It is a fact that men have always been the ones working while women stayed home, taking care of the house, children and waiting for their husbands with a warm meal, but that was centuries ago. Now, women work side by side with their male counterparts. How so?

Well, World War II began and men needed to go and fight for their country. That left a massive gaping wound in the economy. With no one to do the groundwork, the economy halted and came crashing. The ones left to fend for themselves were women and they came up with a solution. Why not work the jobs that men left behind? And so women started working in factories and shipyards. They toiled in fields such as welders, machinists, riveters, nurses, cleaners, farmers and pilots, but also didn't neglect the house and kids.

But feminism didn't start there, it actually has its roots in Greece. The Greek philosopher, Plato had the idea that children should be gathered in a group and be watched over by a caretaker. Another Greek advocate for feminism was the poet Sappho from the island Lesbos. Her main objective was to establish an academy for unmarried young women. She was a direct admirer of Aphrodite who she wrote about in her works. Many of her poems speak of love and devotion. Some of her works include Ode of Aphrodite and Sappho 31. She viewed love as one of the strongest forces a human can feel. Plato even called her the "tenth muse" and she is considered by some to be one of the greatest lyric poets.

A different poet but just as crucial was Christine de Pizan who was also a philosopher and copyist. She started including her own opinions in her work. She liked to prompt the notion that women were not only virgins, wives, or widows and that they should play an active role in society and in politics. One of her most famous texts, La Cité des dames(The Book of the City of Ladies) is a pillar for proto-feminism literature, written as a critique of certain misogynistic literary works. 

As a step in the right direction, the Declaration of Sentiments was written, outlining the rights that American women should be entitled to as citizens, that appeared from the Seneca Falls Convention in New York in July 1848. The Declaration of Sentiments was based on the Declaration of Independence, to compare the struggles of the Founding Fathers to those of the women's movement.

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was another amendment that was proposed to the U.S. Constitution that would contradict many state and federal laws that treat women as inferior to men. Its central underlying principle is that gender should not determine the legal rights of an individual.

The women of World War II. Image: Valentin Horvath.

The Me Too movement is an awareness movement against the sexual harassment and sexual abuse of women in the workplace. While the phrase has been known for more than a decade, a tweet by Alyssa Milano, an American actress, provoked a debate online that made people realize the dangers that women were put through while working, gave voice to the survivors and led to cultural and workplace changes for the best.