The evolution and history of European women coincide with the evolution and the history of Europe itself. Women's societal roles and rights vary by country and region and have changed significantly over time.
History
Prehistory Research suggests that "in contrast to men, rigorous manual labor was a more important component of prehistoric women's behavior than was terrestrial mobility through thousands of years of European agriculture."
Ancient and Modern History According to Michael Scott, in his article "The Rise of Women in Ancient Greece" (History Today), "place of women" and their achievements in Ancient Greece was best described by Thucidydes in this quotation: that The greatest glory [for women] is to be least talked about among men, whether in praise or blame.Scott, Michael. The Rise of Women in Ancient Greece, History Today, Volume: 59 Issue: 11 2009
The modern-day characteristics of women in Belarus evolved from the events that happened in the history of Belarus, particularly when the "concept of equal rights for women was first developed and substantiated in the late 16th century". The so-called Grand Duchy Charter of 1588 - one of the most important legal documents in Belarusian history - protected the dignity of Belarusian women under the law.Belarusian Women as seen Through an Era , United Nations in Belarus. Women in Belarus and their contribution to Belarusian society is celebrated annually on 8 March, during International Women's Day.France, everyculture.com
After attaining the right to vote in German politics in 1919, German women began to take active roles in assuming positions customarily done only by German men. After the end of World War II, they were labeled as the Trümmerfrauen or "women of the rubble" because they took care of the "wounded, buried the dead, salvaged belongings," and they participated in the "hard task of rebuilding war-torn Germany by simply clearing away" the rubble and ruins of war.Women In German Society , German Culture, germanculture.com
Traditional roles
The traditional roles of women in society vary across European states and cultures.
Albania Albanian women reside within a conservative and patriarchal society. In such a traditional society, the women of Albania have subordinate roles in communities that believe in "male predominance". This is despite the arrival of democracy and the adoption of a free market economy in Albania, after the period under the communist Party of Labor. Based on the 500-year-old Kanun of Leke Dukagjini, a traditional code of conduct, the main role of Albanian women is to take care of the children and to take care of the home.
Armenia Due to the patriarchal nature of traditional Armenian culture and society,Itano, Nicole. Quota Law Puts More Women in Armenia's Election. WeNews. May 10, 2007. women in Armenia are often expected to be virtuous and submissive, to safeguard their virginity until marriage, and assume primarily domestic tasks.
Azerbaijan Traditional social norms in Azerbaijan and lagging economic development in the country's rural regions continue to restrict women's roles in the economy, and there are reports that women have difficulty exercising their legal rights due to gender discrimination.Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Azerbaijan (2011). United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2011). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Italy In some parts of Italy, women are still stereotyped as being simply housewives and mothers, also reflected in the fact of a higher-than-EU average female unemployment.
Montenegro An early description of women from Montenegro comes from a column of The New York Times on November 5, 1880, wherein the newspaper said that "The Montenegrin woman takes an equal share of labor with the man at field-work, and she does all the carrying" in relation to travel by horse ride and other forms of transport by animals. The newspaper further described them to be engaged in knitting or spinning. (abstract)
Switzerland Swiss tradition places women under the authority of their fathers and their husbands.
Promoting gender equality Legally, women in Andorra have equal rights under the laws of the Principality of Andorra. Andorra was slow to give women legal rights: women's suffrage was achieved only in 1970. In recent years, however, women have progressed significantly. Politically, Andorran women won 15 seats during their country's parliamentary election of 2011; for this reason, Andorra became the first nation in Europe and the second country internationally to have elected a "majority female legislature".
The legal position of women in Austria improved since the middle of the 1970s. Based on a December 1993 study about the status of Women in Austria, the priority of legislation in Austria is based on the equal treatment of both genders rather than having equal rights only. Thus, Austrian women benefit from their government's attempt "to compensate for gender-specific inequality of burdens". However, despite the legislative improvement in relation to the status of women in Austrian society, the concept of traditional roles prevailed. Austrian men regard most household chores and child-rearing responsibilities as being within the realm of Austrian women. Both education and gender are the basis of income levels.Lewis, Jone Johnson. Austria: Status of Women , Encyclopedia of Women's History, December 1993.
Women in Azerbaijan nominally enjoy the same legal rights as men; however, societal discrimination is a problem. In Croatia, gender equality is part of Article 3 of the Constitution of Croatia. A Gender Equality Ombudsman and the Office for Gender Equality has existed since 2003. Czech Republic After the period in the history of the Czech Republic known as the Velvet Revolution, many women have become individuals with full-time jobs and who, at the same time, are also focusing on their responsibilities as homemakers, giving themselves "a high sense of personal efficacy and independence" within Czech society.
Finnish women enjoy a "high degree of equality" and "traditional courtesy" among men.Alho, Olli. A guide to Finnish customs and manners, November 2002/March 2010 In 1906, the women of Finland became the first women in Europe to be granted the right to vote.Women in Business in Finland , worldbusinessculture.com There are many women in Finland who hold prominent positions in Finnish society, in the academics, in the field of business, and in the government of Finland. An example of powerful women in Finnish politics is Tarja Halonen, who became the first female president of the country (she was Foreign Minister of Finland before becoming president).
The status of Grecian women has undergone change and more advancement upon the onset of the twentieth century. In 1957, they received their right to vote, which led to their earning places and job positions in businesses and in the government of Greece; and they were able to maintain their right to inherit property, even after being married.Hitton, Shanti. Social Culture of Greece , Travel Tips, USA Today
Today, the Netherlands has the happiest women in the world, according to one study.
San Marino introduced women's suffrage following the 1957 constitutional crisis known as Fatti di Rovereta. Sammarinese women received the right to vote in 1960. They received the right to hold political office in 1973. However, in a 1982 referendum, the women of San Marino did not win the right to retain their Sammarinese citizenship if they married male foreigners (19,000 Sammarinese voters voted to not abolish the 1928 law that striped Sammarinese women of Sammarinese citizenship if they married foreigners); as a result of losing Sammarinese citizenship, the women also lost the right to vote, to work, to own property, to reside in, and to inherit property in the Republic of San Marino. These citizenship laws were later changed by the parliament in 2000,United States Department of State and 2004, allowing women to keep their citizenship and transmit it to their children and husband.
Apart from attaining prominence as "queens and noble women" in Spain's history, Spanish women now also excelled in establishing their role as women of present-day Spain "without a marked feminist rebellion".
Swiss women obtained the right to vote in national elections in 1971; while women obtained the right to vote at local canton level between 1959 (the cantons of Vaud and Neuchâtel in that year) and 1991 (the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden). However, despite gaining status of having equal rights with men, some Swiss women still have to be able to attain education beyond the post-secondary level, thus they earn less money than men, and they occupy lower-level job positions.Switzerland, everyculture.com
As citizens of a post-war nation, some Kosovar (or Kosovan) women have become participants in the process of peace-building and establishing pro-gender equality in Kosovo's rehabilitation process.An Approach to the Kosovo Post-War Rehabilitation Process from a Gender Perspective, QUADERNS DE CONSTRUCCIÓ DE PAU Nº 2, escola de cultura de pau, page 5. Women in Kosovo have also become active in politics and law enforcement in the Republic of Kosovo. An example of which is the election of Atifete Jahjaga as the fourth President of Kosovo, and as such she became the first female,First Female Elected President, Kosovo the first non-partisan candidate, and the youngest to be elected to the office of the presidency in the country. Before becoming president, she served as deputy director of the Kosovo Police,Koha, "Në krye të Policisë së Kosovës, Atifete Jahjaga" Shqip TIME.mk 16 October 2010 (accessed 6 April 2011) holding the rank of Major general,"Atifete Jahjaga zgjidhet presidente e Republikës" Telegrafi.com 7 April 2011 (accessed 6 April 2011) the highest among women in Southeastern Europe."Kush do të na udhëheq" Telegrafi.com 7 April 2011 (accessed 7 April 2011)
South Ossetian women experienced situations of armed conflict in their regions.GEORGIA: Female NGO Activists of Georgia and South Ossetia Meet in Baku to Search Ways to Stop Enmity , Caucasian Knot, peacewomen.org, June 12, 2010Female NGO activists of Georgia and South Ossetia meet in Baku to search ways to stop enmity , Caucasian Knot, kavkaz-uzel.ru The main organization that promotes and safeguards the status of South Ossetian women is the Association of South Ossetian Women for Democracy and Human Rights (sometimes referred to as Association of Women of South Ossetia for Democracy and Defence of Human Rights) and is currently headed by Lira Kozaeva-Tskhovrebova.MACEDONIA: How Are Women Faring In Macedonia? , AWID, September 12, 2009, peacewomen.org
Ensuring equal chances in the workplace for women might generate $160 trillion in value.
Women in the workplace
Generation after generation, Belgian women are able to close the so-called "occupational gender gap". In younger generations, this is due to the increasing availability of "part-time jobs in services" for women. In 1999, the average earnings of a Belgian woman was 91 percent of the salary of a Belgian man. When not doing part-time jobs, Belgian women still "do more of the domestic work", depending on the agreement between female and male partners.