Second-Wave Feminist Movement Analysis

The First National Women’s Rights convention, like the Seneca Falls Convention, was more than a day long. Around one thousand delegates attended, and it was remarkable since they came from eleven different states. (Cullen-DuPont). They presented their demands, most of them involved the right to vote, receiving a higher education, the ability to chose from a larger variety of professions, the right to own property, and many more. With all these ideals being spread all over the place, even in the medias, it brought many more supporters to the movement and started changing the oppressive ideals in everyone’s

Prejudice and fear are weak barriers against passions, which inherent in our nature and demanding only judicious training to form the ornament, and supply the best joys of our existence, are maddened into violence, varied with as pernicious indulgence.” (Doc #2) The efforts made by the feminist movement of the Antebellum-era set forth a precedent for the expansion of women’s rights in the decades following and up until present day. The patriarchal society that had controlled the nation since its birth was finally met with opposition from those who had been oppressed for so long. Through the dismissal of restrictive gender roles and expectations, the voices of women were finally allowed to influence decision making, and ultimately create changes that would promote equal opportunity for all

The organizers that started this organization were named Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott. These women were feminists; which (is the theory that women should have economic, political, and social rights equal to those of men.”) This movement had also dealing with women 's rights that were included in the civil rights movement. For two centuries, feminism tried to win over and start gaining equality of sexes by supporting the same opportunity

Over the year’s women have made it a long way, we used to be thought of as an item that men can boss around. In the 1860’s, here in the United States, people were expected to do certain tasks based on their gender, but now a days people are free to pursue whatever dream they have, no matter what gender. There are many important women who have impacted women’s rights and got us to where we are today. Starting in the 1860’s, women in the U.S have made many strong steps forward for themselves and have had a great impact on our lives today, and what we call “normal”.

The Women’s Movement was a symbolic movement in achieving political and civil equality. It assisted women lifestyles in the United States, granting them equal opportunities as men. Therefore, the Equal Rights Amendment guaranteed equal rights with men and the Equal Pay Act guaranteed equal pay. But these opportunities rarely helped women since they were prohibited and discriminated from universities and communal school, young girls have to be taught at home by mothers due to the segregation from males and females. In the 1960s, organizations were predominantly constructed for women since they were driven away from society of men and can’t attend schools and colleges.

The women’s rights movement being an extensive movement helped women to occupy better jobs and higher positions “Increased access to leadership positions is an important achievement because – in terms of gender – the field is more level now: some women will be allies, some are not, but no one is excluded only for being a woman”. Today, women can choose to occupy the jobs that were once titled only for men and they have an equal employment opportunity “Because of workplace rights, women enjoy freedom to work in almost any position they choose. They join the armed forces, work as cab drivers, own businesses and become executives in large corporations” Women can now become ministers, juries, senates, and even the president “1975 — In Taylor v. Louisiana, the court denies states the right to exclude women from juries….1981 — Sandra Day O’Connor is appointed as the first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice… 1997 — Madeleine Albright is sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State. She is the first woman in this position.”

No More Miss America, by Robin Morgan, gives insight to the ideology behind the protest of the Miss America Pageant. Morgan does so by first introducing the event and then enumerating ten points that explained the ideologies behind the protest. The first point was criticizing “the degrading mindless-bob-girlie symbol.” This point compares the women the participants of the beauty contest to animals that are judged. This point stands out as it helps to illustrate how the ideologies that contributed to gender formation during the 1960s are objectifying.

Securing basic rights such as the right to work, vote, and participate in the public sphere were the essential goals of this generation. The early feminist movement ended with the 19th amendment and new issues of equal pay, birth control, and equal treatment were the introduced in the mid-twentieth century. Despite their downfalls, “…this generation of women… led the way in demanding that white women be treated differently than they had in the past” (Burge,

The United States of America is a relatively new country that evolved exceptionally fast. Yet the common ideas of gender haven't evolved much. Namely, many historical events were accomplished by women or involved women; however, they aren't taught in high school. Most, if not all, educated individuals know these great male historical figures that influenced the US: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, and etc. Most of 'American history' is white men history, or better summarized as (his)story. But do students know Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Maria Stewart, and etc.? Maybe. How about Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, Ida B. Wells, and other marginalized women? Most people don't know or never heard

Many women later began to use the term “feminism” to describe their reform efforts that stressed social justice, economic equality, and sexual freedom. (Book, 533) Margaret Sanger is a woman that pushed for widespread use of contraception. Early advocates of women’s rights thought that only educated women should vote, but progressive reformers wanted all women to have that right. The nineteenth amendment gave women the vote to in national

We all go through the same things—it 's all just a different kind of the same thing” (Glaspell, 138). In this case, it shows how women were more dedicated to pleasing their husband and doing their own thing instead of helping one another. With that being said, in “The Hidden Women’s Movement” the article expresses, “an important characteristic of the women 's movement is how the network of activists who connect to one another have changed over time, it started in the 60s as a very small dense network, and over time it has grown more diverse and more specialized” (Banaszak,1). This demonstrates how women have come together and tried to solve a problem in which they all took a part in. This is all because of the women’s right movement.

Woman have been fighting for equality for a long time. We are still fighting to today to close the wage gap between men and women. The women's movement fought for their unalienable rights and the right to vote. The arguments of the women's movements were revolutionary.

Women were restricted in the workplace, and had to do house chores and take care of their kids (“1960 American Feminism”). Also around this time the second wave of feminism was taking place. The second wave of feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the 1960s and lasted through the early 1980’s(1960 American Feminism”). During this period women were targeted at trying to get reproductive rights, workplace rights, having equal sexuality, and focused on family”1960 American Feminism”).

The feminist movement is mostly focused in the 60s and 70s, a time when women only made up 3% of America’s lawyers, 6% of America’s doctors, and less than 1% of American engineers; women would mostly work as secretaries, nurses and teachers. The feminist movement started after the publication of Betty Friedan’s, The Feminine Mystique, it was focused on workplace equality such as equal payment and access to better jobs. The Civil Rights Act was the first law that stated that it was illegal to discriminate anyone based on sex in a workplace. That, of course, had little effect and Betty Friedan (together with other feminists) established the National Organization for Women (NOW), destined for the protection of women in the workplace. The NOW assisted women on finding legal assistance to help them battle workplace discrimination in court and lobbied in Congress in favor of pro-equality laws.

Women in early mid-1800s started to fight for equal rights more than ever. Since American males have been granted more rights since the American independence, women started to question the reasons behind why they are not getting the same rights as men. This started a generations of women fighting for their equal rights. From the arguments presented by first wave feminists for women’s right and the evidence against inclusion by their detractors, the first wave feminists for women’s right had a better convincing argument because they did not over exaggerate their arguments and evidence to the arguments that they made.