Alice Paul: The Working Woman

For the longest time, women’s role in society was very narrow and set in stone. Women weren’t given the chance to decide life for their own, and there was a very sharp distinction of gender roles. Women were viewed as inferior, weak, and dependant. They were expected to be responsible for the family and maintainance of the house. But as the 19th century began, so did a drastic change in society. Women started voicing their opinions and seeking change. Trying to break away from this ideology called “cult of domesticity” was a lengthy, burdensome, and demanding struggle.

How often do you hear your friends, family or acquaintances say they would like to go back to simpler times, the 1950’s? The era where you could wear fancy poodle skirts, drive the elaborate bright cars, eat at your favorite diner, or catch a movie at the drive in. That sounds pleasant, right? The United States has a tendency to think of the lovely aspects that come from the 1950’s. Unfortunately during this era women were treated unfairly. Women obtained rights, but were still not equal to men. Femininity has come a long way since then. Women work “masculine jobs” today. In the 1950’s, job employers would have turned the female away. Although femininity has seen drastic changes throughout the past decades, society still grasps feminine roots that should have been lost long ago. During the course of this essay you will see how femininity has changed and how it has not since the 1950’s. Whether it be in the workplace, at home, or in society, women have roles to play.

Women’s history in the United States has always been represented as a struggle for rights. Wealth and status were tied to either their fathers or husbands. In the early 1900s, women were afforded the traditional roles of society. The majority of women worked in the home. If they were of the 18% young or poor women, they also worked in factories as laborers, manufacturing items for the booming industrial revolution (U.S. Department of Labor, 1980). During this time period the workplace was not in compliance with current safety standards. There was no minimum wage yet, work conditions were horrible and they worked long hours, “In 1900, the average workweek in manufacturing was 53 hours,” (Fisk, 2003). Women took “pink

Women have been a vital key to the shaping and progression of our society. Throughout time, women’s roles and opportunities in the family, workplace, and society have greatly evolved. They started from being housewives that don’t have many rights, even in the household, to being valued citizens in our

Since the 1920’s, women have been fighting for equal rights. Women’s groups spent decades working to pass laws that would ban gender discrimination. Finally, in 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress even though

Alice could feel her pulse pounding in her temples. Her hands were clasped tightly in front of her stomach as she constantly fiddled with her knuckles. She walked down the street yelling as her eyes were narrowed to rigid, cold fire. Alice felt surrounded as they threw rocks and spit on her. She lead a protest for women’s rights that caught the attention of many reporters. “ Women need rights, just like men!” They yelled over and over. A police officer ran over to them and told them to stop and threatened them if they did not stop. As they shackled her, the sadness flowed through her veins and deadened her mind. It was a poison to her spirit, as if a black mist had settled upon her and refused to shift. She felt defeated.

Many women’s rights activists advocated equal rights in state legislatures, which led to conventions and women’s social organizations. They reasoned that women had the same opportunities to political, religious, social, and economic rights that men had and argued they were no different from men. In Document A, Judith Sargent Murray says, ...our souls are by nature equal to yours; the same breath of God animates, enlivens, and invigorates us; and that we are not fallen lower than yourselves…” In 1848, New York passed the married Women's Property Act, which allowed married women the right to own property which they had inherited. To get a true sense of women’s attempts for equity they began to join the workforce, and get a higher education to get a new view of themselves.

Then in 1870, the Married Women’s Property Act was in action. This act meant that wages and property earned through a wife 's own work, and investments made with that earned money would henceforth be regarded as her own. This also meant that women could hold rented property in their own name. This act also made women legally liable to maintain their children. In 1871, the first state laws specifically making wife beating illegal were passed, though proliferation of laws to all states and adequate enforcement of those laws lagged very far behind. “In 1878 a woman suffrage amendment was first introduced in the United States Congress, but it did not pass. Then in 1879, a women named Belva Lockwood became the first woman allowed to argue before the Supreme Court. Her first case was the 1880 case "Kaiser v. Stickney".” (Wikipedia, 2016)

Soon after the modern feminist movement began, there was pressure put on the US government to decree occupational equality. In 1963, the Equal Pay Act was passed, making it illegal for women to be paid less than men when carrying out the same job. Then, in the following year, feminists saw another victory when Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibited employers to discriminate based on sex,

Women like Margaret Sanger advocated for women to have the right to their own bodies, including educating themselves in the matter. This was something extremely radical at the time, where even publicly speaking about sex-education was considered obscene and pamphlets on the matter were illegal. What was more astounding was the number of women that “used knitting needles, crochet hooks, hairpins, scissors, and button hooks to induce miscarriage and terminate pregnancies, often causing serious injuries to themselves or death”. After years of fighting for a subject dear to them, women were able to have men legalize abortion in the Supreme Court Case Roe vs. Wade in

In the quite hours of early morning my mother rises out of bed, as she has done every morning for the past twenty-two years. She quietly begins her long day by making tea and cooking breakfast. Before the day ends, my mother would have cooked several meals, cleaned several times and worked a full time job. My mother’s daily routine is not unique and has historically been done by women for centuries. Even today, women are supposed to do it all, have a family, and take care of the house/children and work full-time. Women who are in the workforce are unpaid and the work they do at home is viewed as inferior. They often deal with sexism and racism in the workplace. Changes in law and our thought process need to occur to create and an equitable system of work for all women.

There are common beliefs about working women, including that they are expected to have kids and quit their jobs when they do, they are judged more harshly when voicing their opinions, they are expected to have good ‘soft skills’, they are still seen as secondary to their husbands even if they’re the primary breadwinner, they are perceived as naturally weaker than their male coworkers, and they are judged more on their looks than men. Even though most these stereotypes have mostly disappeared over the past few years, they still exist in some places. Today, women in America are becoming more and more powerful in many areas, especially when it comes to the workforce.

Women fought very hard for their rights in the workplace. Some of them, including Susan B Anthony, went above and beyond the norm. Yet, today our rights are still not the same as a man’s. At one point women weren’t allowed to work at all, and today they are allowed to have jobs while still being home makers. Although improvements have been made, there are still several dilemmas that need to be addressed. A women earns less than a man when doing the same work, and that is extremely unfair. Another issue in the workplace is that men underestimate women due to lack of strength and discrimination. There are also the issues of pregnancy and sexual

The generation now has made it easier to equalize men and women but there is still a substantial amount of places where gender inequality is still happening in the workplace and where females still face discrimination. Women are often discriminated in the workplace and are usually not promoted as quickly as men are and they also receive less pay. History shows that women have not always been defined as property and thought of as second class citizens. But in the 21st century many have seen a drastic change in the so called “traditional” family ways where women are suppose to stay home and take care of the household chores, food, and children and men are suppose to work to support their family and provide financial stability. Many assume that in the workplace women are more vulnerable and less competent than men because women 's instincts are to put their family before work or anything else. Whereas men are the ones who will usually stay the late hours to work. People on both sides of the political spectrum and everywhere in between seem to be fearful of what is to come and more fearful of others than they are often willing to admit.

Until the mid-19th century, women were considered possessions of their husbands, and had no control over their money or property. Thanks to the women’s right movement, this has all changed and things run a little differently now. Spouses are now equal under the law and property is shared between them.