Roman women took to the streets over a jewelry ban

A closer look

In 195 BCE, Rome tried to pass off wartime austerity as a permanent ban on women looking fabulous. The Lex Oppia banned women from owning more than half an ounce of gold or riding in fancy carriages. Once the war ended, the men conveniently forgot to repeal it. In response, the women of Rome essentially invented the mass protest, blockading streets and physically harassing government officials until the terrified Senate caved. It remains history's most successful mobilization for the right to flex hard in public.