Puritans Ideals and how they Affect Modern Gender Roles The desire for equality is one everpresent in American society. We see this intention presented throughout our history, branching all the way back to our country’s founders. The intent for equality is clear, however, we continue to come short of this goal after years and years as a country. The battles toward ultimate equality are never ceasing despite our obvious objective, as we have created gender specific stereotypes that prevent us from achieving this aim. The ideals shared by Americans for equality are not able to surpass the constant struggles of our society. After 241 years as a country, we have only just had the first female presidential candidate win the popular vote in an election. One may argue that this is evidence of progression in American politics as women are being better represented, however, this is a slow improvement and one held back by the gender stereotypes which Americans hold.
America is by no means the most progressive country. We only just elected the first openly transgender state representative, which is a huge milestone for America that should not have taken us this long to achieve. We have yet to elect a female president after 45 presidencies. Less than 20% of congressmen, senators and state representatives are women. These statistics aside, the small stereotypes that are so vastly present in American society separate the sexes. The fact that my brother has been called a
In 1637, gender roles in the Puritan colony were very limited for women. In the case of Anne Hutchinson, all odds seemed to be against her when she was put on trial. Trying to argue she had done nothing wrong, Hutchinson was found guilty. Despite the ministers claiming her religious beliefs were the main reason for her punishment, there seemed to be an underlying message directed towards Hutchinson. Living in a time and place where women were not in a position of power, had no political leadership, and no religious authority, Anne Hutchinson was banished from the Puritan colony due to challenging and threatening widely accepted gender norms.
Women have come a long way ever since the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920 and thereafter with the Equal Rights Amendment Act in 1972 to the U.S Constitution. After decades of struggling and protesting, the 19th Amendment was passed and ratified to grant women the right to vote. Fifty-two years later worth of revisions and persistency, the Equal Rights Amendment was ratified in which it declared that everyone had both Human and Civil rights in the States regardless of sex. Not only did these amendments have an immense impact on the lives of women and sequentially with the rest of the citizens of this nation, but on the people of today’s century. Women have done a tremendous job in proving society wrong about the roles women are
Many groups of people throughout the history of the United States have fought to change for change and fairness for their groups. Women have been among the courageous groups that have forged paths to create better lives for themselves and future generations of women.
Equality is a concept that humanity fails to completely grasp even to this day. While the battles for racial equality have been championed profusely, the fight for gender equality has hardly started. In contrast to their male counterparts, women are seen as inferior and overly sexualized in many forms of entertainment such as movies, novels, even classic literature; the “feminine” stereotype is associated with weakness, fragility, and sensitivity. This is due to the sheer fact that since the birth of the United States as a country, women were perceived and treated as the inferiors of men. Abigail Adams, the esteemed wife of John Adams—one of our founding fathers and the
Many women have faced difficult paths to get elected into office whether they are Hispanic, African American, or White. Even if they had all the qualities or they were overqualified they failed based on their gender, race, or lack of confidence in themselves.
Throughout history, women have been viewed differently from men. In the 1880’s and before, women were in charge of making a happy home, her job above all was to make sure her husband was happy. Around, the 1910’s women began fighting for their right to vote and to be viewed as an equal to the janitor that works for them. Still, to this day, women and girls are fighting to be viewed as an equal and respected as men and boys are in our society.
Equality for women has been an ongoing debate for years. Most people recognize the inequality for women in areas besides the business world. However, women in politics is one of the most well-known topics. Until a few years ago, the thought of having a woman as president was absurd. It wasn’t until the 2008 election that the idea of a woman for president would change drastically. Both Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton decided to run in the 2008 presidential election. Although neither of the two were elected, they both still made a dramatic impact on the views of women in politics. Michelle Bernard states that the 2008 election was a breakthrough for women in general. However, Marie Cocco disagrees, stating that the loss was a major disappointment for women. Although both authors feel strongly about their
It took a very long time to get women’s rights close to what men’s are, but it is still not perfectly equal. In the present day, their rights are still not the same. In Abigail Adam’s letter, dated 1776, to her husband she asked him to “remember the ladies” and to not put so much power in the hands of the husbands. It wasn’t until 1920 when the 19th amendment was added to the U.S. constitution saying that that women would not be denied the right to vote. But, women are still considered even today not as athletic or as smart as men. Only recently have women been allowed to fight in the front lines. Women
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"(US Declaration of Independence). Equality is a fundamental principle that has helped form our law system to what it is today. Since the Declaration of Independence we have been able to expand who should be included when our law system addresses equality. Today law, regarding gender equality has progressed significantly. Examining American history, it is evident to notice oppression women's faced from the time prior to the Declaration of Sentiments in 1848 to the Civil Rights act of 1964 and even today in some instances; the strive for equality amongst genders is a conflict that has come a long way, but still needs to be addressed accordingly.
Many people doubted women’s abilities to take care of the same issues that men handled. Nonetheless, over time, women have been able to spread awareness about their deserved rights; they have “established strong lobbying groups, won legislative and judicial victories, survived the defeat of the ERA, changed public attitudes about the equality of women, and helped overcome some of the gender imbalance in elective and appointive public office” (Women, 1961-present). Although equal rights have not been fully granted, women accomplished many feats in the past ninety years. Females have gained access to holding public office, with many of them reaching high positions. Women still must work to gain equal rights, but they have come a long way in terms of political
From women’s suffrage activists to female Presidential candidates, America has accomplished a lot on its road to political equality. Forty years ago, electing a woman to hold the office of the President of the United States was an unachievable ideal. This concept was considered too far-fetched. And yet, as a nation, we know that this ideal is now a conceivable reality.
For centuries the concept of gender and equality have been issues and talking points. Attitudes toward women have gradually softened and changed for the better as they are viewed as being equal with men. Women throughout history have been referred to as housewives, and factory girls. They weren’t able to gain the respect from men until they took a stance against inequality, also known as women’s suffrage. “I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand”, stated Susan B Anthony. Many factors have contributed to the rise of the status of women throughout the history of the United States. These factors include education, income status, and political contributions.
Woman and family roles are considerably different today than they were back in Puritan times. Puritans thought that the public’s foundation rested on the “little commonwealth”, and not merely on the individual. The “little commonwealth” meant that a father’s rule over his family mirrored God’s rule over creation or a king over his subjects. John Winthrop believed that a “true wife” thought of herself “in [weakness] to her husband’s authority.” As ludicrous as this idea may appeal to women and others in today’s society, this idea was truly necessary for colonies to be able to thrive and maintain social order.
Throughout American history, one conflict has been consistently fought for in hopes that there will one day be equality: the apparent gap between women’s rights and men’s. This topic emerged over the countless decades that women fought to try and gain equal representation. Although women had been struggling with gaining equal rights because of the dominance of white men, they did not allow their male “superiors” to extinguish their passion for change. If anything, men’s clear disagreement against allowing women their rights was something that drove and inspired women even more. In fact, many women, especially Angelina Grimke and Catherine E. Beecher, continuously wrote letters and contributed many years of hard work to prove that they are not
As I read through the list of the Puritan values, I picked two out of twenty six of the values that I consider that is still true in our society today, and one out of two values are working hard at whatever you do. Today’s society, many people are focusing on their future or their careers especially in Eastern Europe and North America which explains why their TFR is low. All those people as a society, are becoming/getting more educated and working hard to succeed on what they want to do in the future. The next value is work together for the common good. Today’s society, many people are working together for the good without any benefits given. For example, there’s charity, and volunteering for the Hunger Drive at West High School is a great