Throughout history, the efforts of U.S. feminists have made the idea of a woman being murdered for not wearing the proper clothing seem more like a scene from a movie than real life in the United States.

Through picketing, raising hostile crowds and forming committees, feminists have won women the right to vote, own land, hold nontraditional jobs and receive an education.

“For many years, in most states, women didn’t have official legal standing,” said Amy Bix, associate professor of history. “Legal systems treated women as appendages to men. They were not allowed many rights, such as inheritance and signing contracts.”

It was difficult for women to oppose oppressive laws, because higher education was not offered to them to learn how to make necessary judicial changes. In 1848, the first women’s movement was launched by drafting the Declaration of Sentiments, calling for changes in the areas of life in which women were treated unjustly and unequal to men.

“When Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments in 1848, no college or university would accept women students,” said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center For Women and Politics. “The first women’s movement was key in opening educational opportunities for women,”

According to “Living Legacy: Women’s Rights Movements,” the first state school to admit women was the University of Iowa in 1855.

Not only have feminists help provide women with more educational opportunities, but the U.S. society has been educated in different areas than before.

“As the mother of a 12-year-old daughter, I am constantly reminded of the opportunities she has, both in school and in sports, that I did not have growing up,” Bystrom said. “While our schools still have a ways to go, at least my daughter and 17-year-old son are learning about key women in history, the women’s rights movements and women authors and activists. Women were generally absent in my education until college.”

Since Title IX of the Education Codes was passed in 1872, which made equal access to higher education and professional schools the law, the numbers of women doctors, lawyers, engineers and other professionals has more than quadrupled.

Feminists also have tried to change laws that oppress women from the inside, by being elected to government positions.

In 1916, Jeannette Rankin was the first woman elected to Congress. Currently, women hold 13 percent of the seats in Congress and 22 percent of the seats in state legislatures.

“Although political progress for women has been slow, it has been steady,” Bystrom said. “And each woman elected opens the door a little wider for the women following her.”

The women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s widened the scope of women’s political advancement.

“This movement focused on reproductive rights and sought to improve the economic and political situation of women,” said Jill Bystydzienski, director of women’s studies.

Although feminists vastly improved the quality of life for women, they are sometimes looked down upon as extremists.

“I think, unfortunately, sometimes people demonize feminists,” Bix said. “It’s easy to point at the radicals, stereotype them and make [their cause] seem ridiculous. They don’t always see the important points that early feminists were facing. We’ve only been living in recent years and need to look back to see how much has changed.”

Even if the United States is one of the leading countries in women’s rights, there is still room to grow.

“Unfortunately, sexism is still alive in all aspects and places in our society,” Bystydzienski said. “I recently overheard a group of male students making derogatory remarks about women and their bodies as they watched women walk by.

“There is a lot of sexual harassment, mostly of women, in all workplaces,” she said.

Feminists have empowered men and women to work toward a world free of oppression not only for women, but for all people, she said.

“Due to feminists, as well as other movements, we are more conscious today that people should not be discriminated against because of their sex, or skin color, or religious beliefs or sexual orientation,” Bystydzienski said. “Feminists, in general, are committed to the idea that we, all as human beings, have equal value and that we should not treat or regard one another as better or worse because we may be of one or another gender, race, class, nationality or religion.”