Global History of Gendered Movements

Till the 19^th century, women were excluded from taking part in active public life such as education, politics and a number of professions that were considered for male alone. A number of movements that were termed and considered to be intellectual came into force to resist the issue of gender inequality; it also received reinforcement from platonic and stoic misogyny rationales that have gone on since the early ages of Christianity to the modern eras (Stern, 2002). Some indications of the journey that both men and women have travelled are indicated below.

Meriwether & Tucker, (2000) asserts that in 1774, eight shaker converts were led by mother Ann lee from Manchester in England to America with the aim to seek the freedom to work, live and worship. They entirely believed on equality in race, and gender.

In 1776, this was when the civil rights movement began with the intention of fighting for equality. The issue of gender and race should not be institutionalized (Smith, 2005).

In July 1848, a good number of both men and women converged in Wesleyan Methodist chapel. The meeting was meant to address and look into matters that were related to inequality that were very rampant during this period (Fischer, 2000). For instance women did not have the right of owning property; they could not access education since it was considered of less importance.

According to Saucer, Lanzinger & Frysak (2006), Catherine hall, Keith McClendell, Jane Lewis and Jane Rendall in their special 1993 issue of gender and history on gender pointed out that the issue of gender inequality had been accorded little attention. The formation of national states that were conscious to gender sensitiveness was also given very little analysis.

In 2000, The World Match of Women was formed (OCLC FirstSearch Electronic Collections Online. 2000). The movement was formed after seven months of mobilization and differing with other feminists organizations due to its policies and strategies. The movement was also formed from an alliance with a number of other mixed gender movements.

2003 experienced the greatest protest in human history (Stearns, 2006). With a participation of over eleven million people, this was in relation to the invasion of the Americans into Iraq.

An internet based organization and campaign is formed in 2007. The "say NO" campaign which was founded by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) is geared towards sensitizing and creating awareness about the issues of gender and violence (Meade & Weiser-Hanks, 2006).