Portia's Progress Analysis

Women’s equality has made huge advancements in the United States in the past decade. One of the most influential persons to the movement has been a woman named Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ruth faced gender discrimination many times throughout her career and worked hard to ensure that discrimination based on a person’s gender would be eliminated for future generations. Ginsburg not only worked to fight for women’s equality but fought for the rights of men, as well, in order to show that equality was a human right’s issue and not just a problem that women faced. Though she faced hardships and discrimination, Ruth never stopped working and thanks to her equality is a much closer reality than it was fifty years ago. When Ruth first

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.

The stereotyping of women is quite common in today 's society and throughout history. In the past, women have taken the full time job of being a mother and a housewife. The 1930s initially started the ideal image of a woman. A woman was often represented as a maid-like being who would serve to their husband and children. In Richard Alleyne’s article, “Advice for women in the 1930s: Nothing Destroys the Happiness of Married Life More than the Lazy, Slovenly Wife,” he discusses the frequent expectations of a housewife. Common assumptions included; “Don’t argue with your husband; do whatever he tells you and obey all his orders” (1) and “Nothing destroys the happiness of married life more than the lazy, slovenly wife” (1). These rules have often been published into past newspapers that were

While social change has brought on more changes than what women are a custom too, at one point in history women actually felt a form of importance in fulfilling their roles not only in the home; but outside as well. “These demographic shifts account for many new or altered roles, such as increased number of duel-earner families, later and fewer marriages, fewer children, increased life expectancy, and the massive migration shifting employees across a nation and across the globe” (Lindsey, 2011, pg. 275).

Sandra Day O 'Connor was the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. A Republican, she was considered a moderate conservative and served for 24 years. Born on March 26, 1930, in El Paso, Texas, Sandra Day O 'Connor spent part of her youth on her family 's Arizona ranch. She graduated from Stanford University in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, O’Connor attended the university’s law school and received her degree in 1952, graduating third in her class. As opportunities for women lawyers were limited at the time she had to work without pay at a county attorney in California San Mateo region. From 1954-57, O 'Connor moved overseas and served as a civilian lawyer for the Quartermaster Masker Center in Frankfurt, Germany. She returned home in 1958 and settled in Arizona. There she worked at a private practice before returning to public service, acting as the state 's assistant attorney general from 1965-69. In 1969, O 'Connor

Women working men’s jobs were not as welcomed in society as they were in factories. People held on to the belief that women should be house wives and not have to do much in the way of work. The man should provide for the family, and the women should take care of the family. Many of the women who worked were lower class and had to help provide for their families, or were the only providers for their families. Women who worked men’s jobs were looked down upon and thought to be no better than dirt. Although women working in factories were still women, men did not show them the same respect as they did a woman working as a secretary or teacher.

Sandra Day O’Connor had a very unpredictable political opinion. In many of her decisions, it was difficult to decide which side she was on; for or against. Mrs. O’Connor was influential in many monumental rulings on freedom. Mrs. O’Connor was also very influential in cases concerning harassment and discrimination. Even though Mrs. O’Connor did not always vote how women felt she should have, they still considered her to be a great role model.

Sandra Day-O’Connor was nominated for the Supreme Court in 1981 by President Ronald Regan. An amazing woman, O’Connor’s accomplishments are many. After, surprisingly, being accepted into Stanford law school, O’Connor graduated third in her class of 102 in 1952 (Institute 2000). O’Connor, like many women of her time, could not get a job as a lawyer because of prejudice and discrimination. This did not stop this determined woman, or even slow her down! The road from a remote southwestern Arizona ranch to the first female Republican Senate majority leader and then first female Supreme Court Justice was fraught with stereotypical female prejudice.

Although females had push into the right direction, they still did face some adversity. “Many fully employed women defined themseleves as ‘homemakers’, outside the sphere of wage work” (Abelson, 117). This shows that even with all these changes for the better women did not shy away from their traditional roots.

Sandra Day O’Connor was born in El Paso, Texas in 1930. Her parents owned a cattle ranch in Southeastern Arizona. She went to school in El Paso while she lived with her grandmother. O’Connor graduated high school at the age of sixteen. In 1946, O’Connor was accepted into Stanford. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a law degree. O’Connor graduated third in her class at Stanford. O’Connor tried to become a lawyer in Los Angeles and San Francisco law firms but could not because she was a woman. Instead, she was offered a job as a legal secretary ("Sandra Day O'Connor Biography”). It was very difficult for O’Connor to find a job because she was a woman (Beard). She became a county attorney in California and married John O’Connor. They moved to Germany and her husband was an attorney for the U. S. Army. O’Connor was a civilian attorney. When they

A house is not a home if no one lives there. During the nineteenth century, the same could be said about a woman concerning her role within both society and marriage. The ideology of the Cult of Domesticity, especially prevalent during the late 1800’s, emphasized the notion that a woman’s role falls within the domestic sphere and that females must act in submission to males. One of the expected jobs of a woman included bearing children, despite the fact that new mothers frequently experienced post-partum depression. If a woman were sterile, her purposefulness diminished. While the Cult of Domesticity intended to create obliging and competent wives, women frequently reported feeling trapped or imprisoned within the home and within societal

In this paper, I will discuss a number of topics regarding woman and the Supreme Court from historical precedents to objective research to the importance of female judges and Justices and finally to the possibilities of the future. Each of these steps is vital to fully understanding how we got to our country’s current place in female jurisprudence and creating future opportunities for women both on the Supreme Court and in all other levels of the judicial system across the United States.

Mohanty also stated how, in India, women’s “definition as housewives make possible the definition of men as 'breadwinners'” (13). We see that in Nasarpur, India the woman’s role in society is somewhat restricted. Her restricted role of being a housewife increased the man’s status in that society as the sole provider and the hardest worker. Although this concept of men’s and women’s roles in society is not totally true in America, I still think it occurs in our society. I feel that most men accept women working outside the home in America because it has become a norm over the years, but I do not think all men are comfortable with the idea of women working outside the home. The fact that women are no longer just simply housewives makes some men feel as if they are being robbed of part of their masculinity, which is tied to being a sole provider for a family. Women have proven during the past few decades that they can be housewives and manage to handle an outside job as well. I think this proves that women are strong dependable laborers. A good worker is one who can handle multiple tasks such as managing a household and having an outside job.

During the Industrial Revolution, women were, in general, considered socially inferior. A “good woman” was expected to stay at home, raise

Women’s unpaid labor in maintains a systems of oppression in many ways. In Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee’s Women’s Voices Feminist Visions unpaid labor done by many women is, “undervalued as women’s formal productive paid labor in the workforce is prioritized” (Shaw & Lee, 2015, 471). Shaw and Lee are saying that women work at home is devalued because it is viewed as informal and as work that is done out of love or is natural work. Since the work being done is viewed as natural work, it further reinforces gender stereotypes by stating that women are supposed to do the household work which is deemed more as feminine. This thought process follows patriarchal thinking, where women are expected to do the