preview

Oppression Of Women In The 20th Century

Decent Essays

In the early 20th century, discrimination against women was rife in the society. The role of women in the society at the time was relegated to procreation and looking after the needs of the family. In fact, the male chauvinistic society advanced the notion that the primary role of women was to give birth and raise children. However, such forms of discrimination were gradually resisted by women in the US buoyed by the growth of the feminist movement in Europe. However, the early 20th century was characterized by sustained suppression of women who were paid weekly wages by their husbands to take care of their families while those who were single sought jobs that would be of service to the society such as cooking or serving food at the restaurants. …show more content…

Therefore, the lack of education and means for economic empowerment were some of the tools that were employed to ensure that women remained subordinate to the men. The maintenance of the status quo in the male chauvinist society was partly advanced by the US federal government which had limited women enrollment in the degree programs in state universities. The federal government lifted the restrictions in the late 19th century. However, only a few state-level universities admitted women into the undergraduate programs. Given that women were unwelcome in most of the state universities, private universities such as Bryn Mawr and Mount Holyoke were established to serve female students in the US (Madigan 12). However, colleges and secondary schools remained coeducational. The alienation of women from the educational system was prevalent in both white-dominated societies and African American societies. However, the civil rights campaigns of the mid 20th century were instrumental in facilitating the enrolment of African American girls and women in school. For instance, the abolition of racially based discrimination in the educational system resulted in a 12 and 60 percent increase in the number of African Americans who completed high school and college education, respectively (Thomas and Jackson

Get Access