Historical Background ;-)

Suffrage parade, New York City, May 6, 1912. Until the mid-nineteenth century, writers assumed that a patriarchal order was a natural order that had existed as John Stuart Mill wrote, since "the very earliest twilight of human society". This was not seriously challenged until the eighteenth century when Jesuit missionaries found matrilineality in native North American peoples. Women were not accorded with such legal status in other cultures, including the West, until centuries later. Under Islamic law, marriage was no longer viewed as a "status" but rather as an "agreement", in which the woman's consent was essential. Annemarie Schimmel states that "compared to the pre-Islamic position of women, Islamic legislation meant an enormous progress; the woman has the right, at least according to the letter of the law, to administer the wealth she has brought into the family or has earned by her own work." Some have claimed that women generally had more legal rights under Islamic law than they did under Western legal systems until more recent times. English Common Law transferred property held by a wife at the time of a marriage to her husband, which contrasted with the Sura: "Unto men (of the family) belongs a share of that which Parents and near kindred leave, and unto women a share of that which parents and near kindred leave, whether it be a little or much - a determinate share" (Quran 4:7), albeit maintaining that husbands were solely responsible for the maintenance and leadership of his wife and family. In the 16th century, the Reformation in Europe allowed more women to add their voices, including the English writers Jane Anger, Aemilia Lanyer, and the prophetess Anna Trapnell. However, it has been claimed that the termination and resulting closure of convents had deprived many such women of one path to education. Giving voice in the material circumstance became more difficult when deprived of the rationale and protection of divine inspiration. Queen Elizabeth I demonstrated leadership amongst women, even if she was unsupportive of their causes, and subsequently became a role model for the education of women.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_rights#A_history_of_women.27s_rights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Suffrage_parade-New_York_City-May_6_1912.jpg