...1. American women’s history has been on a rollercoaster ride since 1877. While American women’s history has experienced numerous themes or ideas, two that have been consistent throughout history is that of women’s rights, which encompasses the second theme of gender roles. From the beginning of this course, we have studied and read about gender and the roles that society believes the different sexes to be responsible for. Since the beginning, women were not granted or afforded a life independent from their spouse or significant other. They were considered property of their spouse, allowing them to do with as they please. Women were seen as inferior to men and were denied the same luxuries as men. Societal beliefs were that a woman’s role was as the homemaker. She was responsible for taking care of the home and children and keeping things in order for her spouse, who was the party responsible for financially caring for the family. It was thought that if women were afforded male luxuries, such as voting, gender roles in the home would change, something that males did not want to see happen. When the National American Women’s Suffrage Association formed in the 1890s, women lacked many of the rights that men had and were fighting to obtain voting rights equal to that of men. These rights would be the first step in gaining equality for women. This was the beginning of what would pave the way for the great women’s movement and what we know as the Equal Rights Amendment today. Gender...
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...importance of history. The sequence of events, hardships, and triumphs of the United States are taught throughout our lifetime in our educational curriculum and is needed to serve as a remembrance of our past. From 1848 to 1920, the efforts made by women strived to achieve equal rights. Boylan’s primary source document is accompanied with a cartoon (page 44). The cartoon shows several stereotypes of women in politics and mocks those involved. Some stereotypes include masculinity and...
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...the late 1800’s during Kate Chopin’s time did not have rights and were considered to be the property of their husbands. Kate Chopin is a well-renowned author known for her writing about women’s lives and her support for the suffrage movement. Married women during the late 1800’s in Kate Chopin’s time were oppressed because they did not have rights to their property, did not have the right to vote, and were not considered to be equal to men. Women in the late 1800’s did not have rights to their own property as everything was considered to be their husbands. Women fought a long battle to just gain the rights to land that was already theirs. The “Declaration of Sentiments” created...
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...Women’s Role (1865-Present) Kimberly Burrows HIS 204 Joseph Scahill February 2, 2013 Women’s Role (1865-Present) Throughout history, women have suffered fewer rights then men and are discriminated against because of their gender. Historically, a woman’s main role was to tend to the home isolated in the domestic “bubble” and to raise their children while their husbands were away at work. In this paper, I will describe the historical significance of this issue from 1865 to the present. I will explain the historical developments that presented new opportunities for women in society. I will discuss the main individuals that were involved in these struggles. To conclude, I will analyze ways in which it contributed to an “ending of isolation” while assessing the challenges involved. Even today, women still face discrimination based on their gender. However, the role of women has changed significantly which has created a lasting and ongoing increase of women's rights. The woman’s role presents a historical significance from 1865 to today for many reasons. Prior to the Civil War, women were perceived as the weaker sex and were considered intellectually inferior to men. Their freedom was limited and they had fewer rights than men. Women were expected to marry, care for their home, cook, make clothing and raise their children. According to Manning, M. J. (2005), “Women were viewed as wives and mothers, whose economic rights were mainly to be supported by a male breadwinner and...
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...Cult of Domesticity by many men resulted in many women staying in the private sphere unwillingly, unequal pay compared to similar jobs done by men, and few socially acceptable career options for women, causing them to fight these injustices legally in courts and participating in strikes and protests. On average, women received inferior education when compared to men, which prevented many women from becoming skilled workers; therefore, women claimed that the education system needed reforms due to the lack of equality. As a significant Antebellum reform movement, abolitionism attracted many women, which in turn caused them to reflect upon their own similarities with slaves and encouraged themselves to combat the social transgression...
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...Women’s Equality The hierarchy of man has ruled women for centuries. The control and suppression of free will was accepted as fact. The time of Women making change in their own lives through free expression started a revolution of achievements breaking the oppression. These revolutionary achievements gave birth to a new age of equity. Women’s equality is a topic that has been approached over the years. The common vision, that all people are to be treated equally. The race, religion, sex, age, and other differences should not matter. The day when a person looks won't be what they judged until they actually meet them. The Sex should not mater in one’s ability to perform similar tasks, but history has taught the hierarchy of men throughout society. The Declaration of Independence states, "that all men were created equal”. This was written with the reality of the hierarchy of man that has been inbred into society. Human equality was far from the true reality. Individuals of that era would start to approach their own virtue’s, which forever shape the future of society (Mosser, 2013 ). The most famous deontologist, Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) stated, “that we have a duty, or an obligation, to treat other people with respect; human beings have dignity, and we must take that dignity into consideration when dealing with them. We also expect others to respect our dignity when they deal with us”(Mosser,2013). It is only humane to treat women as equal as they carried most of the...
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...“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less”, stated Susan B. Anthony, a women’s rights activist and founder of the New York State’s Women’s Rights Committee. This claim encompasses a tumultuous time where women struggled for a voice in a country that counted them as second rate citizens. That would change, when two women devoted their lives to the fight for women’s suffrage which would begin a journey to equality that women are still embarking on today. Starting in 1848 women have been struggling for equal rights, the struggle has been a continuous issue, even up to modern day. Women were successful in creating equal rights in most aspects but, women still lack equality today. The fight for equal rights...
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...Feminism in Bangladesh: Establishing equal rights between men & women in young generation. SADMAN ANIS Students University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh ABSTRACT This is basically exploratory study and was conducted at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh & United International University, Dhanmondi,Dhaka, Bangladesh over a period of 10 days started from 1st December, 2012 to 10th December, 2010. The main objective of this study is to describe what the condition of feminism in Bangladesh and what is the thinking of our varsity girl about feminism. Total 21 respondents were selected based on age class of 18-22. Feminism is a belief in the right of women to have political, social, and economic equality with men. It is a discourse that involves various movements, theories, and philosophies which are concerned with the issue of gender difference, advocate equality for women, and campaign for women’s rights and interests. According to some, the history of feminism can be divided into three waves. The first wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second was in the 1960s and 1970s and the third extends from the 1990s to the present. Feminist theory emerged from these feminist movements. It is manifest in a variety of disciplines such as feminist geography, feminist history and feminist literary criticism. Although feminism has emerged in nineteenth in the world, it is yet unknown to women of our country. The concept of feminism in Bangladesh has...
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...Report of Online Discussion WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP ROLES Coordinated by the Division for the Advancement of Women Department of Economic and Social Affairs United Nations Hosted by WomenWatch With support from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 19 November to 15 December 2007 Disclaimer: The views expressed in this report reflect the opinions of participants to the online discussion and not the official views of the United Nations Contents 1. Introduction................................................................................................................................ 3 2. Theme One: Status of women in leadership positions globally ....................................................... 5 2.1. Country experiences ................................................................................................................5 2.2. Ability of women in leadership positions to influence change .....................................................6 2.3. Instruments and methodologies to measure impact ..................................................................8 3. Theme Two: Factors that influence women’s access to decision-making positions —views from public administration, the judiciary and the private sector................................................................. 9 3.1. Representation of women in the public sector.........................................................................10 3.2. Representation...
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...presented to change the discrimination women were constantly faced with. Women have persistently fought for equality, specifically in education, job status, and voting rights. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” is a anecdote about a married woman, Louise Mallard, who discovers her husband has died in a railroad accident. Louise Mallard begins to mourn her husband’s death in the bathroom, then suddenly feels a sense of freedom and empowerment. “‘Free! Body...
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...Women’s Roles in the Nineteenth Century: Invisibility and Visibility In nineteenth century, women in the United States were expected to fill the separate sphere of civilization. They were most likely living their lives mainly as caregivers and homemakers, whereas men were expected to live a public life and work in a factory and became a primary breadwinner in a household. Due to these traditional expectations for women in the nineteenth century, only a handful of women had the opportunities for higher education as men. Women had fought for equal rights and opportunities with men throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century. It had been long journey and a painful struggle for the females. Some groups often seen educated women as rebellious...
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...the African American women with what looks like a lash. The other scenario with the African American women, the white man is kissing the women. At the bottom of the political cartoon, it reads, “Virginian Luxuries.” These type of events were occurring in Virginia. During 1800 in the United States, Virginia was a slave state, the white man that appears on both of these scenarios is the master and African American women, the slave. The author of this cartoon printed the words “Virginia Luxuries” to make a statement about the masters and the way they could be cruel to their slaves and other days take advantage of them to please their needs. The author called it luxuries because the masters were living the best of both worlds. They could treat the slave with astonishing cruelty one day and the next make love to them. During this time period, this kind of actions with masters and their slave women was no surprise. The power that the master had over the slaves, which were simply seen as property, was a luxury that the Virginia white man obtained. It was a luxury of power in the state of Virginia. Tocqueville was a political scientist, historian, and politician. He had originally gone to the United States to study innovative prisons, but at his arrival, he became interested in the people of America. Once Tocqueville arrived back to France in 1835, he published a book regarding the...
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...Why did the Women’s Liberation Movement Emerge in the late 1960’s? Discuss with reference to Britain and the United States of America. In a decade where the whole world was experiencing revolutions due to social discontent, this increased the desire, of women, in the late 1960’s to ‘confront existing structures of oppression,’ giving the impetus for the emergence of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Caine argues the emergence of the movement bought a ‘new tone,’ when discussing women’s oppression. Rather than focusing directly on women’s suffrage, this was a political movement demanding ‘rapid and radical change,’ in an ever increasing ambience of liberalisation. Upon inception, it is vital to highlight one can account different reasons for the emergence of the movement in Britain and America, as different domestic situations led to different reasons for the emergence of a more radical form of feminism. This essay, together with a multiplicity of historians, will consider the importance of World War II and the Civil Rights Movement, and the impact they had on the emergence of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Linked to this is the ever apparent discrimination women faced and increasing desires to change this, coupled with developments of new opportunities, demonstrated by the aforementioned world events. Additionally, the impact of literature such as Betty Friedan’s, The Feminine Mystique, needs to be considered. Whilst all the factors play an important role in contributing...
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...One of the main gender problems today is the resistance against women’s unpopular fight for equality, which encompasses the need to oppose the steady chipping away of women’s reproductive rights. In the article, “6 Battles Feminists Everywhere Are Still Fighting for Women's Rights,” Marcie Bianco states, “Because of the complexity of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade verdict, which federally gives women the right to seek an abortion within their respective state's law about when human life begins, reproductive rights have been continuously chipped away at the state level in recent history,” which supports the idea that women’s reproductive rights are being taken away forcefully and without any thought to effects on women (1). This action that...
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...BETTY FRIEDAN, 1921-2006: A LEADER IN THE MODERN WOMEN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT I'm Faith Lapidus. And I'm Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today we tell about Betty Friedan. She was a powerful activist for the rights of women. Betty Friedan is often called the mother of the modern women's liberation movement. Her famous book, "The Feminine Mystique," changed America. Some people say it changed the world. It has been called one of the most influential nonfiction books of the twentieth century. Friedan re-awakened the feminist movement in the United States. That movement had helped women gain the right to vote in the nineteen twenties. Modern feminists disagree about how to describe themselves and their movement. But activists say men and women should have equal chances for economic, social and intellectual satisfaction in life. Fifty years ago, life for women in the United States was very different from today. Very few parents urged their daughters to become lawyers or doctors or professors. Female workers doing the same jobs as men earned much less money. Women often lost their jobs when they had a baby. There were few child care centers for working parents. Betty Friedan once spoke to ABC television about her support for sharing responsibility for the care of children: "If child-rearing was considered the responsibility of women and men or women and men and society, then we really could pull up our skirts and declare victory and move on." ...
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