More handpicked essays just for you.
Struggle for women's equality and rights
The portrayal of women in literature
Women's struggles in the late nineteenth century
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Struggle for women's equality and rights
I was very mad and upset after reading Truth’s speech because I’m also a minority women too; therefore, I can understand how Truth felt when writing this speech demanding for women and equal rights. Plus, everyone is a human being; why discriminate each other base on their skin color? My impression was still the same after rereading this speech. In Truth’s speech, she had described how white man treated white women with all the care and respect that a woman deserved but, on the other hand they had mistreated her and other minority women. Truth’s then came up with a question that isn’t she a woman also. Truth’s stated in her speech that whatever a man can do she can do twice as better than them, but why treat her like a piece of trash. She is
“…when a young woman graduates from college and starts looking for a job, she is likely to have a frustrating and even demeaning experience ahead of her.” (Chrisholm 1969) This was stated in the oral speech Equal Rights for Women given by Shirley Chisholm. As I read the speech it was easy for me to identify where Shirley was coming from and the side she took on the topic of Women’s Rights. The lack of equality, weather that be with women or the African American race, is an issue. As a woman myself in today’s society she brought to my attention some very valid points. I thought the speech did a good job persuading me toward standing up for equality. Shirley successfully used arguments of parallel case, arguments from generalization and the
Truth was an amazing woman who fought for what she believed in and never gave up. One of the things she strongly believed in was women’s rights. Truth wanted equality for all women, black and white. One of the reasons Truth gave in a speech about women’s rights was that when she was a slave she worked alongside men, plowing,husking,chopping,and mowing. So what makes her any different from them?Truth traveled all over to give these incredible speeches and without her, gender inequality might have still been around today.
Females have had over 400 years of injustices in this country, and as soon as this hearing starts people pretend to care about them, and Anita Hill. Throughout history black females have been seen as property, and sexual objects for all men. Way back in the day there was no laws against rape for black women. This has brought upon a negative connotation for black women. They are looked upon as “less” by many people, not only by whites, but even by African American men. This is not just how they have been depicted, African American women have actually been used in this way. Black women are used to the oppression, Barbra Smith states, “I was furious by how Anita Hill was treated by the Senate, but as a black feminist, socialist, and a lesbian I was not particularly disillusioned or surprised” (Aint Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around par 4). For so many years Black Women have been treated as lesser, so it was not a surprise to them when Anita Hill was also treated like this. She was being treated just like any other black women would have been. The sole fact that women aren’t even surprised at how Anita Hill was treated by the Senate is enough to show that there is a problem with gender inequality in the United States of
They were not seen with respect or dignity, they were mere estate that would provide anything their owner’s required- even if that meant they would be sexually abused. It was very common for them to be sexually abused by the owners, or even forced to be inseminated if the masters’ wife was baron. It was even assumed that they were beneath men. In addition, to this outlandish belief that being a women would exclude you from having any rights equal to men; being that they were black only enhanced to this belief. In this speech, Sojourner Truth expresses her frustration about how she has been treated and questions why she is not equal to man. Truth conveys the inconsistency between how women should be treated verses how she has been treated her whole life, She writes, “That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? (Truth). Truth, addresses the ridiculous assumption that women should not have the same rights as
On September 5, 1995, Hillary Clinton delivered an influential speech at The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Clinton expresses general concern over escalating violence toward women, in other word’s gendercide. “Gendercide refers to the systematic elimination of a specific gender group, normally female. It’s most common in India, China, and other regions in Southeast Asia” (GirlsKind Foundation). Crimes, such as bride trafficking, infanticide, abandonment, and dowry related murder; often take place within private households, going unnoticed and not even acknowledged. “Tragically, women are most often the ones whose human rights are violated. Even now, in the late 20th century, the rape of women continues to be used as an instrument of armed conflict Women and children make up a large majority of the world’s refugees” (Clinton 3). By addressing her speech in Beijing, where gendercide is prevalent, Hillary expressed her objective effectively not just the United Nations, but to audiences across the world. Clinton effectively delivered her speech by portraying her purpose for women to achieve equality and better opportunities, with ethical appeals, emotional appeals, and logical appeals.
Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but fled with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. Her other daughter and son stayed behind. After the escape, Truth found out that her son Peter had been illegally sold to a man in Alabama. She took the issue to court and eventually secured Peter’s return from the South. The case was one of the first in which a black woman effectively challenged a white man in the United States court. During the Civil War, Truth marched the roads of Michigan collecting food and clothing for black regiments. She lent her distinctive skills to the women’s suffrage movement and started a petition drive to find land for the freed people. Truth’s most significant legacy is the tone and substance of her language. As an old woman she confused the country providing liberation with an expressive epigraph: “Give ‘em land and an outset, and hab teachers learn ‘em to read. Den they can be somebody.” Few modern activists have better described politicians or the purpose of a petition drive than Truth did: “Send tons of paper down to Washington for them spouters to chaw on.” And when she was viciously knocked off of Washington’s separated streetcars, she criticized racism: “It is hard for the old slaveholding spirit to die, but die it must.” She herself died of old age and ulcerated legs in 1883. Truth died at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1883. Truth continued to speak
There is a stigma that has always been largely popular that men are the superior gender and women should be submissive. Though women rights have drastically improved over the last few decades, women are still oppressed through microaggressions and discriminations within the work force daily. In 1851, as Sojourner truth prepared to give her infamous “ar’nt I a women” speech at the women’s convention in Akron, Ohio, her very presence brought fear. Sojourner Truth was a six feet tall black woman who had powerful body gestured and spoke with truthful, confident tones. She was thought to be a masculine woman due to the feminine expectations that has been placed on women. She embraced these stereotypes to level the playing fields, “ I am a woman’s
focuses on how women of color are powerful. After, several years of abusive marriage Delia learned how to defend herself when her husband that physically abused her. “She seized the iron skillet from the stove and struck a defensive pose, which act surprised him greatly coming from her. It cowed him and he did not strike her as he usually did” (Hurston 2). Sykes was surprised when Delia tried to protect herself for the first time when he tried to attack her. She has been quiet for the past fifteen years, but she had enough so she had to defend herself in some way. People in her town knew that Sykes cheated on Delia, but she did not care what other people thought about her. Also, all the men that knew about Sykes cheating did not do anything at all and it shows how men react to the situation. Men do not involve into other families businesses and they help each other by protecting them. Delia thought about forgetting what happened with the snake when she thought that Sykes got rid of the snake, but the snake was still there and ended up hurting Sykes the person who have first brought the snake into the house. She has been inferior to her husband for about fifteen years and this shows how powerful Delia is because she endured all the things that happened to her. It is very powerful of thinking about forgetting the thing that Sykes have done to her which shows her true identity as a powerful woman who can forgive something that hurt her for so many years. This shows how women forgivers while being powerful at the same time.
In the Women’s Rights Convention of 1851, Truth repeatedly equates her worth to that of a man by her physical and intellectual abilities. Some of Truth’s statements at this convention include: “I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I can carry as much as any mean, and I can eat as much too”. These statements highlight the fact that women were thought to have less physical and intellectual ability than men, and as such were afforded fewer rights. By recurrently equating herself to men in all of these arenas, Truth displayed the commonalities between men and women. Furthermore, Truth’s views came from the stance of a former African American slave, who were not. In this speech, Truth paralleled herself, a black woman, to have the same abilities as a white man, thereby attempting to change her audience’s view of the current existing American capitalist patriarchal structure that put white men at the top and women of color at the bottom of the
Truth expressed the hypocrisy of the white men by claiming, “Nobody helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles, or give me any best places! And ain’t I a women?” She used her personal experience to show the injustices that she faced and believed that she had the right to equality just like all the other women regardless of race, class and gender. Her rebuttal bluntly contrasts how woman should be treated with the reality evoking the audience to rethink the inequality that African American women are facing and take actions to end discrimination. Truth also uses reasoning to show her intellect by stating that, “Then they talk about this thing in the head; [Intellect] That’s it honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or Negro’s rights?” She makes an argument that rights has nothing to do with intellect and it’s completely logical because all humans were born equal whether one’s born wealthier or more intellectual. Even though her whole speech is very emotional, she values logic and reasoning to convince her audience that women are just as powerful and equal to men. Truth uses her personal experience to push for equality and convinced her audience by using logical reasoning in her
National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), National Negro Congress, (NNC) and The American Negro Academy (ANA) are all African-American organizations that were founded to improve the conditions of the black community and people. Each organization faced obstacles, but overcame them to accomplish great feats. Without these organizations black people would still be in a state of distress. These organizations gave black people an outlet, support, and connections to desegregation, job opportunities and information that was being suppressed.
“These denials protect male privilege from being fully recognized, acknowledged, lessened, or ended (Shaw, Lee, 86).” It is hypocritical that men are getting the heat for not recognizing their over-privilege when white people cannot recognize their own. White female feminist who advocate equality, and seem to fail to realize they have more privileges than most other minorities. Peggy McIntosh tries to recognize her white privilege in her daily life, so she composed a list of fifty-four observations. From her observations McIntosh drew the conclusion that her morals have been affected, because she believed in equality for all, yet she did not realize she had a dominance which opened many doors for her. We see daily that the white race has more power over other races. In her essay she mentions: “At school, we were not taught about slavery in any depth; we were not taught to see slaveholders as damaged people. Slaves were seen as the only group at risk being dehumanized (Shaw, Lee, 87-88).” If students were taught to see slaveholders as damaged people, then it could impact white privilege which “needs” to remain
“I feel safe in the midst of my enemies, for the truth is all powerful and will prevail.” Truth Sojourner, who used to call Isabella Baumfree, became one of the major powerful spokeswomen for human rights in the nineteenth century. On her young age, she owned by a Dutch American called Colonel Johannes Hardenberg in New York. Like other slaves, she was mistreated and got abused. She was obligated to marry a man called Tomas, with whom she had five children. In 1827 when her owner failed to keep his promise to set her free or to approve the New York Anti-Slavery law, she ran away, and letter told her master, “I did not run away, I walked away by daylight…” After a while, she became an itinerant preacher. During this period she became involved in the growing antislavery movement,
Truth mentions that a man said that “women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere.” She declares none of these acts have happened to her. She states she “could work as much and eat as much as a man - when [she] could get it - and bear the lash as well!” She also says she’s had thirteen children, most of them sold off as slaves. She spoke that “when [she] cried out with [her] mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard [her].” All of her statements end with “ain’t I a woman?” Her statements show how men say they should treat women, but do not uphold black women to these treatments. Truth shifted her speech towards religion after an audience member said women could not have as many rights as men because “Christ wasn’t a woman.” She mentions that the first woman “was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone,” and women should be able to fix it. She ended her statement by telling the audience that women are asking to fix it, and men should let them. Truth’s speech was an empowerment to change democracy. The speech helped to tell people at the time that the government, vested in the people, should not dismiss a woman’s thoughts or opinions because of her
The term “We are all created equal” backs a very idealistic perception of the world, but what is ideal is not always reality. Feminism is a term that is used to promote equality of the sexes in contrast to the patriarchal society there is today. Feminism is often thought of with a negative connotation, and even a great number of women do not agree with it, however in the Ted Talk given by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie conveys a message to get all people to change the way they think about the concept. Adichie makes many arguments throughout her speech on the points and traits of feminism, she includes a series of emotional and personal anecdotes, among other strategies to try and get the audience to follow her and her views on the topic. She incorporates