The Battle Of The Sexes

Throughout the twentieth century, American women fought for the right to vote, the right to make choices regarding their own bodies, and the right to be their own people. The disparities between men and women were often overlooked or blindly accepted, but as Gloria Steinem said, “history is herstory too.” After nearly 200 years of struggling, women made up only 10% of Congress, received wages less than 75% of their male counter parts, and are stigmatized based on their class and race. By the end of the century, female citizens were still treated unfairly in every aspect of American society. Women did not achieve equality in America in the 20th century, based on their roles in politics, the widespread views of female sexuality, and the

In the mid 1800’s in the US, women were responsible for completing duties at home and raising their kids. Their everyday routine consisted of waking up the kids, cooking all three meals, cleaning the house, washing dishes, doing laundry and completing all other household chores. If they lived on a farm, women would help with farming and raising livestock. Married women were considered property to their husband. The status of a woman is based on her husband's status. All women, regardless of social status, were not granted any rights. During this time, some women were into politics and began to question the establishment of political authority. The common question was why was political authority only granted to men. In the mid 1800, in some

With the advancement of suffrage to equal pay, over the last century, women’s rights have progressed immensely. Through historic marches and demonstrations across the United States, women protested for their equal place in politics and social progress. Despite the fear-mongering components used in achieving these rights, women’s rights are still thoroughly debated within society today. Over the last century, incredible and unreachable goals have been fulfilled for women, such as the right to vote and a sense of equal state in the “Free World,” and can only improve in the years to come.

Women’s rights activists in the late 19th century objected an amendment proposing a “man’s government” in America. The amendment faced strong opposition because suffragists believed there was already excessive executive power given to men. So, these women demanded equal representation and access to the same civil liberties as men had by exposing the gender inequality they met through a series of persuasive tactics demonstrated in the article: “Manhood Suffrage.”

Along with their right to vote came a change in the social status of women as a whole. They were no longer viewed as inferior individuals to men, but as strong citizens of the United States who could equally contribute to the political system. Nevertheless, women began changing their “natural roles” years before the Nineteenth Amendment was even ratified. They left the domestic housewife label and took on different jobs such as factory and office work. The support of women reformers urged them to move forward and aim for a change. Because of the women reformers in the Progressive Era, modern day women are benefitting from their hard work and persistence. Women are still able to vote and express their political opinions. Female votes matter just as much as those of the men. Furthermore, women are not confined to being housewives. They can take on any job that a man can and also care for those in their home. In fact, many women are the main supporters of their households now. With that being said, women reformers paved the way for all women that followed after them. If women reformers could see a glimpse of how far women have come since their time, they would be highly pleased to see the fruits of their

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

Women began fighting for equality back in the mid-19th century and have continued through many generations of women wanting what is their rights as human beings. In her essay “Now We Can Begin” written in 1920, author Crystal Eastman addresses the right that had recently been given to women in the U.S.—the right to vote. In it, she examines what women must strive for next to ultimately win over their freedom: choice of occupations, equal pay, equality at home,

No true words were spoke than those by Ms. Susan B. Anthony, “Oh, if I could but live another century and see the fruition of all the work for women! There is so much yet to be done.” Those words are still true today. Even though Ms. Susan B. Anthony, Ms. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other activists worked hard to get equal rights for women to allow them the right to have a say in how our government is run there are still places in the world where women and even some men aren’t allowed to vote. Some of those places may actually be surprising, others maybe not so much. Even still some of the trials these women went through to end women’s suffrage and the lack of political equality is worth taking a look at even ninety-one

In the early 1800’s, when the new nation was beginning to form, the young nation’s founding fathers began to shape a new country to free the oppressed Europeans who found a taste of freedom. However that freedom only went so far, for our founding fathers and authors of the U.S Constitution, managed to create a gender biased society and only managed to exclude an entire gender from the new hope they created. By this time, the development in the young country and the expansion of the American economy had begun. This meant that there were jobs available for people who wanted to earn a living to feed their families. Unfortunately, due to the law and what it represented, only Caucasian men could work outside of their homes to bring back some income to feed their families. Unfortunately for the next 200 years, several of the nation’s mothers, sisters and wives were engaged in a battle against society and social norms, as they begun to turn against the status quo, by demanding equal rights, such as the right to vote. Their eyes opened to the oppression around them and they sought change. However they faced obstacles such as social rejection. They were considered too frail and less intelligent to handle jobs and involvement in the government, which were considered ‘a man’s work’. Several influential women such as Alice Paul thought differently and made it their goal to encourage society to rethink about the role of a woman.

Since the beginning of time, women have rarely been seen as equal alongside men. They were always expected to focus on housework and were never given the opportunity to own property, touch money, or vote. It wasn’t until the late 1800s when women decided to make a drastic change. Women’s rights activists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, organized the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls. At this convention,

In 1920, after a fight for women’s suffrage that began in the mid 1800s, the 19th amendment was made, giving women in the United States the right to vote. This sparked an era of social and political progression in the United States regarding women and their role in society. Women now had the opportunity to hold political office, make their own money, and live independently of men. These women, however, did not achieve this equality with ease. In her article The New Women and Politics of the 1920s, Dumenil speaks about the issues women faced after their success in achieving these rights. Dumenil describes the position of women at the time as one “Where there is dignity of office but little else, or where there is routine work, little glory,

According to the most recent US census in 2015, 50.8% of the population of the United States are in fact, women. Despite the sex ratio essentially being equal, female representation in government is not equal. A correlation is women in the federal bureaucracy and (generally) in federal politics did not occur until the early 1900s. For example, through the determination of Alice Paul, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and others strong women, women were brought the right to vote in the United States by the nineteenth amendment (1920). By this initial crack in the gender barrier, women were given the understanding of the importance of women in politics as well as the chance for their voice in politics. The crack has only furthered over time as more women are involved with the bureaucracy.

America is the land of opportunity. It is a place of rebirth, hope, and freedom. However, it was not always like that for women. Many times in history women were oppressed, belittled, and deprived of the opportunity to learn and work in their desired profession. Instead, their life was confined to the home and family. While this was a noble role, many females felt that they were being restricted and therefore desired more independence. In America, women started to break the mold in 1848 and continued to push for social, political, educational, and career freedom. By the 1920s, women had experienced significant “liberation”, as they were then allowed to vote, hold public office, gain a higher education, obtain new jobs, drastically change

The term “hookup” is deliberately vague and has come to replace dating on college campuses (Armstrong & Hamilton, 2009, p. 589). The notion of “battle of the sexes” is one in which women want hookups to evolve into some aspect of a relationship, while men prefer to hook up with no strings attached (Armstrong & Hamilton, 2009, p. 591). Hamilton and Armstrong’s ethnographic study of female students examine the sexual experiences of men and women. Their research indicates that the “battle of the sexes” explanation is insufficient and contributes to gender inequality by naturalizing problematic notions of gender difference (Armstrong & Hamilton, 2009, p. 609). In this paper, I will explain why their evidence of the “battle of the sexes” was inadequate and why I believe their data is sufficient with their overall findings. It is because women want independence and autonomy, they want to be self-supporting, and want to have opportunities to meet new people that women reframe from engaging in relationships. However, men’s perspective on relationships is overlooked in their data and based on my understandings of young adults, my experiences provide evidence of a “battle of the sexes” amongst students.

With the passing of the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote, it is unavoidable to assess this time period without looking at the impact women had on the era. During the 1920’s women are breaking out of the harsh assessment that their only purpose in life