American Military University Now We Can Begin Charles A. Homer English 102 Christopher Hall June 18, 2015 The 1920's was a time when cultural and social changes began to take place in the history of the United States. People began to grow in prosperity, change the rules when it came to morals and manners, and the cultural civil war of individual rights. This is the time when women are fighting for their rights to be equal in comparison to their white male counterparts. During this period women are realizing their impact on how society functions and the roles they play. This was the beginning of the true feminists’ mission. After “August 23, the day when the Tennessee legislature finally enacted the Federal suffrage amendment" (Eastman, …show more content…
The argument from the writer of Now We Can Begin, What's Next?, was successful with reservations. The unorganized structure of the essay gives to the reservations of the success of the argument. Crystal Eastman's point of view is: How woman can be human beings with the opportunity to exercise the same rights and freedoms as their male counterparts, instead of a life of being a wife and mother only. In addition, recognizing that the woman who chooses to only be a wife and mother are doing a full time job and should receive economic reward for that job. Not to simply end up being dependent on some man behind the choice. (Eastman, par. 6). The critic of this essay will point out the successes of Eastman supporting her point of view, while in turn point out the fallacies that leaves the reader feeling confused and not completely …show more content…
The equality of identifying in roles of earning a living, cooking, sewing, and one caring for themselves. Eastman states, "we must bring up feminist sons." (Eastman, par. 12). Thirdly, birth control. Women should have the right to decide when or if they have children, how many, and when in life, if ever. Freedom of any kind for women is hardly worth considering unless it is assumed that they will know how to control the size of their families." (Eastman, par. 13). Lastly, universally "a principle that the occupation of raising children is peculiarly and directly a service to society, and that the mother upon whom the necessity and privilege of performing this service naturally falls is entitled to an adequate economic reward from the political government." (Eastman, par. 14). She believes mothers should receive an endowment for the years dedicated to rearing children and not working in a traditional job outside the home. This provides the economically freedom and independence a woman
Crystal Eastman wrote “Now We Can Begin” in 1920 right after the 19th amendment was passed, which gave women the right to vote. The amendment took a long and overdue 70 years before it was passed by two thirds majority. The fight for women’s rights began in the 1840’s and continued when Eastmen joined to further the cause. Eastman’s leading argument was that there was still advancements that needed to be made in women’s rights. She was striving to change the rights of letting women choose an occupation and equal pay, gender equality in homes and not raising sons to be “feminists”, the right to voluntary motherhood, and motherhood endowment, a financial support for child-rearing and homemaking.
In the 1840’s, most of American women were beginning to become agitated by the morals and values that were expected of womanhood. “Historians have named this the ’Cult of True Womanhood’: that is, the idea that the only ‘true’ woman was a pious, submissive wife and mother concerned exclusively with home and family” (History.com). Voting was only the right of men, but women were on the brink to let their voices be heard. Women pioneers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott wrote eleven resolutions in The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments; this historical document demanded abolishment of any laws that authorized unequal treatment of women and to allow for passage of a suffrage amendment.
Women before the 1920's relied on men a lot and did not get very good educations. The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote and let them feel like they have become full citizens which resulted in becoming a flapper. In 1917, women boycotted for the right to vote in front of the White House and for this "harmless act" many were incarcerated (West 1). On August 26, 1920, after a hard-won battle, women finally had become full citizens in their own minds.
On August 18, 1920 the nineteenth amendment was fully ratified. It was now legal for women to vote on Election Day in the United States. When Election Day came around in 1920 women across the nation filled the voting booths. They finally had a chance to vote for what they thought was best. Not only did they get the right to vote but they also got many other social and economic rights. They were more highly thought of. Some people may still have not agreed with this but they couldn’t do anything about it now. Now that they had the right to vote women did not rush into anything they took their time of the right they had.
She argues that men have professions and other duties that focus their minds and help to develop reason “whilst women, on the contrary, have no other scheme to sharpen their faculties” (Wollstonecraft 2004, 77). Women spend most of their time tending to the house and their beauty because that is what they are taught to focus on, in order to get the most out of their life. During their upbringing children are taught to follow the actions of those that share the same gender as them. This causes drastic differences between the sexes because there is no opportunity to overlap the characteristics of the two genders to create a more coherent and equal society. In relation to that, Marx states that all citizens, no matter their status, should have the right to private property and freedom to do as they wish with the labor they produce. Marx (1988, 81) believes “private property is thus the product, the result, the necessary consequence, of alienated labor, the necessary consequence, of alienated labor, of the external relation of the worker to nature and to himself.” The deprivation of the laborers from control of their own products causes their alienation not only from the products but also the rest of society, which ultimately creates an unstable form of community. This instability will eventually
Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Staton. They started the Women suffrage group in 1869. They gained the right for women to vote by changing the 19th Amendment. The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920 it granted women the right to vote in all states. Before women were allowed to vote but not in all states. Some states needed women to vote in order to even be a state. This was just the start for Women. Later they would be granted better working conditions and so much more. In the United States, suffrage was one of the biggest issues for women. However, when the movement first began, many moderate feminists saw the fight for voting rights as radical and were scared that it would not go with the goals that wanted to achieve, like some of the goals that were not so controversial such as property ownership, employment, equal wages, higher education, and access to birth control. The difference between moderate and radical feminists started early in America's history and continues to be present in the women's movement for more
As the beginning of the 1900s drew near there was a change in the rights of women. As more women were working and getting higher education there was a huge movement. Dresses got more practical as the hoop skirt was replaced with a narrower dress. Organizations of women worked very hard and finally in 1917 they finally got the right to vote.
...wo decades was that in the 1920’s women’s rights advocates were able to pass the 19th amendment, granting women suffrage, and increasing political interest among women. Both time periods were difficult ones for minorities and women, though some victories were had.
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 ...
... an intention of many women were granted, and the present society was made. The 19th Amendment and the Suffrage movement gave women for the better life in the society.
Although the feminists of the 1920s did not significantly improve their economic status, they were able to boost their political status by passing the 19th Amendment for women’s suffrage. Before they could vote, women had very strict roles in society. Many people during the 1920s believed that when a woman spoke in public, she was “ignoring [her] biological weaknesses,” such as a smaller brain and more fragile physique (Krolokke 5). The argument continued, stating that these women were also harming their reproductive abilities (Krolokke 5). Suffragists first broke these stereotypes by engaging in public persuasion, which was deemed “unwomanly” by the people of the era (Krolokke 5). After that, they slowly earned the right to “indirect[ly] influence, [but] certainly not engage in, public activities” (Krolokke 5). Even as the suffragists tried to achieve the right to vote, they had to work within these stigmas. The popular opinion stated that women had a “natural disposition toward maternity and domesticity” (Krolokke 5). Therefore, suffragists argued that female voters would enrich politics with their maternal characteristics (Krolokke 5). After years of protest, the 19th Amendment was officially ratified in 1920. Men and women finally had equal voting rights. While this piece of legislation was a significant advancement for the first-wave women, they still faced major obstacles in society. Female voters were harassed. In Indianola, Mississippi, Irene Magruder’s house was set on fire after it was used as an office for voter registration workers (Collins 432). When the firemen arrived, they turned their hoses off and watched as the house and everything Magruder owned burned down (Collins 432). Another woman, Fannie Lou Hamer, face...
The late nineteenth century was a critical time in reshaping the rights of women. Commonly this era is considered to be the beginning of what is know to western feminists as “first-wave feminism.” First-wave feminism predominately fought for legal rights such as suffrage, and property rights. A major hallmark of first-wave feminism is the concept of the “New Woman.” The phrase New Woman described educated, independent, career oriented women who stood in response to the idea of the “Cult of Domesticity,” that is the idea that women are meant to be domestic and submissive (Stevens 27). Though the concept of the New Woman was empowering to many, some women did not want to give up their roles as housewives. These women felt there was a great dignity in the lifestyle of the housewife, and that raising children was not a job to scoff at. Mary Freeman's short story “The Revolt of 'Mother',” tells the story of such a domestic woman, Sarah, who has no interest in leaving her position as mother, but still wishes to have her voice heard in the private sphere of her home. Freeman's “Revolt of Mother,” illustrates an alternative means of resistance for women who rejected the oppression of patriarchy without a withdrawal from the domestic lifestyle.
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 to the nineteenth Amendment in the United States Constitution that allowed women 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 in the workforce that was started by the right to vote and given momentum in the late 1950s.
In the past, many people believed that women’s exclusive responsibilities were to serve their husband, to be great mothers and to be the perfect wives. Those people considered women to be more appropriate for homemaking rather than to be involved in business or politics. This meant that women were not allowed to have a job, to own property or to enjoy the same major rights as men. The world is changing and so is the role of women in society. In today’s society, women have rights that they never had before and higher opportunities to succeed.
In 1920 the 19th amendment was passed which allowed women the right to vote; this was a significant achievement for the women’s suffrage movement. Since that time women have gained substantial freedom and equality, but some today still argue that gender inequality is a relevant cultural topic that needs to be addressed. Conversely, some people believe that feminism is irrelevant in modern society, or they believe the myth that feminism is only poorly disguised misandry. Despite the opposition, many women and men continue to be advocates for feminism.