Historical background {draw:a} {draw:a} Suffrage parade, New York City, May 6, 1912 Until the mid-nineteenth century, writers assumed that a patriarchal order was a natural order that had existed[3] as John Stuart Mill wrote, since "the very earliest twilight of human society".[4] This was not seriously challenged until the eighteenth century when Jesuit missionaries found matrilineality in native North American peoples.[5] Some have claimed that women generally had more legal rights under Islamic law than they did under Western legal systems until more recent times.[12] English Common Law transferred property held by a wife at the time of a marriage to her husband, which contrasted with the Sura: "Unto men (of the family) belongs a share of that which Parents and near kindred leave, and unto women a share of that which parents and near kindred leave, whether it be a little or much - a determinate share" (Quran 4:7), albeit maintaining that husbands were solely responsible for the maintenance and leadership of his wife and family.[12] "French married women, unlike their Muslim sisters, suffered from restrictions on their legal capacity which were removed only in 1965."[13] In the 16th century, the Reformation in Europe allowed more women to add their voices, including the English writers Jane Anger, , and the prophetess Anna Trapnell. However, it has been claimed that the Dissolution and resulting closure of convents had deprived many such women of one path to education.[14][15][16] Giving voice in the secular context became more difficult when deprived of the rationale and protection of divine inspiration. Queen Elizabeth I demonstrated leadership amongst women, even if she was unsupportive of their causes, and subsequently became a role model for the education of women.[17] {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} The Enlightenment and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman {draw:a} {draw:a} First edition print of Vindication of the Rights of Woman...