Once, women were looked down upon. Not only were their rights neglected, but so were their lifestyles. For many years, it was nearly impossible for a women to have any self-confidence whatsoever without being judged by the opposite sex, or even the government. There were times when even the most ignorant men were given more rights than the most intelligent women. Women were not only forced to be uneducated, but to practically “wear the pants” in the relationship by doing nothing short of the dirty work.…
When considering women’s equality in the United States, the average person considers examples such as the Suffragist movement at the turn of the twentieth century or the Feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. These two movements did not just occur on a feminine whim. They were often curated by previous movements and expectations held for women that they felt was necessary to update and change, much to the chagrin of the traditionalists of their respective time periods. The same can be said about both Republican Motherhood and the Cult of Domesticity. While overlapping, the two movements have many nuanced differences.…
Women in the 1920’s, also know as the Roaring Twenties, were viewed as citizens, but only when it came to certain areas. The men were looked at from the perspective of being at the top of the totem pole. And what they wanted, no one could disagree, especially the women. At the turn of the century, women had a limited role in most societies around the world. Their role has dramatically changed in the social area.…
Although women were beginning to be more prominent in the workforce, they still confronted many barriers because of traditional ideologies that stereotyped their abilities. In 1963 women were facing large pay gaps; women made 59 cents for every dollar men made, they were discriminated because workplaces weren’t willing to employ women because didn’t meet the permanent and reliable criteria. The second wave of feminism addressed these issues by protesting and forming groups such as the Women’s Electoral Lobby in 1972. WEL’s “mission is to create a society where women’s participation and potential are unrestricted, acknowledged and respected and where women and men share equally in society’s responsibilities and rewards” (Unnamed author, undated source). WEL was a political lobby group and publicised these issues through written media materials and public meetings, their efforts played a significant role in important policy and legislative changes such as the passing of Equal Pay Legislation in 1972, which stated women and men were to receive equivalent pay, regardless of what job they performed, Federal Childcare Act which involves government funding of childcare and the drafting and implementation of state Anti-discrimination and Federal Sex Discrimination legislation.…
Both men and women are fighting for equal treatment of women, including equal pay. Men are no longer known as “the breadwinner of the family” but rather both…
Women in the 1950’s were expected to be the perfect housewife, do laundry, clean, and cook. There were common standards that women needed to uphold in their house, they no longer took an active role in political and social affairs. They became bored and left with a feeling of incompletion due to their lack of activity within the community. To ease their unfulfillment feeling, many women turned…
The history of a woman’s role in American society has always been a dynamic and constantly changing one. The Cult of Domesticity and Republican Motherhood were prominent ideas in the 18th and early 19th centuries that encouraged women to stay home and perform menial tasks. This notion of separate spheres between men and women began to be contested as the 19th century progressed. Beginning with the Seneca Falls convention in 1848 and continuing throughout the Gilded Age, society’s views on women were challenged. Culminating with the Progressive Era, women gained various political rights, most notably gaining the right to vote.…
In the early 1970s, a 37 worded document referred to as Title IX was added to the law after president Nixon signed it. This now constitutional right stated, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Women and men all over America brought up this problem and took the time to bring it up to congress with their state representatives and senate. This amendment was supported by coaches, congresswomen and congressmen, senators, and the president Richard Nixon. As a member of the US Senate, Joseph Califano, once said, “the point [of Title IX] was human dignity”…
The 1980s had a lot of the same issues as we have in the modern day. A few of the major issues that were debated were a women’s right for an abortion, the growing homeless population, and the need for higher education. Only two of these issues were settled for the most part by the end of the 80s. The women’s right to have an abortion was debated and finally set on the shoulders of the states to decide.…
When the giants of business began to exponentially grow and poverty levels substantially started to rise and immigration was viewed as a highly controversial issue, voices crying for change began to challenge the way Americans perceived the concept of democracy during the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s. If politicians could be bought, what hope was there for the poor? If immigrants were to be treated as secondhand citizens, what promise did the country have of ever expanding national influence? If women were to remain subordinate to men, how were the thinkers of this era ever going to be able to tap into the resource that was approximately half of the nation’s (and the world’s) population? If laborers were to be seen but not heard, would the…
To protect herself from any potential backlash, Murray submitted the essay under the pen name “Constantia” and while it didn’t create a movement for equality, her essay was enough to at least get people thinking. The essay also was released during a pivotal time in American history because the country was going through a significant era of change from the American Revolution. One of the earliest strides that society took towards gender equality was during the republican thrust of revolutionary politics. The United States needed strong, smart, and self-disciplined citizens to be at the heart of the new nation and because children couldn’t be in school 24/7, the responsibility was left up the mothers. This newfound significance as a “republican mother” (Kornfeld 8) enticed society to place more emphasis on women’s education and also created some equality within the households between husband and wife.…
Back in the 1900’s, women wasn’t allowed to work the same job as men because at the time women was considered weak and men didn’t think women can do what they did. According to Leonard she stated, “This is why universal, twenty-four hour child care was a primary demand of the 1970 Women’s Strike for Equality and must be a first step toward women’s freedom” (59). Even in our community today where women are allow to work with men, they often don’t get paid the same amount as men even though they do exactly the same thing at work. “Their work frequently goes unrecognized as “real” work specifically because it is the sort of work that is women’s “natural” lot” (55). A lot of the time, women’s hard work at their daily jobs goes unrecognized and a lot of times, women have to work a little harder to get their points across.…
The women’s movement of the 1960s was a movement that should have happened a long time ago. Women have been excluded from the government since the beginning of America even though they were just as important as men were to certain events, like abolition or prohibition. Women are central to society and should have been treated as such from the beginning. The movement took decades to be included in mainstream culture. When it finally was being talked about, the movement accomplished many goals women wanted.…
Women no longer wished to live limited lives and wanted to experience the freedom they legally deserve. The spread of the women’s right movement accomplished the change many demanded , and as Dubois states “ at the same as these changes in family structure emerged, women’s participation in the workforce continued its twentieth-century trajectory, growing in the decade of the 1970’s from 43.5 to 51.1 percent “ (Dubois 704). The growing number of workforce participant demonstrates how the public image of women had positively…
Feminists are not wrong about women still having a lower status than men in the U.S. society. One of the greatest is the fact that the entrance of women to the workplace is to blame for the declining of the institution of family. Women are supposed to stay at home and take care of the children; perform the role they were “born” to do. However, even when women are performing the role they are supposed to, they still not receive enough support.…