Final Arete - Volume 4, No 1 Fall Winter 2026

Αρετή (Arete) Journal of Excellence in Global Leadership | Vol. 4 No. 1 | 2026

Introduction Women are an essential part of society. They are the mothers who give birth to children, the sisters who support one another, and the matriarchs of families. Even with the inherent importance of women in society, they have not had an easy road. Time and again women have been forced to stand up and fight for their equality, their rights, and their voices. Women, though, are survivors and fighters who will continue to forge a path forward in their endeavours. It has taken several years and multiple movements to get women to the position they are in today. Women did not earn the right to vote until the 19 th Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed on June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920 (U.S. Const. amend. XIX). During the 1950s women still had considerably fewer rights than men. It was during this era in 1955 that Rosa Parks stirred the embers of the civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a man (History.com Editors, 2024). This small act of defiance, based on the inequities of men and women in society, was the beginning of unrest and protest in the United States. This movement would continue to build momentum over the next several years until the culmination in the 1960s. In 1963, the Equal Pay Act was signed into law (Equal Pay Act, 1963). This monumental law prohibits sex-based wage discrimination in the workplace for men and women performing the same job (Equal Pay Act, 1963). In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was signed into law (Civil Rights Act, 1964). This law, also known as Title VII, bans employment discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, or sex (Civil Rights Act, 1964). See Figure 1 for timeline of these notable events. Figure 1 A Timeline of Women’s Rights Progress and Leadership Milestones in the United States

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