20th century

== Social change ==
[[File:Martin_Luther_King_-_March_on_Washington.jpg|thumb|[[Martin Luther King Jr.]], an [[African Americans|African American]] [[civil rights movement]] leader ([[I Have a Dream|Washington, August 1963]])]]

At the beginning of the century, strong discrimination based on race and sex was significant in most societies. Although the [[Atlantic slave trade]] had ended in the 19th century, movements for equality for non-white people in the white-dominated societies of [[Civil rights movement|North America]], Europe, and [[Apartheid|South Africa]] continued. By the end of the 20th century, in many parts of the world, women had the same legal rights as men, and racism had come to be seen as unacceptable, a sentiment often backed up by legislation.<ref>Fleegler, Robert L. [http://mdah.state.ms.us/pubs/bilbo.pdf Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism, 1938–1947] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206151355/http://mdah.state.ms.us/pubs/bilbo.pdf |date=2009-02-06 }}. Retrieved 23 December 2014</ref> When the [[India|Republic of India]] was [[Constitution of India|constituted]], the disadvantaged classes of the [[caste system in India]] became entitled to [[affirmative action]] benefits in education, employment and government.

Attitudes toward pre-marital sex changed rapidly in many societies during the [[sexual revolution]] of the 1960s and 1970s. Attitudes towards homosexuality also began to change in the later part of the century.

<ref>{{Cite web|last=Zadey|first=Siddhesh|date=2019-11-25|title=Constitution Day: Do We Truly Know the 'Real' Ambedkar?|url=https://www.thequint.com/voices/blogs/indian-constitution-ambedkar-caste-system-reservation-policy-activism-social-barriers|access-date=2021-07-30|website=TheQuint|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-08-16|title=Ambedkar and political reservation|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/ambedkar-and-political-reservation-6557591/|access-date=2021-07-30|website=The Indian Express|language=en}}</ref>