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feminism in modern perspective
feminism in modern perspective
feminism in modern perspective
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Recommended: feminism in modern perspective
Jacquelyn Talaga
Mick McGrath
Eng-112
15 April 2014
In 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York, 68 women and 32 men sat down at the first women’s rights convention to sign a Declaration of Sentiments to call for equal treatment of men and women under the law and voting rights for women (Imbornoni para 2). This is where feminism all began. From 1848 until 1920, many women, and even men, fought for the rights of women around the country. They fought for equality and liberty and in 1920, the 19th amendment was finally passed allowing women the right to vote (Imbornoni para 15). This was a major milestone in the women’s rights movement. Susan B. Anthony once said “Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” (Susan B. Anthony para 1). If only feminism were the same today it wouldn’t be a bad connotation and would still be a positive movement. This is because many of those associated with feminism today no longer see the need for equality. Instead, it seems they are looking for superiority. Modern-day feminists in America do not see how well women are doing today, and they instead fight for justice for their victimhood that they still see themselves in. They also fight against the prominent wage gap claiming that women are being discriminated against in work place.
Modern-day feminism is no longer about equality but more about superiority. Today, many feminists go around stating there isn’t a need for men, women can survive on their own, and that women are better than men. As Saira Khan states in her article on Spiked, “modern-day feminists engage in man-bashing rather than dignified demands for equality.” (Khan 1). It just shows how feminists would rather take their anger out on men rather than realize we a...
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...oncludes is his article, “That’s how we’ve come to this backwards point where the new feminist activism, for some, is about oppressing those with different views. So much for equality!” (Furey 1). They would rather demand dominance than equality, call for justice for issues that are not really there, claim gender discrimination in the work place, and argue against any who try to oppose them. Rarely any of the modern-day feminists see how women in America are doing better than any of the other women in history or even today. It is grim to think about the radical changes that have occurred. Furey also writes in his article, “Now that North America more or less has gender equality, empowerment feminists aren’t a visible group anymore. They’re regular people getting on with their lives, pursuing their goals.” (Furey 1). Feminism is no longer an applicable cause.
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.
‘Women and men are different. Equal treatment of men and women does not result in equal outcomes.’ (Corsten Report, 16: 2007) According to Covington and Bloom (2003) numerous feminist writers have demonstrated and documented the patriarchal nature of our society and the variety of ways in which the patriarchal values serve masculine needs. ‘Despite claims to the contrary, masculinist epistemologies are built upon values that promote masculine needs and desires, making all others invisible’ (Kaschak, 11: 1992).
“Feminism is both an intellectual commitment and a political movement that seeks justice for women and the end of sexism in all forms” (Baptiste). Just as in the past, feminism continues to act as a controversial issue among men and women. In the 1960’s, women finally addressed workplace inequity and created woman organizations to achieve equality. In the early 1960’s, the Equal Pay Act and the Civil Rights Act set a milestone for women’s progression towards work equality. Though women have made great leaps towards true equality, women still face many challenges and continue to be categorized as the subservient gender.
Feminism has growth over the decades, first they explain who they are fought for us (women), now they are fighting for themselves.
“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
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...
Since the 19th century, the women's movement has made fantastic strides toward obtaining civil rights for women in America. Woman suffrage has been abolished, and they are no longer viewed as second-class citizens. Unfortunately, the issue of gender inequality still echoes in today's society. The fight to change a society shaped predominately by men continues, and will likely pursue for decades to come. Whether it be social, political, or economic rights, the main idea is equality for all genders, man or woman. In modern society, it seems that such a simple concept should be accepted globally by everyone – so why do women still face the daily toils of demanding the privileges that should available to all? No matter the class of woman, it is likely they will suffer from inequality and stereotypes at some point in their life. We see this in the workplace, where women have been shown to earn less then men. Some women also face the dangers of sexual violence, and are left victimized for such crimes.
In recent years feminism has gained more popularity and has become a normal thing for people to talk about; new age feminism has many of the same goals that feminism from the 1960’s and 70’s, but with a few more goals they would like to achieve, today’s feminist movement focuses on the wage gap between males and females, ending rape culture, encouraging more representation for people of color and people of all genders and sexualities, and ending the over-sexualization of women in advertisements and movies. The only way to fix the inequality of genders is change the mindset of people who do not believe that feminism is a topic of importance; people do not realize exactly what feminism is about. Many are misinformed and automatically assume that because it is called “feminism” it only focuses around female advancements, but there are also many aspects of feminism that focus on the advancements of
Could you ever imagine in this country a man and a women being in the same room and having equal rights? This idea would be possible if all the protesting stopped and would never happen again. The idea of Feminism has shaped this country since the Seneca Falls Convention in 1838. Since that Convention it has grown and prospered into something new known as “Radical Feminism.” Radical Feminism today is out of place in society and should not be supported.
For generations, women had been subjected to men. Women had no saying in what was going on around them, to what they wanted their lives to be, or even when it came to their bodies. Many women have raised their voices to protest against this subjugation, sometimes at great personal risk. Such is the French case of Marie Gouze(1748-93), who under the name Olympe de Gouges, wrote "Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizen." In this document Marie advocated for civic equality, as well as equal participation in political rights, women's right to vote, and equal education. She presented this document to Marie Antoinette in 1789. Unfortunately, the proposal was rejected and Marie was condemned to the guillotine by the radical Jacobin in the assembly, however the ideals have survived through the years. In the 19th century, due to the industrial revolution, a new middle class with wealth from land, trading, and factories, was created. The women of this class took Marie's ideals and created has come to be known as the feminist movement. These women were educated, and it was obvious to them the rights they were missing, because they saw how the men of their class had acquired these rights with the new found wealth. The goals of the Women's Movement in the 19th century were to get the vote, to archive equality in property rights, access to education, access to jobs and fair pay, divorce, and children's custody. In spite of a few changes women still where a long way from archiving equality at the end of the 19th century, so the women of the 20th century following in the foot step of their feminist ancestors continued the fight for the total realization of all of these goals.
The great United States was founded on the idea of freedom; though this great nation claims to be progressive and definitive in freedom when the majority of citizens have none. When it was declared in 1776 that ‘All men are created equal’ in the American Constitution they severely under-sided a majority of the country. The phrase ‘all men are created equal’ is not true equality, it is equality for the white man, particularly one who is wealthy and thrives off of a capitalist society. Our society needs feminism to provide the same freedoms for all American citizens; including achieving suffrage in every state, securing the vote not only for women, but people of colour, and promoting an environment in which every voice is heard.
Throughout history, women have remained subordinate to men. Subjected to the patriarchal system that favored male perspectives, women struggled against having considerably less freedom, rights, and having the burdens society placed on them that had been so ingrained the culture. This is the standpoint the feminists took, and for almost 160 years they have been challenging the “unjust distribution of power in all human relations” starting with the struggle for equality between men and women, and linking that to “struggles for social, racial, political, environmental, and economic justice”(Besel 530 and 531). Feminism, as a complex movement with many different branches, has and will continue to be incredibly influential in changing lives.
In just a few decades The Women’s Liberation Movement has changed typical gender roles that once were never challenged or questioned. As women, those of us who identified as feminist have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at...
Even though society has distorted the ideals feminism was founded upon, some of the remaining true roots still hold true. While women are gaining equal opportunities in society, they need to not diminish the importance of working together with men to form a functional society. The widespread idea of quotas needs to be analyzed. People should be accepted into college or hired for a job because they are the most qualified, not because of their sex. Society has demented feminism as a harmful dogma because it has been an excuse, almost a cop-out by women who do not want to work for their acceptance. Both men and women need to realize the necessity that exists for each other to make society work.
Throughout the 19th century, feminism played a huge role in society and women’s everyday lifestyle. Women had been living in a very restrictive society, and soon became tired of being told how they could and couldn’t live their lives. Soon, they all realized that they didn’t have to take it anymore, and as a whole they had enough power to make a change. That is when feminism started to change women’s roles in society. Before, women had little to no rights, while men, on the other hand, had all the rights. The feminist movement helped earn women the right to vote, but even then it wasn’t enough to get accepted into the workforce. They were given the strength to fight by the journey for equality and social justice. There has been known to be