Conclusion — Claiming Magna Carta Rights

Abstract

Scutt celebrates women’s strength and will in renouncing subservience as their lot, just as the 1215 barons refused to accept tyranny. Ironically, she notes, although the US Constitution took Magna Carta as its foundation, US women effectively referencing it in their 1848 Seneca Fall claims and subsequently, Canada, Aotearoa/New Zealand, the UK and Australia beat the US to a woman as national leader. Scutt notes, too, the impact of women from smaller, less populous west coast states or provinces, their abilities and capabilities better recognised, men’s power less entrenched. Today, US women reassert a right to an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) affirming women’s right to equality. Scutt confirms women’s continuing demand for women as persons entitled to rights Magna Carta should and now may advance.