Reference no: EM133484188

Case: For many decades, women around the world have been denied their rights just for being a woman. Some of these basic rights include the chance to receive an education and the right to drive. Various women have felt strongly discriminated against and have joined movements to demand the rights they believed they deserved. Specifically, Manal-Al Sharif, Qui Jin, and Raden Adjeng Kartini each tirelessly fought for the rights of women in their own country. These three women have served as activists and role models at the forefront of the women's movement in a society against gender equality. Manal-Al Sharif grew up in the country of Saudia Arabia where it was illegal for women to drive and bravely challenged that law. Sharif accepted the risk of being arrested or even death to film herself driving her brother's car and then posted it on social media on May 21, 2011 (Sharif). Her video went viral online where it was viewed by over 700,000 people including government officials. The consequences of her actions followed her the next day when she was arrested and jailed (Aratani). Yet, she didn't let the consequences deter her from continuing her mission to challenge the ban against women driving.

After Sharif's release due to the appeal by her father 9 days later, she fought on and started the Women2Drive movement campaigning for a women's right to drive. Her movement inspired others to join including "Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist and a prominent critic of the Saudi government, who was assassinated by the Saudi Arabian government" (The Guardian). "Loujain al-Hathloul, a vocal advocate for women's rights who was abducted while driving in the United Arab Emirates in March 2018" was also inspired to join the movement. Sharif along with her followers pushed for the movement until Saudia Arabia lifted the ban in June 2018 (TIME). Even after the ban was lifted, Sharif continued to advocate for women's rights by driving around the US to raising awareness of restrictive Saudia Arabian laws on women that could lead to the denial of education of women at the decision of a man in the family and protesting outside the Saudi embassy in Washington DC (The Guardian)

Similar to Manal-Al Sharif, Qui Jin took a huge step towards women's equality and fiercely advocated for the right to an education in China. Although Jin grew up in a wealthy family where she was allowed to receive an education, that opportunity would be unrightfully taken away when her father arranged for her to marry the son of a wealthy merchant named Wang Tingjun (Foulkes). Jin's decision to abandon the family she made with her husband in 1904 to study in Japan challenged the traditional Chinese women's role that "women were to marry, become good wives, and above all bear sons" (Encyclopedia of World Biography). While studying in Japan, Jin started her mission of advocating for women's rights to education by starting an organization called the Study of Oratory where she taught about gender equality and revolution to lower class citizens. She also began writing articles promoting women's education and gender equality in the Vernacular Journal (Encyclopedia of World Biography). Due to the Japanese Government being pressured by the Chinese government to ban overseas Chinese students from engaging in politics, Jin went back to China in 1907 and taught at a girl's school while convincing the other teachers to adopt the idea of gender equality and nationalism. That same year, Qui Jin was caught and beheaded after the Chinese government found incriminating documents against her revealing her opposition to the government (Foulkes). Her execution due to her fight for women's rights, especially for education, inspired Yu Manzhen, the mother of the later female literary and revolutionary figure Ding Ling, and Jin's daughter to continue boosting the movement that Jin took upon fearlessly (Encyclopedia of World Biography).

Almost 3,000 miles away from Qui Jin, Raden Adjeng Kartini actively denounced and defied the Javanese government in an effort to advocate for education for women just like both Qui Jin and Manal-Al Sharif. In Java, Indonesia where Kartini grew up, Europeans and male
children of aristocratic Javanese were the only ones allowed an education. As the daughter of a wealthy Javanese, Kartini was granted the opportunity to education but only until the age of 12 and was made to "stay at home and learn homemaking skills" like every other woman
(Encyclopedia of World Biography). Desperate to avoid loneliness, Kartini accepted a marriage proposal arrange by her father. This marriage would lead to the opening of the "first Indonesian primary school for native girls that did not discriminate on the basis of their social status" in 1903 at the permission of her husband (Biography.com). Despite the opportunity for Kartini through her marriage to push women's education by opening a school, she lost her chance to receive a scholarship to study abroad in Europe (Encyclopedia of World Biography).

Also, Raden Adjeng Kartini had written letters to her friends in Holland which were published in Java and Holland in 1911 after her death during childbirth. These letters described the restrictive traditions of women's roles that prevented the education of women and criticized the Javanese government. Her letters were translated into various languages including Arabic and were "used by a group trying to gain support for the country's Ethical Policy movement" (Encyclopedia of World Biography). Not only that but her letters also inspired a group of women to open more of Kartini's school within Java. More and more women were joining the movement because of Kartini's letters which prompted "The 1945 Constitution establishing the Republic of Indonesia guaranteed women the same rights as men in the areas of education, voting rights, and economy" (Encyclopedia of World Biography). Kartini's efforts to encourage and push for women's education is the reason many in Java are able to receive an education in the present.

Manal-Al Sharif, Qui Jin, and Raden Adjeng Kartini all spent their lives advocating for the rights of women in their own country. These three women have served with determination as activists and role models at the forefront of the women's movement in a society against gender
equality. Due to these women's admirable actions and relentless efforts to challenge and defy their country's government, more women have been given the opportunity to have the basic rights of education and driving. Because of the courageous work of Manal-Al Sharif, Qui Jin,
and Raden Adjeng Kartini, women will no longer be denied some of their basic rights in the countries of Saudia Arabia, China, and Indonesia.