Rights we haven't always enjoyed....

As a woman, I cannot take for granted the freedom of living in an equal rights society. I have learned through history however, the struggle of many women that were treated as a second class citizen. For instance, it wasn't long ago that women didn't have the right to control when and whether be pregnant.

Margaret Sanger, a nurse at the turn of the 20th century, was an American birth control advocate who witnessed unwelcome and unplanned pregnancies, especially in low income women. Sanger's mother was a woman who suffered poor health due to multiple pregnancies and died from cervical cancer and tuberculosis. Because of her intense beliefs on the topic of birth control, Sanger founded the National Birth Control League in 1914, leading to changes in the law prohibiting doctors from giving birth control advice (and later, birth control devices) to patients.

Thanks to those changes I now have the right to control how many children I decide to bear, a right which has had a tremendous impact in my life because I am not tied down to a large family which I could not support.

Other rights that have made a great difference in our society include:

The Minimum Wage became law when it was written into the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. 0.25 cents and hour was the amount of pay required by the first national minimum wage law. Individual states are now required by law to have a minimum wage. Most of the state minimum wages are comparable to the federal minimum wage.

In drafting the Equal Pay Act of 1963, legislators intended to get rid of the wage difference between the sexes. Giving women an equal pay for equal work was something that although passed in 1963, we still struggle with in many jobs around the country.

The Privacy Act came about because of American concerns over how personal information was being used by the government. Many were concerned that they would have no more privacy in light of the emerging computer age. This act, created in 1974 puts strict restrictions on the governments collection and use of personal data, and gives individuals a method of suing the government for violation of the law.

The Federal Fair Housing Act, prohibits any discrimination based on race, sex, religion, national origin, familial status, and other profiling criteria when it comes to housing transactions. Many people previously unable to rent or purchase homes or acquire financing have received benefit from this law.

The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990, by President Bush (Senior) which prohibits any and all discrimination due to disabilities.

All of the previously mentiones laws have been hard fought for. Behind every single law, there were many people who suffered indignities because of lack of fairness or equal rights.