Women, no doubt had it hard in America's past. It is still difficult for women today to feel as if they are treated equally to men, but nowhere near as much so as in the past. Many women have fought hard and dedicated their lives to bettering the future for women. Some even risked and gave up their freedom to demonstrate how important it was for society to change. I believe a great example of someone who risked many things for the future of women in society was Margaret Sanger.
Sanger began her journey into historical fame as a visiting nurse, someone who saw all of the pain and suffering that women went through due to the lack of birth control and the lack of acceptance of birth control in America, at that time.
"Jake Sachs, a truck driver scarcely older than his wife, had come home to find the three children crying and her unconscious from the effects of a self-induced abortion. He called the nearest doctor, who in turn had sent for me. . . ." (Woloch 355)
Sanger saw pain and worry that some of us have never seen before in our lives. These women had no form of protection, so they got pregnant often. This in itself was not a problem. The damage they were doing to their bodies during the process of a "knitting-needle abortion" was becoming fatal.
Rightfully so, Sanger thought the lack of protection and information that was being provided or even legal to provide was a crime against women's rights. The following is a clip from Sanger's "This I Believe" speech from November of 1953.
If she was going to stand up for the future women of the world, than she needed to do a few things first. As she said in her speech, she needed to prepare herself to face popular belief, ridicule, the courts, imprisonment, and indictment....
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Works Cited
Caplow, Theodore, Louis Hicks and Ben Wattenberg. The First Measured Century : An Illustrated Guide to Trends in America, 1900-2000. Washington D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 2001.
CDC. Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Healthier Mothers and Babies. 1 October 1999. .
NYU. Margaret Sanger's THIS I BELIEVE, November 1953. 3 May 2010. 17 August 2011 .
Sanger, Margaret. "No Gods No Masters." The Woman Rebel March 1914.
Woman and the New Race. New York: Brentano’s, 1920.
Woloch, Nancy. Women and the American Experience. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011.
"Margaret Sanger." 2011. Biography.com. 19 Aug 2011, 09:15 http://www.biography.com/articles/Margaret-Sanger-9471186.
Sanger continues backing her statement with the examples in education, labor, and that the church had caused women to be looked down upon. Sanger spoke on principles of Birth Control, they include: “it should be available to every adult, that every user should be taught how to use it correctly, that women should have the right to control their bodies and whether to have children.” (Jenson, 166). If Wardell would have included some specifics from Sanger’s speeches, the argument would have been made
"A free race cannot be born" and no woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother"(Sanger A 35). Margaret Sanger (1870-1966)said this in one of her many controversial papers. The name of Margaret Sanger and the issue of birth control have virtually become synonymous. Birth control and the work of Sanger have done a great deal to change the role of woman in society, relationships between men and woman, and the family. The development and spread of knowledge of birth control gave women sexual freedom for the first time, gave them an individual identity in society and a chance to work without fearing they were contributing to the moral decline of society by leaving children at home. If birth control and Sanger did so much good to change the role of women in society why was birth control so controversial?
Margaret Sanger was the founder of The American League of Birth Control which later became Planned Parenthood and her argument in those times was that it was not fair for women who were from a lower class could not have access to Birth Control.
One of the most important roles that a nurse fulfills as a responsibility of the profession is the advocate. Nurses are responsible to provide the information needed for a patient to make a decision and consequently support that decision. Margaret Sanger was one of the most influential advocates for women’s health and sexual health in general. Margaret Sanger was a public health nurse in New York who noticed that there was a significant problem in the way that women were treated within the healthcare system. Through her efforts she started what is today known as Planned Parenthood, defeated laws preventing the distribution of contraceptives and information regarding contraceptives,
Margaret Sanger’s monthly publication The Woman Rebel released its first issue in 1914, creating a nationwide dispute concerning the publication and distribution of birth control devices. However, Sanger’s initial goal went beyond simply legalizing the distribution of contraceptives; her aim was to create “radical social change, embracing the liberation of women and of the working class” (6, 1.120). In document one, the essay “Why the Woman Rebel?” Sanger makes a strong political statement on the social implications of legalizing birth control. Drawing heavily from the plight of the working class Sanger makes her case on the grounds that the legalization of birth control is the first step to the liberation of the disenfranchised working class at the hands of capitalism. The essay is a rebellious prose intended to inspire “revolt”, a call to arms for the case for birth control. Later in Sanger’s care...
Women had a role in the forming of our country that many historians overlook. In the years leading to the revolution and after women were political activists. During the war, women took care of the home front. Some poor women followed the army and assisted to the troops. They acted as cooks, laundresses and nurses. There were even soldiers and spies that were women. After the revolution, women advocated for higher education. In the early 1800’s women aided in the increase of factories, and the changing of American society. Women in America were an important and active part of achieving independence and the framing of American life over the years.
When you think of American history, do you think of war, slavery, or segregation? Something that these have in common is gender equality. Gender equality is something that has been an issue in America since the first day it was inhabited. This is a problem in America. A more particular time period would be, World War II. During this time, women were being used to do men’s jobs and duties but, they still had to have a feminine aspect to them. While most men were at war, the women picked up jobs playing baseball, and working in factories to build the necessary items for war and daily living. During World War II, it was necessary for women to work. The government statistics prove this:
Sanger, one of the pioneers of modern birth control, founded Planned Parenthood which was an
Betty was only seventeen when she found out that she was pregnant. She and the father had been in a long term relationship, and had discussed having children of their own. However, when he found out that she was pregnant their relationship immediately changed. Suddenly he began to question her fidelity, and he accused her of being pregnant with another man’s baby. After his reaction, Betty decided not to tell anyone, especially because having a child out of wedlock was frowned upon. She began to search for an abortion clinic. She found one by looking through the telephone directory for gynecologists who did not advertise themselves as obstetricians. She went to meet the practitioner in a run-down shack in the middle of nowhere. Once Betty arrived, the practitioner immediately began the procedure. The method this practitioner used was a cervical puncture followed by an insertion of willow bark. Betty was given no pain medicine. After she left she began to bleed profusely and soon presented symptoms of an infection. Although the woman who performed the abortion told her not to come back, she did, and was given some painkillers. After a few days the infection appeared to have passed and her doctor told her she was no longer pregnant (Fadiman). Betty’s story is not a rare one. Many women suffered because of the unsafe conditions that they had endure to get an abortion after abortion was criminalized. These conditions were a direct result of new laws that punished women for attempting to procu...
Margaret Sanger, a well known feminist and women's reproductive right activist in USA history wrote the famous speech: The Children's Era. This speech focuses on the topic of women's reproductive freedom. Sanger uses rhetorical forms of communication to persuade and modify the perspectives of the audience through the use of analogy and pathos. She uses reason, thought and emotion to lead her speech.
...also were not represented, and made women understand that this inferiority dilemma that was going on every day had to stop, and that they had to revolt and fight for their own rights. Her influence combined with other women fighting and the spirit of rebellion already set in men spiked women's interests in their rights and made them want to struggle for their privileges.
During the early 1900s, American nurse Margaret Sanger led the birth-control movement in the United States. She and others opened clinics to provide women with information and devices. Although frequently jailed, she and her followers were instrumental in getting laws changed. In subsequent years, laws against birth control gradually weakened, and more effective methods were developed.
...n our country. She’s saying that the advancement of women is getting stuck between a rock and a hard place. This was such a strong point in her speech because it shed light into the logical thinking, and made a historical connection to slavery. By making this connection, she was able to help many see that women were convicted slaves to the current state of the union.
There were many women who fought for female equality, and many who didn’t care, but eventually the feminists won the vote. Women today are still fighting for equality in the home, in the workplace, and in society as a whole, which seems like it may take centuries of more slow progress to achieve.
Sanger’s speech was written in first person which helps the audience see her perspective more easily. The speaker also uses the word “we” when discussing what is desired for women. This word choice creates a stronger connection between Sanger and all women. It persuades the audience to support Sanger because she is on the side of the women. The intended audience is to both men and women. For example, when Sanger states that the “principle that Birth Control should be available to every adult man and woman.” (2). She is speaking to both genders although,