(I) Feminism, the movement for equal legal and social status for women, arose in response to the hardships that women had suffered over the centuries. (II) Apart from the short-lived gains of the French revolution, women, well into the 1800s, had little or no right to hold property, to exercise authority over children or to vote. (III) The rise of democracy helped encourage women to fight for these rights. (IV) However, although many gains in legal, political and educational rights have been made, full social equality still has to be won. (V) As a result, today more women exercise political power in governments the world over.