2.3 THE WORKING CLASS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

The struggle for human rights in the era of enlightenment and revolution was about individual liberty and the right to participate in the governing of society. This is what the new middle class wanted. As the middle class gained more power and society developed, another new social group emerged with new needs, namely the workers. The workers worked in the factories and companies of the middle class, and were dependent on them like the peasantry was dependent on the landowners. In the same way as the middle class had demanded that the power elite observe their right to liberty, the working class now demanded that their social and economic needs be met. They organised across national borders and fought for higher pay, better working conditions, shorter working hours, the right to strike and organise, the right of all children to an education and other social benefits. As time passed these economic, social and cultural rights were also incorporated into many states’ laws.

In parallel with the struggle of labour movements, there was also a struggle for the rights of particular groups. One of these groups was women. The last 2,000 years of theories about democracy and natural rights had quite simply ignored women’s rights.