Women’s Rights For as long as humans can recall, women have been the victims of incorrect stereotypical classifications, claiming that the male gender is superior. This creates a greater struggle when pursuing conventional rights for women. The view of women has been positively affected by the Progressive Era, war participation, and women’s suffrage. Events that occurred in the past century have shaped the way women are viewed in today’s society as a whole. One of the major time periods that helped change the perception of women was the Progressive Era. During the Progressive Era, citizens of the United States responded to the economic and social problems that were brought forth by industrialization in multiple strategies. For example, women …show more content…
While women began to be a major impact in World War II, they had also been influential during the Revolutionary War. Women did this by the "enforcement of non-importation of British goods by targeting merchants who violated the boycott" (Doc D). Dating from the Civil War to World War II, women were given many opportunities, opportunities that were once labeled as male-only jobs. One of the most common examples was the opportunity to work in the factories and serve as nurses. While nursing and factory work was fulfilled by women, women also served as “Government Girls,” which was women who served in the government while men were at combat. Women also raised money for war bond, collected blood, and grew victory gardens. These opportunities led to women earning paychecks equal to any man during the war (Doc B). One of the most famous cultural icons, Rosie the Riveter, symbolized women’s contribution to war efforts since they could not physically serve in the war. She was the face of women who took over male jobs, such as jobs in factories and shipyards. All in all, being a part of the war was a huge success in shaping the roles of …show more content…
Advocates of women’s suffrage worked diligently to get their opinions across to others on the validity of women voters. During the mid-1800s women’s suffrage campaigns started putting together “Women’s Conventions.” At a convention in 1851, Sojourner Truth had an excellent speech on Woman’s Rights and how she highly believed that men needed women more than women needed them (Doc E). In other words, Truth was saying that women did not need men to survive because they had the full capacity of performing “men only tasks”; however, for men, it was the total opposite. Considering that Truth was an African-American woman, and all women were looked down upon during this time period, her speech gave women encouragement and light to fight for their rights. This encouragement was carried over to the twentieth century because the right to vote was becoming a larger problem in the eyes of many women. For example, Jane Addams stated the "electorate should be made up of those who can bear a valiant part in this arduous contest, those who in the past have at least attempted to care for children, to clean houses, to prepare foods,..." (Doc A). Addams had a strong argument because she felt that if she was smart enough to raise a child and teach them how to vote, then she had the right to vote as well. Another example of women being very courageous was when the National
To begin with, there are many events in United States history that have shaped our general understanding of women’s involvement in economics, politics, the debates of gender and sexuality, and so forth. Women for many centuries have not been seen as a significant part of history, however under thorough analyzation of certain events, there are many women and woman-based events responsible for the progressiveness we experience in our daily lives as men, women, children, and individuals altogether. Many of these events aid people today to reflect on the treatment of current individuals today and to raise awareness to significant issues that were not resolved or acknowledged in the past.
During the war, women played a vital role in the workforce because all of the men had to go fight overseas and left their jobs. This forced women to work in factories and volunteer for war time measures.
At the start of World War II, most nations were experiencing a shortage of resources. In the United States, food, gasoline, and other scarce goods were being heavily rationed, and many government controls were initiated to lessen the economic burden of the war. At the same time, unemployment was at a record low. Wartime production created a huge labor market, eclipsing the available workforce. Due to the military conscription, most able-bodied men were led overseas to fight in the war, so the country turned to civilian workers, including women. Soon, “Rosie the Riveter” had become a national heroine, representing women laborers, who began replacing men in every facet of industry and performing with excellence (Carl, 34).
World War II affected the workforce of men and women in different ways, men were drafted to war while women took their place in factories and workyards. Patriotism influenced women into working while the men were at war. Once at work, women were convinced to go to work by the economic incentives, the women learned about the nonmaterial benefits that come with working such as learning new skills, contributing to the public good, and proving that women can do the jobs meant for men just as good as the men could do the work (1940s.org). Women in the 1940s were hesitant to join the workforce, that was until Norman Rockwell’s fictional character “Rosie the Riveter” inspired multiple women to join the workforce to help dedicate their services to the war. The creation of “Rosie the Riveter”lead to, many other images of “Rosie” to help bring forth volunteers for the
The nineteenth century encountered some of most revolutionary movements in the history of our nation, and of the world – the movements to abolish slavery and the movement for women’s rights. Many women participated alongside men in the movement to abolish slavery, and “their experience inspired feminist social reformers to seek equality with men” (Bentley, Ziegler, and Streets-Salter 2015, pg. 654). Their involvement in the abolition movement revealed that women suffered many of the same legal disadvantages as slaves, most noticeably their inability to access the right to vote. Up until this time, women had little success in mobilizing their efforts to gain the right to vote. However, the start of the women’s rights movement in the mid-1800s, involving leaders such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, paved the path for the expansion of women’s rights into the modern century.
America was supposed to treat everyone equally, although, when the country was founded, women were excluded from the right to vote. It was socially unacceptable. Women were continually taught, from a very young age, that they weren’t mature enough, or mentally capable of making decisions for themselves. This was an injustice to women, and, in order for them to gain justice, they had to fight for their right to vote, a right that should’ve been given to them from the beginning.
Society has always retained deeply rooted stereotypes in all aspects of life. Whether it is prejudice due to color, creed, or gender, we cannot ignore the differential treatment of specific groups that occurs daily in our world. Although much has been done to alter our views on such matters, can we really suggest that society as a whole has undergone a true metamorphosis and emerged a completely unbiased community? When discussing the topic of gender, we can clearly see a major change in recent history concerning feminist issues. One could say that the idea of feminism began with the women's suffrage movement. This enduring battle for equal rights ended with the addition of the nineteenth amendment granting women the right to vote. Since then, major strides have been made by women striving to prove themselves equal to their male counterpart. When we look at the role women play in the 21st century, it is hard to imagine the world as it was in centuries past. But how much have we as women truly gained? Are we really equal to men? Do we completely benefit from this feminist movement and lose nothing in the process? I am of the opinion that, while its fundamental goals were of good intent, feminism has created several major problems in today's society. I believe feminism has reached a stand still and the movem...
Women have always been fighting for their rights for voting, the right to have an abortion, equal pay as men, being able to joined the armed forces just to name a few. The most notable women’s rights movement was headed in Seneca Falls, New York. The movement came to be known as the Seneca Falls convention and it was lead by women’s rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton during July 19th and 20th in 1848. Stanton created this convention in New York because of a visit from Lucretia Mott from Boston. Mott was a Quaker who was an excellent public speaker, abolitionist and social reformer. She was a proponent of women’s rights. The meeting lasted for only two days and was compiled of six sessions, which included lectures on law, humorous presentations and discussions concerning women’s role in society. The convention was organized by a mostly radical group of Quakers while ironically their leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a non-Quaker skeptic. Stanton and her Quaker followers presented a document entitled the Declaration of Sentiments to the convention, which was accompanied by a list of resolutions that were to be debated by the members of the convention before it was signed. One hundred of the three hundred attendees of the Seneca Falls Convention signed the Declaration of Sentiments. The Seneca Falls Convention was merely a single step in the right direction for the women’s rights movement; it was seen as a revolution in which women were fighting desperately for equality to their male counterparts. The Declaration of Sentiments became a staple document in the women’s suffrage, as it was the first time that men and women came together to demand women’s right to vote. Women’s suffrage gained national attention due to the conventio...
Throughout history women have been regarded as inferior to men, giving them a disadvantage when it came to every aspect of life. However as time passed by, many outstanding females have shortened that gap between men and women, thus giving women a better quality of life and more opportunities of success. Women’s role has evolved throughout time as they gained and improved labor and education rights, the opportunity to influence the succeeding generations and their status in society.
Throughout history, women, no matter what race or class they came from, have not always been given the right to participate in government. Through political attitudes and institutions, women’s rights were excluded. However, due to the fight women have put up against “old-fashioned” societal thinking, changes have been made from pre 1900 to post 1900 that have changed the way women are seen in a society.
The Progressive Era consisted of a movement for “reform that occured between 1900 and 1920. Many people beleived that irresponsible actions by the rich were coruppting both public and private life” (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/progressive-movement). Women played a major role in the success of the progressive movement by pushing for equality and to better the conditions of everyday life. The goal of women's suffrage was so hard to achieve because men generally held higher positions in government and social life and did not believe women were capable of handling the powers they were asking for. Although the Women's Suffrage Movement was strong, there were weaknesses within it.
In the 1890s, American women emerged as a major force for social reform. Millions joined civic organizations and extended their roles from domestic duties to concerns about their communities and environments. These years, between 1890 and 1920, were a time of many social changes that later became known as the Progressive Era. In this time era, millions of Americans organized associations to come up with solutions to the many problems that society was facing, and many of these problems were staring American women right in the face.
The woman in the progressive era had very strict laws that they did not like. While married, women were not allowed to work, and only single, young, divorced, colored, or poor white women were allowed
During the war, men were off fighting for America, and the women were left behind to take over their jobs in the factories. Women proved that they can do almost all of the same jobs as men. Rosie the Riveter, a picture of a woman flexing with a caption of “We Can Do It,” became the symbol for women all across the nation. After the war, years later, women began to receive equal pay for the same jobs that the men were doing. Many other minority groups, such as African Americans, played a huge
The role women play in today’s society is a drastic change from the previous role. Women used to be confined to the superiority of the man. Physically, mentally, and emotionally abused, belittled, embarrassed, and silenced. These are just a few examples of the emotion from the isolated treatment of the past. A woman’s role in today’s society is more valued than ever before.