Women's Cultural Identity

The evolution of women’s rights in America gave me the opportunity to attend college, vote, and join the work force. These rights helped me shape my identity as an American, college student and most importantly a woman. The independence that certain rights have given all gender roles and different races in very important with all the identities that makes up a person. Cultural influences also help shape a person and I believe that this event is a good representation of what has shaped my person cultural identity.
The historical event that I will be talking about is August 18, 1920. This date is known as when the 19th Amendment was granted to the United States, allowing women the right to vote. Women had been repressed in society for a long

This concept in the book, Difference Matters by Brenda Allen, states that, “Femininity themes are: appearance still counts; be sensitive and caring; accept negative treatment by other; and be a superwomen” (Allen pg. 45). This stood out to me because these themes are seen as how women should act and after the right was given to women to vote and after everything that women were benefited from being able to vote, you would think that this stereotype on femininity would go away. Women are seen to be weak but in a sense strong by being so called superwomen. Women are still portrayed as being sensitive and we have to live up to a standard of beauty. In the women rights movement we were not steered away from these traits that we are reminded of

Brenda Allen explained that this meant, “Underlying these attitudes is the idea that women belong in the private domain of society, where they should maintain the household and raise children” (pg. 44). This quote is stating that back in time, women should of stayed out of society or more so in a “private society” to be stay at home moms. The women’s right movement was so that women could step out of these spheres and become equal in society. Spheres to me, was a great word to describe how it was for men and women before this movement. They had different expectations, views and even rules. Men were considered dominant and women were in a different place. A quote I found that also described perfectly how men and women were seen back then was a quote from an article called, “Women Get the Right to Vote” by Kate Tuohy. This article stated that, “There are two great oceans; in one is the black man and in the other is the women”. I love this quote because it’s to the point of how there were two completely separated places and it gives a good