The Battle For Equality
While the 1960’s experienced a huge cultural shift in acceptance, equality and a demand for an end to domestic violence and sexual harassment, the push for society to view woman differently and for woman to advocate for change didn’t start or end with the 1960’s. As early as 1848, with the “first gathering devoted to women’s rights” (U.S. Government Printing Office, 2007) which eventually led to the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment on August 26th, 1920 that provided women the right to vote; to the 1960’s and the “second wave of fervent activism” that eventually led to “state and federal laws…outlawing discrimination in employment and education” (Ruthsdotter, 1998), women have fought for the most basic rights associated with democracy.
The start down a long road
“I am a slave, a favoured slave at best,
To share his splendor, and seem very blest!
When wearier of these fleeting charms and me,
There yawns the sack – and yonder rolls the sea!
What, am I then a toy for dotard’s play,
To wear but till the gilding frets away?” (Coleridge, 2007) (Gordon A. D., 1997)
Women were expected to focus all of their attention on the home and family; they were expected to provide their husbands with children, with an heir and to provide a comfortable home; for all intents and purposes women were expected to be subordinate to their husbands. If a woman did have to work for pay, she had little to no control over the money she earned, rather, the laws governing women’s rights provided husband’s almost complete control over their wife and family. As women did not have the right to vote, sign contracts, buy or sell property or even defend themselves in court, a woman had very little recourse if she was in an abusive marr...
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...nd Equal Rights. Retrieved from National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/pwwmh/equal.htm
Rynder, C. B. (1999, April). Seneca Falls Convention. Retrieved from Historynet.com: http://www.historynet.com/seneca-falls-convention
U.S. Government Printing Office. (2007). The Women's Rights Movement, 1848-1920. Retrieved from History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Historian, Women in Congress, 1917-2006. Washington, D.C.: http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/WIC/Historical-Essays/No-Lady/Womens-Rights/ ushistory.org. (2014, April 6). Modern Feminism. Retrieved from U.S. History Online Textbook: http://www.ushistory.org/us/57a.asp
Women's International Center Staff. (1994). Women's History In America. Retrieved from Women's International Center: http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm
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.
To understand the significant change in the role of the women is to understand its roots. Traditionally, women in colonial America were limited in the roles they played or limited in their "spheres of influence." Women were once seen as only needed to bear children and care for them. Their only role was domestic; related to activities such as cooking and cleaning. A married woman shared her husband's status and often lived with his family. The woman was denied any legal control over her possession, land, money, or even her own children after a divorce. In a sense, she was the possession of her husband after marriage. She "... was a legal incompetent, as children, idiots, and criminals were under English law. As feme covert she was stripped of all property; once married, the clothes on her back, her personal possessions--whether valuable, mutable or merely sentimental--and even her body became her husband's, to direct, to manage, and to use. Once a child was born to the couple, her land, too, came under his control." (Berkin 14)
During America's early history, women were denied some of the rights to well-being by men. For example, married women couldn't own property and had no legal claim to any money that they might earn, and women hadn't the right to vote. They were expected to focus on housework and motherhood, and didn't have to join politics. On the contrary, they didn't have to be interested in them. Then, in order to ratify this amendment they were prompted to a long and hard fight; victory took decades of agitation and protest. Beginning in the 19th century, some generations of women's suffrage supporters lobbied to achieve what a lot of Americans needed: a radical change of the Constitution. The movement for women's rights began to organize after 1848 at the national level. In July of that year, reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton(1815-1902) and Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), along with Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) and other activists organized the first convention for women's rights at Seneca Falls, New York. More than 300 people, mostly women but also some men, attended it. Then, they raised public awar...
Women, like black slaves, were treated unequally from the male before the nineteenth century. The role of the women played the part of their description, physically and emotionally weak, which during this time period all women did was took care of their household and husband, and followed their orders. Women were classified as the “weaker sex” or below the standards of men in the early part of the century. Soon after the decades unfolded, women gradually surfaced to breathe the air of freedom and self determination, when they were given specific freedoms such as the opportunity for an education, their voting rights, ownership of property, and being employed.
MacLean, Nancy. A. The American Women's Movement, 1945-2000. A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, a.k.a.
Most traditional societies and until recent times, women generally were at a disadvantage. Their education sometimes was limited to domestic skills (“Women’s rights” n.p.). After, there was revolutions, and working women in the former soviet union intended to hold low paying jobs. They were also represented in party and government councils (“Women’s rights” n.p.). The late 1960s and early 70s active feminists organized numerous women’s rights group (“Women’s rights”n.p.). Women encountered discrimination in many forms. In 1960 equal opportunities were given to women (“Women’s rights” n.p.). During the women’s movement certain social institutions and traditional values, were questioned (“Women’s rights” n.p.). Else where in the world the women’s rights movement has also made progress in achieving its goals. In nearly every nation, women have the right to vote and hold public office (“Women’s rights” n.p.). Women’s rights movement made progress in achieving goals in nearly every nation after that (“Women’s rights” n.p.). Major unsponsored conferences on women were held in 1975, 1980, 1985, and 1995 (“Women’s rights” n.p.).
The function of women in politics, the economy, and communal events in American society moved significantly from the pre-Revolutionary war era to the early beginnings of the 20th century. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, women were looked upon as being “subordinate to males” and so as a result women were affected by the laws and regulations forced upon them by men. It was almost as if it was a woman’s right, to get married, have kids, and live out the obligation of being a thorough wife and mother. Because the government was mainly ruled and controlled by men, it was often that women didn’t have the lawful rights, for example the power to vote or be in possession of property.
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.
Women, in general, were expected to be able to run their homes, taking care of their spouses and children in whatever form was needed at the time. They were looked down on as uneducated without the ability to understand the more intricate knowledge of politics and the running of businesses of any kind. They had no rights except for what they received from the graciousness of their husbands. Their opinions did not matter, in the long run and they were treated as inferior, expected to stay in their place unquestioning and unassuming.
The struggle for equal rights has been an ongoing issue in the United States. For most of the twentieth century Americans worked toward equality. Through demonstrations, protests, riots, and parades citizens have made demands and voiced their concerns for equal rights. For the first time minority groups were banding together to achieve the American dream of liberty and justice for all. Whether it was equality for women, politics, minorities, or the economy the battle was usually well worth the outcome. I have chosen articles that discuss some of the struggles, voyages, and triumphs that have occurred. The people discussed in the following articles represent only a portion of those who suffered.
Society has long since considered women the lessor gender and one of the most highly debated topics in society through the years has been that of women’s equality. The debates began over the meaning between a man and woman’s morality and a woman’s rights and obligations in society. After the 19th Amendment was sanctioned around 1920, the ball started rolling on women’s suffrage. Modern times have brought about the union of these causes, but due to the differences between the genetic makeup and socio demographics, the battle over women’s equality issue still continues to exist. While men have always held the covenant role of the dominant sex, it was only since the end of the 19th century that the movement for women’s equality and the entitlement of women have become more prevalent. “The general consensus at the time was that men were more capable of dealing with the competitive work world they now found themselves thrust into. Women, it was assumed, were unable to handle the pressures outside of the home. They couldn’t vote, were discourages from working, and were excluded from politics. Their duty to society was raising moral children, passing on the values that were unjustly thrust upon them as society began to modernize” (America’s Job Exchange, 2013). Although there have been many improvements in the changes of women’s equality towards the lives of women’s freedom and rights in society, some liberals believe that women have a journey to go before they receive total equality. After WWII, women continued to progress in there crusade towards receiving equality in many areas such as pay and education, discrimination in employment, reproductive rights and later was followed by not only white women but women from other nationalities ...
While the 1960s were a time of advancement for minorities, it was also a time of advancement for women. In 1963, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act, which outlawed discrimination in the workplace based on a person’s sex (Foner 944). To ensure that women would have the same opportunities as men in jobs, education, and political participation, the National Organization for women was formed in 1966 (Foner 944). The sixties also marked the beginning of a public campaign to repeal state laws that banned abortion or left the decision to terminate a pregnancy to physicians instead of the woman (Foner 945).
Beginning in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, women began to vocalize their opinions and desires for the right to vote. The Women’s Suffrage movement paved the way for the nineteenth Amendment in the United States Constitution that allowed women to have that right. The Women’s Suffrage movement started a movement for equal rights for women that has continued to propel equal opportunities for women throughout the country. The Women’s Liberation Movement has sparked better opportunities, demanded respect and pioneered the path for women entering the workforce that was started by the right to vote and given momentum in the late 1950s. The focus of The Women’s Liberation Movement was idealized off The Civil Rights Movement; it was founded on the elimination of discriminatory practices and sexist attitudes (Freeman, 1995).
Women could initiate legal proceedings, and they were responsible for their own actions. They could be the executors of wills and even sign their own marriage contrac...
Equality is a concept mankind never is able to grasp correctly. Of course humans will always search for different solutions to create fairness, but factors such as human greed, ignorance of mass populations, and even biological aspects stagnates the process of equality. The oldest and most relevant discussion on equality lies with the difference of sex; man versus woman. Initially, men, because of their physical superiority, were given the prospects many women never even dreamt to have. Conversely, as time has progressed, women have fought this unfair treatment with demands of suffrage and similar rights to those of their male equivalents. Greatly enough, this generation has done an exceptional job in the challenge of overcoming sexism and inequality. However, will this search for equality ever end? When can we say we have created an equal race of men and women? The fact of the matter is that it is truly impossible to have equality between the sexes because of predisposed circumstances that are not easily controllable in the slightest bit.