Women’s Right
One of the most influential writers Adrienne Rich once said, “She is afraid that her own truths are not good enough.” Adrienne Rich talks about women’s role and issues in her essay called “Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying”. She describes how women during the 1977 lied about everything. They lied about their appearance, their job, their happiness, and even about their relationship. Adrienne Rich is one of the most powerful writers, who identifies herself as lesbian feminists. Her work has been acknowledged and appreciated mainly in her poems. Throughout her decades of work as a writer-activist, Rich uses essays, speeches, and conference papers, magazine, articles book reviews, and personal reflection to articulate with stunning complexity issues of women’s freedom, individual identify and their roles in society. In her essay “Women and Honor: Some Notes of Lying” she articulate that women lie because of patriarchy and should be more truthful; however I partially agree and disagree with her statement. I believe that women today, in 2009 are more independent, self aware, and are careless about their surroundings and who they please.
As time passes things change such as: people, society, beliefs, stereotypes, discrimination. It wasn’t until the Feminist Movement, or also known as Women Movement Act that led women to have the courage to stand up for what they believed in. The first Feminism Movement Act was during the 18th through early 20th centuries, which dealt mainly with the suffrage movement. The second Feminism Movement Act was during the 1960s and 1980s,
Fee Vahabzadeh
Pg 2
which dealt with gender inequality in laws and culture. The third Feminism Movement Act was from 1990 to current, which is see...
... middle of paper ...
... relationship because they want to not because they are forced to. Women have a lot more freedom then 1950-1980. The view of public has transformed completely from seeing women just as a house wife to working business clerk. I believe that women puts themselves in a situation weather they are either looked upon or down upon. Today we have so many great opportunities to grow and prove the equality that women deserve.
Bibliography
“Adrienne Rich”. Poets.Org. From the Academy of American Poets.
http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/49.( Nov 15, 2009)
Lee Hanju. “The Hope of Telling the Utter Truth”. The Baltimore Literary Heritage Project.
http://baltimoreauthors.ubalt.edu/writers/adriennerich.htm (Nov 13, 2009).
Oates, Joce Carol. “Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying”. The best American Essay of the
Century. Houghton Mifflin: Atwan, Robert, 2000.
Both Vanity Fair and A Room of One’s Own explore and challenge the idea that women are incapable of creating a name and a living for themselves, thus are completely dependent on a masculine figure to provide meaning and purpose to their lives. Thackeray, having published Vanity Fair in 1848, conforms to the widely accepted idea that women lack independence when he makes a note on Ms Pinkerton and remarks “the Lexicographer’s name was always on the lips of the majestic woman… [He] was the cause of her reputation and her fortune.” The way that a man’s name was metaphorically “always on the lips of the majestic woman” and how he was the source of “her reputation and her fortune” expresses this idea, especially through Thackeray’s skilful use of a sanguine tone to communicate that this cultural value, or rather inequality, was not thought of as out of the ordinary. From viewing this in a current light and modernised perspective...
In the United States there have been three waves of women’s rights movements. The first movement was called the women’s right movement. This movement was mainly focused on white women and their right to vote as well as hold office. (Wood, p.62) The second movement was the women’s liberation movement, also known as radical feminism. This movement mainly impacted college students because college campuses were a great place for radical feminism to emerge. The radical feminists protested the Vietnam War and fought for civil rights. The women in this movement risked their lives and physical abuse just like the males did. (Wood, p.64) The third wave of feminism in the United States was known as third- wave feminism. In this movement woman with different ethnicities, abilities, disabilities, classes, appearances, sexual orientation and gender identities came together to fight for their rights as women. (Wood, p.74)
Whereas the women’s suffrage movements focused mainly on overturning legal obstacles to equality, the feminist movements successfully addressed a broad range of other feminist issues. The first dealt primarily with voting rights and the latter dealt with inequalities such as equal pay and reproductive rights. Both movements made vast gains to the social and legal status of women. One reached its goals while the other continues to fight for women’s rights.
The thought of women having equal rights has caused major controversy throughout American History. Women have fought for their rights for many years, wanting to be more than a wife or a maid. Women’s Rights Movement was an effort by many women around the U.S standing up for themselves. Feminists like Charlotte Perkins Gilman had a big impact on the movement by writing stories and articles, she spread awareness by writing these. Throughout this Movement women got the right to vote, and many more opportunities they were not offered before.
Every citizen of the United State was grant the right to vote since their birth in the United State or when they passed
“The history of the past is but one long struggle upward to equality,” this was stated by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a very crucial women’s suffragist. Over time, women’s history has evolved due to the fact that women were pushing for equal rights. Women were treated as less than men. They had little to no rights. The Women’s Rights Movement in the 1800’s lead up to the change in women’s rights today. This movement began in 1848 with the Seneca Falls Convention. For the next 72 years, women continually fought for equal rights. In 1920, they gained the right to vote which ended the movement and opened the opportunity for more change in women’s lives. Because of the Women’s Rights Movement, women today are able to vote, receive
The reasons for this disagreement varied. At the beginning of the century, for example, many women were influenced by the writings of Mary Astell and thus believed that marriage itself was a problem to be avoided. Other women rejected the notions of Astell and longed for companionship, although their reasoning differed.
The rights of women have expanded tremendously in the United States over the years. Women 's rights are a lot more flexible. They are allowed to be independent. While these new milestones are a big step forward for woman 's rights in the United States there are still things that need to be corrected. While in other countries women 's rights have not changed at all. There are women in some countries who are denied the right to go to school. They are also not considered equal to men. I will be comparing women 's rights within marriage as well as the justice system in the United States to those of women in other countries in the justice system as well as being married in the Middle East.
In the article “A Rant About Women” by Clay Shirky he explains how adult males are better at furthering themselves, how females have more pressure about how the world views them. More men are usually the ones lying than women for career purposes. Shirky’s article starts a little sexist to with some tough criticism made towards women entering the job market. The author and I shared similar experiences such as lying to get ahead in our respective lives, as well as differences such as blaming a certain gender for one's wrong doing. and I was fortunate enough to not go through this.
In “Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying”, Adrienne Rich specifically talks about why women lie, the reason lying began, and also what happens to not only the person being lied to but also the person telling the lie. Rich uses examples to show what happens to a person when they lie, what is the cause for someone to begin lying and also compares a women’s need to lie to many different things. Adrienne Rich’s main point is that all women lie to portray an image about themselves. The author’s secondary points are that women lie to others and themselves to be convincing, but also that women have been required to lie. Adrienne Rich first states that the notes are “concerned with relationships between and among women.” in order to show that women
Hillary Clinton spoke at the United Nation’s fourth world conference on women that was held in Beijing, China in 1995. She made a speech entitled, “Women’s Rights are Human Rights.” The speech was designed to meet the goal of women having rights are human rights. Clinton has been a women’s rights activist since the beginning of her career. She delivered the speech to one hundred and eighty countries, non-governmental organizations, and ordinary people. In the speech, some constraints of Clinton’s speech include her political background causing the audience to be suspicious of what Clinton has to say on this topic. Male audiences that have a prejudice against women and how much freedom they should be allowed because
The Women's Rights Movement was a significant crusade for women that began in the late nineteenth century and flourished throughout Europe and the United States for the rest of the twentieth century. Advocates for women's rights initiated this movement as they yearned for equality and equal participation and representation in society. Throughout all of history, the jobs of women ranged from housewives to factory workers, yet oppression by society, particularly men, accompanied them in their everyday lives. Not until the end of the nineteenth century did women begin to voice their frustrations about the inequalities among men and women, and these new proclamations would be the basis for a society with opportunities starting to open for women. The supporters of women's rights strived for voting rights, equal pay in jobs, no job discrimination, and other privileges that would put them on the same level as men in both society and in the workplace. Starting with the Seneca Falls Declaration in 1848 and continuing through the twentieth century with documents like the United Nations Declaration of Women's Rights, women became significant leaders that aided in the advancement of twentieth century life and society.
Women's suffrage refers to the right of women to participate in democratic processes through voting on the same basis as men. In the medieval and early modern periods in Europe, the right to vote was typically severely limited for all people by factors such as age, ownership of property, and gender. The development of the modern democratic state has been characterized internationally by the erosion of these various limitations following periods of collective struggle. Women's suffrage has been achieved as part of this process of modernization at different times in different national contexts, although very few nations granted women the right to vote in elections before the twentieth century (Freedman, pp. 63).
Throughout history, sexism and gender roles in society has been a greatly debated topic. The Women’s Rights Movements, N.O.M.A.S. (The National Organization of Men Against Sexism), M.A.S.E.S. (Movement Against Sexual Exploitation and Sexism), and many other movements and groups have all worked against the appointment of gender roles and sexist beliefs. Many authors choose to make a controversial topic a central theme in their work of literature, and the theme of gender roles is no exception. “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou, “Diving into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman all address the gender roles that have been placed by society.
overall, all through history, women are being keep out, restrained and utilized throughout the media society and culture. women were viewed as domestic, powerless, brainless and lower to males. as a result of that, feminism started which was a movement that supported for equal opportunity and rights of a women.