Life Before Women's Rights Movement Essay

The gender roles in America have changed tremendously since the end of the American Civil War. Women and men, who once lived in separate spheres are now both contributing to American society. Women have gone from the housewife so playing key roles in the country's development in all areas. Though our society widely accepts women and the idea that our society is gender neutral, the issues that women once faced in the late 1860s are still here.

Looking back on the Progressive Era, we see many women activists and their roles in the fight for women’s rights. With the arrival of a new century also came many changes. Society was adjusting to industrialization, urbanization, a growing and powerful economy, and, of course, immigration. As a result of these changes, many people became fearful that traditional values would change as well. Progressive Reform in America began in the late nineteenth century, and an expanding job market as well as changes to the American lifestyle lead to women’s want for change in their public roles. Women activists began fighting for issues such as more opportunities for education and jobs, health advancements, and of course, voting rights. In doing so, women made great advancements in suffrage during the Progressive Era, and without a doubt, changed the nation for the better.

In history most women did not work, men were the breadwinners of the household and women took care of the children, cooked, and cleaned. There were specific expectations of women to listen, be respectful, and be pretty much be obedient to their husband or father when growing up. I was also raised on those old-fashioned values that were, never be outspoken, rude and obnoxious like most boys are. Since those old traditions were carried out for so long and are still upheld in some lives today, this is what started building the barrier that blocks women from being treated

Women have had a rough way to go for many years when it comes to equality. They face many negative things in today’s society and that is the way it has been for many years. History shows that women have been fighting for equality for decades, because many people believe they just can’t do the things that men can. There’s a website that has been helping women fight for that equality since 1966. That website is www.now.org. Before then women never really had any help. They had to rely on each other to show everyone what they could really do. Women have fought to try and end discrimination when it comes to jobs and economic justice. So the status of women throughout history has changed,

Since the beginnings of American society, the life of a woman has fluctuated wildly. Between the American Revolution and the Civil War women still never fully had the same rights as men (not even close). But, after the American Revolution, Republican Motherhood-an ideal that put women solely in the position as mothers with the task of teaching and guiding children to instill in them the virtues of a good citizen- became very popular among middle/high class white women. Lower class and minority women weren’t able to embrace Republican Womanhood because of their roles in society. African American women were mostly slaves and lower class women of all races couldn’t provide a domestic lifestyle for their families because of their financial situations.

Women’s lives were drastically different than men from

In a time where women were thought of to be controlled by men, it was very hard for

Tuesday, November 2, 1920, the day women voted for the first time. The New York Times called it, “The greatest voting day in the city’s history.” It was a wonderful day for women all across the country. All of their hard work had finally paid off. The Women’s Rights Movement changed the way women were seen. Before the passage of the 19th Amendment, women in many states were not given the right to vote. The Women’s Rights movement was caused by many factors, greatly impacted the society of the early 1900s and changed American society forever.

Over time women's rights have grown, however this has not happened without the difficulty of time and tradition. The original role of women was not equal to man, instead their role was to act as the housekeeper, the mother of children. Due to this stereotype, women were unable to gain many rights, and much of the protests against how unfair this was were unheard. To begin, what is known of women's rights during the 1800s is, women in society were subservient to men. Women were only allowed to have access to a minor education, which was not enough to build a life off of much less a job.

In some countries, people do not get a say in what's going to happen, they do not have equal rights, nor as many opportunities. But in the United States, I have many opportunities if I wanted and the government or anyone else cannot control that. In Iraq, women are not educated. Women are not treated equally, they are not educated, they cannot leave their house without a male, although a law just came out now in some middle eastern countries women can now drive. Women do not have a say in most things.If a woman tries to stand up for what they believe in they could be beaten or badly punished. Women do not have the same

More modern women no longer subscribe to the idea that they should only aspire to be housewives. This movement, which began in the 1940s, is hailed as the rebirth of feminism. Women entered the workforce to replace their husbands who had been sent off to fight in World War II. As a result, their work in factories and shipyards challenged the gender norms of that time period, and thus paved the way for future generations to come (“The Women’s Movement—Our History,” 2005). Today, in lieu of Rosie the Riveter, women and girls have many professional role models to look up to. Nonetheless, it remains imperative that the structure of the workplace changes to accommodate a more balanced gender ratio, but this is not always possible within the current patriarchal framework. Gender equality in the workplace has not yet been achieved despite the successes of elite women. However, as small progressions are being made, it is a recurring debate among feminists whether or not the ambitious woman can “have it all.” Sheryl Sandberg expounds on this idea in her book Lean In, believing it possible if a woman has enough determination. Other esteemed women, such as Anne-Marie Slaughter and feminist scholar bell hooks dissect her arguments in their respective works “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” and “Dig Deep: Beyond Lean In,” both coming to the conclusion that women and men must first be liberated from the institution. Richard Dorment, author of “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All”, bases his

For centuries men were distinguished as economic providers, while women were regarded as inferior, second class human beings. Considered inferior by nature and by law, women were inflicted with a low status in society, depriving them equal rights in their homes and in civic society. At the turn of every century, women occasionally made few headways towards the amelioration of women's ill treatment. As science and social attitudes evolved, the American society began adopting more liberal approaches toward things where conventionally conservative positions were the

Women have been able to gain many rights such as the right to legally get abortion, the right to be paid the same with men for the same work: pay equity, they could now divorce their husbands, file complaint about pay discrimination, the could now marry other women, etc. (HuffPost Canada, 2018.) Even though a lot of thing have got better as far as opportunities is concerned, women still struggle with every day discrimination in many areas of their life such as being looked down at as the inferior gender, false image how womanhood: they are constantly being told how a woman should look like which lower their self-esteem, they are constantly sexualized by magazines. The lack of women in many powerful roles in many institutions

Although they have been given more rights and equality, women still lack fairness in areas such as education, domestic abuse, crime, and lower class value. Cassandra Clifford states in her article “Are Girls still marginalized? Discrimination and Gender Inequality in Today’s Society”, “Woman and girls are abused by their husbands and fathers, young girls are exploited by sex tourism and trafficking, girls in many countries are forced into arranged marriages at early ages. Twice as many women are illiterate as men, due to the large gap in education, and girls are still less likely to get jobs and excel in the work place than boys.” She describes some of the issues that women face today around the world. These issues are what keep society from coming together to form a better world.

Throughout history, women have faced ridiculous discrimination. They have tolerated having their rights abolished, having very little independence from their husbands, and being thought to have inferior brains. They had no right to vote; they couldn 't be part of a jury and had no rights to property and they were even being claimed as men 's property. Gender inequality has always been around and men have always been considered stronger, faster, and hard-working while women have always been seen as weak and inferior. Women have been brought up to be mothers and have been forced to practice staying home while taking care of their children. Because of this, women were believed to be nurturers and men were supposed to be aggressive, which gave them dominance. The society in which we live in today has been shaped historically by males. Work environments like police work, politics, etc. consists of men and therefore it is not surprising that our society reflects those biases which exist as a result of this male-domination.