Timeline of women's legal rights (other than voting) represents formal changes and reforms regarding women's rights. That includes actual law reforms as well as other formal changes, such as reforms through new interpretations of laws by precedents. The right to vote is exempted from the timeline: for that right, see Timeline of women's suffrage. The timeline also excludes ideological changes and events within feminism and antifeminism: for that, see Timeline of feminism.
Timeline 1900s 1900 Belgium: Legal majority for unmarried women. Egypt: A school for female teachers is founded in Cairo. France: Women allowed to practice law. Korea: The post office profession is open to women and thereby open the public work market for women. Tunisia: The first public elementary school for girls was founded. Japan: The first Women's University. Baden, Germany: Universities open to women. Sri Lanka: Secondary education open to females. Sweden: Maternity leave for female industrial workers.
1901 Bulgaria: Universities opened to women. China: Girls were included in the education system.Bonnie G. Smith: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set. Oxford University Press, USA, 2008 Cuba: Universities opened to women. Denmark: Maternity leave for all women. Sweden: Women are given four weeks maternity leave.
1902 Australia: A section in 1902 and 1922 Acts stated that every female officer was deemed to have retired from the Commonwealth Public Service of Australia upon her marriage. Norway: In 1902, new legislation allowed for abortion in cases where the mother's life was in danger or the child would be stillborn. El Salvador: Married women granted separate economy. El Salvador: Legal majority for married women. China: In 1902, the Empress Dowager Cixi issued an anti-foot binding edict, but it was soon rescinded."Cixi Outlaws Foot Binding ", History Channel
1903 On 3 March 1903, Bertha Cave applied to become the first female member of the Gray's Inn, as it was necessary to be a member of one of the Inns of Court in order to be called to the bar. She was mistakenly accepted which was soon changed and she was rejected on the basis of her gender. Cave appealed and in December of the same year, the case was heard, in proceedings that lasted 10 minutes, in the House of Lords. It was argued that women "were under a disability by reason of their sex". Again, she was unsuccessful. Sweden: Public medical offices open to women. Victoria, Australia: In 1903 the Women’s Disabilities Removal Act 1903, also called the "Flos Greig Enabling Act", was passed to allow women to practice law in Victoria.Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Legal Education. pg. 182. United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025.
1904 Nicaragua: Married women granted separate economy. Nicaragua: Legal majority for married women. Württemberg, Germany: Universities open to women. Egypt: Article 291 of the Egypt Penal Code, adopted in 1904 and inspired by a French provision, allowed any man who committed sexual assault against a woman to avoid penalty if he entered into marriage with the victim; it was eventually repealed in 1999.Sadek, George "Egypt: Sexual Violence Against Women" The Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Research Center, October 2016, Accessed March 14, 2017
1905 Argentina: University preparatory secondary education open to females. Iceland: Educational institutions open to women.Richard J Evans (1979). Kvinnorörelsens historia i Europa, USA, Australien och Nya Zeeland 1840–1920 (The Feminists: Women's Emancipation Movements in Europe, America and Australasia, 1840–1920) Helsingborg: LiberFörlag Stockholm. (Swedish) Russia: Universities open to women. Serbia: Female university students are fully integrated into the university system.Natalija Matić Zrnić, Jill A. Irvine & Carol S. Lilly: Natalija. Life in the Balkan Powder Keg 1880–1956. Central European University Press. 2008
1906 Finland: Women gain the right to stand for election. Honduras: Married women granted separate economy. Honduras: Legal majority for married women. Korea: The profession of nurse is allowed for women. Saxony, Germany: Universities open to women.
1907 France: Married women given control of their income. France: Women allowed guardianship of children. United Kingdom: Matrimonial Causes Act 1907 Iran: Compulsory primary education for females.Farzaneh Milani: Veils and Words: The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers. Syracuse University Press, 1992 Iran: The first Iranian school for girls is established by Tuba Azmudeh, followed by others in the following years. Japan: Tohoku University, the first (private) coeducational university. Japan: The punishments for abortion grew more severe in 1907 when the penal code revised: women could be incarcerated for up to a year for having an abortion; practitioners could be jailed for up to seven.Norgren, Tiana. Abortion before Birth Control: The Politics of Reproduction in Postwar Japan Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001. The Criminal Abortion Law of 1907 is still technically in effect today, but other legislation has overridden its effects. Norway: Women gain the right to stand for election. Sudan: The first school open to Muslim girls. United States: Section 3 of the Expatriation Act of 1907 provided for loss of citizenship by American women who married aliens.Tsiang, I-Mien (1942). The question of expatriation in America prior to 1907. Johns Hopkins Press. p. 114. OCLC 719352. Section 4 provided for retention of American citizenship by formerly alien women who had acquired citizenship by marriage to an American after the termination of their marriages. Women residing in the US would retain their American citizenship automatically if they did not explicitly renounce; women residing abroad would have the option to retain American citizenship by registration with a US.consul.Tsiang, I-Mien (1942). The question of expatriation in America prior to 1907. Johns Hopkins Press. p. 115. OCLC 719352. The aim of these provisions was to prevent cases of multiple nationality among women. England and Wales: The Qualification of Women (County and Borough Councils) Act 1907 (7 Edw. 7. c. 33) is an act of Parliament that clarified the right of certain women ratepayers to be elected to Borough and County Councils in England and Wales. It followed years of uncertainty and confusion, which included challenges in the courts when women first tried to stand for the London County Council. Women had been elected to separate boards dealing with the Poor Law and the Elementary Education Act 1870 and were entitled to serve on the new urban and rural district councils from 1894. Women had lost their influence on education boards when the free-standing boards were absorbed into newly established councils. Women had also lost places when towns grew and obtained Borough status.Hollis, Patricia, Ladies Elect: Women in English Local Government 1865–1914, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987 The 1907 act which was seen as a victory for the Women's Local Government SocietyJane Martin, 'Browne, Annie Leigh (1851–1936)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 14 Jan 2017 gave widows and unmarried women the right to stand anywhere in local government.
1908 Belgium: Women may act as legal witnesses in court. Denmark: Juridical professions of lower rank open to women. Denmark: Unmarried women are made legal guardian of their children. Korea: Secondary education for females through the foundation of the Capital School for Girl's Higher Education. Ottoman Empire: The Young Turks introduce several reform in favor of gender equality: the professions of doctor, lawyer, and civil servant as well as public places such as restaurants, theatres and lecture halls open to both genders.Women in the Ottoman Empire by Eric R Dursteler, Oxford Reference Online Peru: Universities open to women. Prussia, Alsace-Lorraine and Hesse, Germany: Universities open to women. Sweden: First women are employed in the Swedish Police Authority.Dahlgren, Johanna (2007). Kvinnor i polistjänst (PDF). Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (in Swedish) (Department of Historical Studies, Umeå University). . Retrieved 17 August 2015. United States: Muller v. Oregon, , was a landmark decision in United States Supreme Court history, as it was used to justify both sex discrimination and usage of labor laws during the time period. The case upheld Oregon state restrictions on the working hours of women as justified by the special state interest in protecting women's health. The ruling had important implications for protective labor legislation. United States, New York City: The Sullivan Ordinance was a municipal law passed on January 21, 1908, in New York City by the board of aldermen, barring the management of a public place from allowing women to smoke within their venue.Brandt, Allan M. (2007). The Cigarette Century. New York: Basic Books, page 57. The mayor at the time, George B. McClellan Jr., vetoed the ordinance in February.
1909 France: Married women are given the legal right to be consulted by husbands before the husband disposes of family property, and to press charges against the economic mismanagement of the husband. Sweden: Women granted eligibility to municipal councils. Sweden: The phrase "Swedish man" are removed from the application forms to public offices and women are thereby approved as applicants to most public professions and posts as civil servants. Mecklenburg, Germany: Universities open to women.
1910s 1910 Spain: Universities fully open to women.Consuelo Flecha: Las primeras universitarias en España, 1872–1910. Narcea Ediciones, 1996 United States: The White-Slave Traffic Act, or the Mann Act, is a United States federal law, passed June 25, 1910 (ch. 395, ; codified as amended at ). It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann of Illinois, and in its original form made it a felony to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose". In practice, its ambiguous language about "immorality" has resulted in its being used to criminalize even consensual sexual behavior between adults. It was amended by Congress in 1978 and again in 1986. 1911 Netherlands: Abortion was deemed illegal under the Penal Code of 1886. Convictions were all but precluded, however, by a requirement that the prosecution prove that the fetus had been alive until the abortion. The Morality Acts of 1911 closed this loophole, and strictly barred all abortions, except those performed to save the life of the pregnant woman. Luxembourg: A new educational law gives women access to higher education, and two secondary education schools open to females.Jules Mersch: Biographie nationale du pays de Luxembourg depuis ses origines jusgu'a nos jours: collection présentée par Jules Mersch, Volym 6. Imprimerie de la Cour Victor Buck, 1962 Portugal: Civil offices open to women. Portugal: Legal majority for married women (rescinded in 1933). Taiwan: In Taiwan from 1911 to 1915 foot binding was gradually made illegal.Hu, Alex. The Influence of Western Women on the Anti-Footbinding Movement. Historical Reflections, Vol. 8, No. 3, Women in China: Current Directions in Historical Scholarship, Fall 1981, pp. 179–199."