The Persecution Of The Women's Rights Movement

Changes, occurring in the 1920’s and continuing into the 20th Century have been significant in the lives of women. However, today, women are still treated unequally with men still being considered the dominant gender. Women were considered as being naturally weaker than men. Since early times, women have been the strength in the home and family. Connecting those periods from the early, nineteenth century into the 20th Century, life for women have changed in so many ways. According to, Wheeler, William and Becker, Susan “in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote, was finally ratified. Seventy-five years in the making, ratification came too late for women such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady

Throughout American society, Women have been downgraded in the face of men. In america’s past, women were seen purely as housewives, and had no place in a higher position. Today women have many more rights, putting them on much more equal terms as men. With this, women have shown their capabilities and their worth to society, leading its progression, and proving that the arguments of the anti-suffrage movement were initially the opposite of what women could really do. The arguments that women’s place is only at home and that men have the sole job of running government and society has been proven wrong by women in contemporary society.

Throughout history, there has always been a rivalry between the two sexes and in the end the women have always come in second place. Time over time it has been proven difficult for women to hold any type of power that they have wanted except for the tasks that they have been given due to their gender. In society and in their own homes, it has been difficult for women to grow and sustain their power beyond the limits that they have been given. Women have been differentiated from men and have been discriminated with regard to jobs and other types of privileges that they have wanted. Throughout the course of history, they have been denied many freedoms that every man has and they want to be equal to their counterparts. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in the United States of America and developed the women’s suffrage. Slowly, women are receiving the freedoms of being their own person rather than this stereotypical woman figure that has been long awaited for because they should already be treated equal among men. The key features that women have been viewed as stereotypical is femininity, care, nurture, maternity, and dependent upon men. Society expects women to have the ideal feminine characteristics; however, women do not always generally have those types of traits and can have some just like men.

Today, we live in a society that believes women can do anything men can do. Women can vote, work, and were granted all the same rights and freedoms as men. But, our society was not always this way. In fact, there was a time when women were not even considered people. Many events influenced this change, but there was a few main events that significantly impacted women’s rights. Women’s suffrage, The Persons Case, and women’s fashion helped change our society and our views on women’s rights . Since World War 1, women’s rights have drastically changed for the better, due to new laws and a revolutionized way of thinking.

As mentioned before, many feel as though women still face discrimination in the workforce. However, it is no question that attitudes towards the feminist movement have become less critical overtime. In fact, 51% of men and 69% of women currently identify as feminists, according to the 2015 poll by YouGov. Many celebrities have pushed for women’s rights, which has contributed to its recent acceptance. Overall, there were several components to the rise of the women’s rights movement in the period 1940-1975. Some of these factors include: World War II, unfair working conditions, the idealistic standard of the “perfect woman”, and the civil rights movement. It will be interesting to see where the feminist movement goes in modern

The declaration of independence states that all men and women are created equal. This document, along with the constitution, is what the administration of the United States was founded on. The men who created these documents were citizens striving for equal rights and representation in government. Ironically, these rights the founding fathers worked so hard to create for themselves were not granted to women in their newly established nation. Fortunately, due to the tireless work of decades of activist’s, laws have changed, amendments added to the constitution, and rights granted to those who were previously unjustly denied. One of these victories for women’s rights occurred when women were granted the right

The birth of the feminist movement in the progressive era paved the way for tackling complex women’s issues into the 1930s. 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 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

Looking in from the outside, the journey of Women’s rights was a lengthy one, and it has come a significant way from what it began as. It was a long road to freedom that started with just a few women protesting together for change in the mid 1800’s to the large movement it is today. What started only as an effort to put women on equal footing with men in the voting realm blossomed into a full on fight against gender norms and independence through protesting, speeches, and gatherings. Gender norms or ‘roles’ are (as defined by Webster’s dictionary) “a set of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex” and they are one thing that modern feminist have set their sights on to change for the better. Traditional gender roles have continued to exist for hundreds of years through perpetrators such as religion, government and society, and its effects have been felt by every woman, whether they realize it or not.

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. However, in these organizations they’ve made social, economic and political

Despite what some may think, women today are still not fully equal to men. In a post on nobullying.com discussing the history of discrimination against women in developing nations, it says that young girls account for “6o percent of the out-of-school population of children”(Discrimination Against Women). Women are expected to be a supporter of the breadwinner role of men, to stay at home and raise the children. But whoever came up with that stereotype? The answer is simple: men. Men have given the media this unrealistic image that women cannot fend for themselves, cannot do hard jobs, or cannot get as far in life as a man. Even in jobs, though a woman and a man may be in the same position, women “earn just 74 cents for every $1 a man earns” (CNNMoney). This is truly unfair, yet men today still say that women are “equal,” though it is obviously false. Women today, though they have more rights than in the 1800’s, are still not in the place we need to be in ranking with men. Women are still abused, sexually harassed and mistreated more than men because of their sex. They are seen as lesser, despite making up 51 percent of America’s population. And the misogyny and discrimination is not just in the United States; it happens in many other countries as well. Girls, underage and innocent, can be married off to an older man without their consent in Iraq since child marriage has been legalized in October of 2013

America gained its independence in 1776 with the expectation that every American should have liberty and equality. However, American women did not have the right to vote until 1920, which was almost more than 140 years after the United States was established. Women could do little to protect themselves and promote their careers due to being treated unequally and inferior to men. During the 19th and the early 20th century, women were working hard and fighting for gender equality, so that more and more women could live a better life with basic civil rights in their hometowns. In reality, women’s equality was challenged by traditional conventions in the fields of biological difference in sexes, religion and gender roles, and different perspectives towards these conventions of different people made women’s civil rights controversial.

During Progressive Era, there were many reforms that occurred, such as Child Labor Reform or Pure Food and Drug Act. Women Suffrage Movement was the last remarkable reform. This movement was fighting about the right of women to vote, which was basically about women’s right movement. Many great leaders – Elizabeth Cad Stanton and Susan B. Anthony - formed the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Although those influential leaders faced hardship during this movement, they never gave up and kept trying their best. This movement was occurred in New York that has a huge impact on the whole United States.

Throughout history women have struggled to gain their rights. Ever since Adam and Eve, Eve was always the one making mistakes. American history regarding women is a shameful one, for women have been suppressed since the beginning.

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.” The women’s rights movement encouraged women to fear nothing and to refuse to be a part of the crowd or go with the flow, but to act as individuals that have values and