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Equal rights for women
(731 words)

In Germany, the word for equal rights, Gleichberechtigung, was used as a concrete legal term since the mid-19th century. In the dictionary of the Brothers Grimm, it is defined as follows: “In the context of legal and political orders, an equal degree of rights or claims and the equal status derived therefrom” [1]. In this sense, the term characterized the relationship between peoples, religions and confessions, and citizens, as well as the relationship between the sexes (Gender). Today, this point has become its only signification; at the beginning of the discourse of equality and equ…

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Koch, Elisabeth, “Equal rights for women”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_020273>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180126



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