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My Mother Is The Oldest Of Nine

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My entire life, I have been surrounded by strong women. My grandmother was the oldest of nine, and took care of her siblings from a very young age. Her circumstances didn’t stop her from going to nursing school, and Gram spent her entire career helping other people. My mother is the youngest of four siblings, all girls, which contributes to my family’s firm belief that women can do whatever they desire as long as they are willing to work hard. As a girl in my family, I have always been told I have nothing but opportunities. As I grew older, I became aware of my gender’s expectations. I didn’t want a pink, Strawberry Shortcake-themed girl bike, I wanted the cool, blue boy bike. I was a Girl Scout in elementary school, but by the time I went…show more content…
When most people think of the beginning of feminism, they think of suffragettes fighting for their right to vote. However, feminist ideas are quite a bit older than that. The origin of feminism can be traced as far back as Sappho in Ancient Greece and other well known early feminists include Mary Wollstonecraft and Jane Austen (Rampton n.p.).
Martha Rampton explains, “All of these people advocated for the dignity, intelligence, and basic human potential of the female sex” (Rampton n.p.).
After the Civil War was a very exciting time for women. Suffragettes struggled to break free from the classification of fanatics, which led them to hone their message to include female voting rights exclusively. Activists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony opposed the 15th Amendment to the Constitution since it did not include women. As some saw the objection as racist, Lucy Stone formed the American Women Suffrage Association to do the same thing as the National Women Suffrage Association, just without the objection to the 15th Amendment (“Women’s Rights” 1). The movement was successful in winning the vote, and on August 18th, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. The 19th Amendment afforded all citizens regardless of sex the right to vote.
Once women took their place in Congress, they faced difficulty within the congressional
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