting planet Earth. Since human rights are the rights of all human beings, male and female alike, human rights are women's rights. By the same token, a society in which men are not willing to extend human rights to their mothers, the women who bore and nurtured them; their daughters, products of their own loins; and their wives, the women who bear and raise their treasured sons, is a society in which men are unwilling to extend human rights to men of another family, tribe, language, religion, race, ethnic tradition, or nation. If a society does not hold justice and equality for all women in the highest regard, neither will it hold justice and equality for the many varieties of men in high regard. In a very real sense, women's rights are the basis of all human rights. Women's rights belong to women as members of the human family, and, as such, are not dependent either on a woman's marital status or on the number or sex of the children she has borne.

          From time to time, it behooves us to examine human rights in the special context of women's rights. Some, but by no means all, of women's rights, which are part of the rights of all human beings, both male and female, are listed below.

          Since the primary responsibility of any society is to bear and raise future generations of male and female human beings, women's roles in reproduction must be held in the highest esteem and must not be permitted to become the basis for discrimination against women as women. Further, the responsibility for raising and nurturing future generations must fall upon men and women equally. Parents, male and female alike, have the right to guide the upbringing of their children according to the dictates of their consciences. Women's important and, often, unpaid contribution to the family and the community must be considered in the event of a divorce, the death of the family's primary wage earner, and a woman's own death. Since a husband and wife are equal partners in creating and maintaining a family, upon her husband's death, one-half of the family's property is to be considered the property of the widow, property which she helped to create by her labor in the interests of the family unit.

          Women, equal to men in the eyes of the law, shall be subjected to the same laws, no more and no less, as men. All laws that restricts women as women are null and void.

          Women have the right to the same access as men to food, clothing, shelter, medicine, an education, job training, and employment.

          Women, like men, have the right to rest and leisure, including a reasonable limitation on working hours, a living wage for a reasonable number of hours worked, and periodic holidays. Women have the right to equal pay for the same work as men.

          Just as woman has the right to enter the place of public execution, woman has the right to enter the place of public acclaim for her accomplishments.

          Women, like men, have the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific, economic, and cultural advancement and their benefits.

          Women, equal to men in the eyes of the law, shall be subjected to the same laws, no more and no less, as men. For the violation of any law, women shall be subject to the same punishment as men, no more and no less. Women have the same rights as men to life, liberty, property, security, and the pursuit of happiness and can be denied these things only by the due process of law. Consequently,

          "Crimes of honor" are, indeed, crimes, violations of human rights, and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

          Women have the right to be free from all forms of domestic violence.

          Women have the same right to bodily autonomy as men, especially as regards their reproductive organs. Surgical alteration of a woman's sexual organs for any reason other than her health is a violation of her human rights. Compelling women to bear unwanted children and forbidding women from bearing wanted children are violations of women's human rights. Any act of unwanted sex, including child molestation, forced prostitution, military sexual slavery, trafficking in women, forced participation in the creation of pornography, sex by extortion, marriage by rape, rape as an instrument of war, rape as a means of terror or torture, acquaintance rape, and marital rape, is a violation of girls' and women's human rights. Selective abortion based on the sex of the fetus, female infanticide, and sex selection of embryos are violations of women's and girls' human rights.

          The laws of both marriage and divorce apply equally to men and women. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full informed consent of the intending spouses. Children are not capable of providing informed consent to such an important undertaking.

          Neither education nor any profession may be closed to any qualified woman.

          Women, like men, have the right to assemble peacefully, for whatever reason their conscience dictates including, but not limited to, teaching, learning, debating, discussing, worshipping, owning and operating businesses either as individuals or as groups, creating and maintaining local, state, national, and international non-governmental organizations, such as institutions to promote the arts, the humanities, and the sciences, professional societies, educational establishments, medical facilities, social services organizations, churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other religious organizations, sports clubs, legal and legal aide societies, self-help groups, co-operatives, and trade unions, and engaging in all group endeavors in both social and civic arenas of life.

          Women have the same rights as men to equal access to service provided by her government, including, but not limited to, services in such areas as education, medicine, law, finance and banking, farm assistance, technical assistance, transportation, sanitation, electricity, communications, water, social support services, land redistribution, home building, and public sector employment.

          Women are entitled to engage in the same legal public and private activities as men, including the right to travel with only the same restrictions as imposed upon men. Women have the right to own and to control their own passports regardless of marital status.

          Women are entitled to a nationality, regardless of their martial status and regardless of the nationality or actions of their husbands, fathers, sons, or other family members.

          The right to consent to the form of government under which one resides and to consent to the laws which govern one's actions are widely recognized as human rights, the rights of men and women alike. As such,

          A constitution is null and void if the majority of individuals comprising the nation or their representatives have not cooperated in drafting it. The equal voice of women must be present in the drafting of a nation's constitution.

          The right of suffrage, the right to vote by secret ballot, for the people to represent them in all levels of government including village, city, county, state, and national offices applies to women, as well as, men.

          All male and female citizens, equal in the eyes of the law, have the right to run for public office and to serve in those offices, if elected.

          As citizens, women have an obligation to the state to sit on juries to assist in determining the guilt or innocence of an accused man or woman. Women have the right to have other women sit on a jury to help determine their guilt or innocence when charged with a crime.

          Women have a right to interpret the laws of the land as legal scholars, court officials, and magistrates.

          Women have a right to help to enforce the laws of the land both as police officers and as other civil officials responsible for uncovering suspected criminals and bringing them to a court of law.

          Women, as well as men, must be equally admitted to all honors, positions, and public employment according to their capacity and without other distinctions besides those of their virtues and talents.

          Women, as well as men, must participate in the formation and implementation of all public policies. Women, as well as men, have the right as public officials to represent their government agency to local, state, national, and international non-governmental organizations, to various levels of other government agencies of their own nation's political structure, to foreign governments, and to international political institutions.

          Women, like men, have the right to petition the government for a redress of their grievances.

          No woman shall be held in slavery or involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. Sexual slavery and trafficking in women are human rights violations.

          No man or woman shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, including genital mutilation and rape.

          Men and women alike are entitled to the equal protection of the law.

          No one shall be subjected to detention, regardless of whether the place of detention is a public place like a prison or a jail, or a private place like a house¹, without due process of law.

          Women, like men, have the right to enter into contracts and to own and administer property.

          The free communication of ideas and opinions, through the spoken, written, and printed word, is one of the most precious human rights for women, as well as, for men. As such, women have the right to

          Speak the name of the man who raped her, the name of the father of her illegitimate child, the name of a man who beats her,

          Learn to read and write,

          Teach the history of the women who came before her,

          Describe the myriad of ways in which government and social policies affect her, both positively and negatively, as a woman,

          Participate in all aspects of her religious faith and religious traditions both in public, as from the pulpit, and in private, as in personal prayer with her family and friend, and

          Contribute to the development of the arts, literature, humanities, religion, culture, and the sciences.

This work was inspired by

          The Unanimous Declaration of The Thirteen United States of America adopted by Congress July 4, 1776,

          The Declaration of the Rights of Man Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789

          The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, 1791, Olympia de Gouges

          The Bill of Rights of the American Constitution ratified Dec. 15, 1791

          The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions of the Seneca Falls Woman's Rights Convention of 1848

          The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted and proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948

          The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, (CEDAW) adopted by the UN General Assembly on18 December 1979

Editor's note:

From time to time, I will find e-texts of feminist foremothers works that discuss some of the above points in more detail. When I do, I will add a footnote to the list below which in turn provides a link to the document.

1.The Right of Habeas Corpus, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Ballot Box, Toledo, Ohio, Nov. 1876

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