The Other Women's Movement Summary

Robert H. Wiebe’s statement focuses more on how most movements were happening because of efforts from the middle class. Kathryn Kish Sklar’s statement focuses more specifically on how women were making changes and how they worked from the bottom of the social class up.

Females across the nation started speaking out against gender inequality. Discrimination in areas such as the workplace, marriage, and government had become overwhelmingly obvious and women started fighting back (Banks 207). This uprising coincided with the Civil Rights Movement. During the same time, African-Americans were standing up against segregation and for racial equality. These two movements went hand-in-hand, as they both had similar motives. Both women and blacks were fighting against oppression in their own country, and they benefitted from each other’s successes. But it wasn’t strictly these two minority groups standing up for themselves during this time, as Mexicans and Native Americans joined the cause too. They also spoke out against inequality by hosting similar protests and demonstrations as the black and women’s rallies. This showed how the 1960’s were a popular time for minority groups to take a stand and make their voices heard, and women were only one of the many groups of people who rallied for change during that time.

In this assignment I will evaluate and consider the arguments of the women’s right movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s by critically analyzing the differences and similarities between the liberal and radical feminists, the Equal Rights Act, similarities and differences between those who supported and opposed the Equal Rights Act, working class women who opposed and also surged the feminist movement, different key events such as the National Organization of Women that influenced the development of a women’s right movement, and the long range consequences of the modern women’s right movement.

These women worked on the Southern plantations all day without relief. They not only worked in the fields, but also in the house with their masters. Though people thought slavery was a sin, as Mrs. A did, women could not challenge slavery politically because there was a great lack of decorum in women getting involved with politics, thus African American women continued to work for free (Doc. C). Even though this was a setback, women in the workforce pushed forward and strived to become equal. As women continued to chase their equality in the workforce, they petitioned the Massachusetts legislature to try and equal themselves with men (Doc. I). Although women started off slow, working for low wages, they continued to challenge for their equality in the workforce.

Women did the same amount of work as men they got paid half of men wages because they were viewed as of less value. Since women were a cheaper labor force they were often hired to do men’s work, which often included working in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. Women became a necessity in the workplace, and they soon realized they did matter and that they deserved to be treated equally. Catherine Beecher was a women’s rights activist who fully believed in that sentiment. In “A Treatise on Domestic Economy” Beecher uses a key component of the Declaration of Independence highlighting that “all men are created equal and have the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” She uses that point to emphases the parallels between Democracy and Christianity. Beecher continues on to show the importance of subordination in some relationships. She states that women take a subordinate position in public affairs and in domestic life. Beecher informs readers that shouldn’t be the case. Women have greater importance and thus so, in turn, have greater responsibilities (A Treatise on Domestic Economy 240-244). With that realization, women fought for changes. It wasn’t much longer until political changes were legally required. Women fought for equal treatment in society, as a result, the feminist movement emerged. The Industrial Revolution was important in changing the role of women and getting the feminist movement to the point it is at the

Women were the primary victims of being mistreated in the factory work life right next to immigrants and of course people of another color. These women worked long and hard hours, often from the sun up to late at night after the sun went down just to have the money to do buy the basic necessities that their family may need. Women’s incomes were pretty low at the time, which is why they had to work for such a long period of the day. They also had very high expectations as they had to produce with no error for hours in during the day, they were expected to make 3000 stitches per minute or else they would be docked. Working environments were very cramped and the machines were not exactly user-friendly, so it is easy to see why they would want to begin progressive movements. Women began to group up after hours to talk about the complexities that go on around the workplace and sought out a solution to make the owners realize that their opinions do matter. After long talks amongst each other, the women decided to join together in a strike against the unfair treatment and conditions that the Triangle Shirtwaist factory provided them with. They all sat out of the workforce and were directly responsible for the

She explains several examples of this, such as factory work and hospitals. And now that they have taken up such important roles, they are not about to let go of their rights as soon as the men come home. The quote to summarize her argument best is that “The economic change is bound to bring political liberty.” She also says that they have been making slow progress at changing people's minds with the movement, though of course there are some too stubborn to ever change. She both starts and ends the speech with the call to action that they must seize this moment, as it is the “Woman’s Hour.”

Women’s history in the United States has always been represented as a struggle for rights. Wealth and status were tied to either their fathers or husbands. In the early 1900s, women were afforded the traditional roles of society. The majority of women worked in the home. If they were of the 18% young or poor women, they also worked in factories as laborers, manufacturing items for the booming industrial revolution (U.S. Department of Labor, 1980). During this time period the workplace was not in compliance with current safety standards. There was no minimum wage yet, work conditions were horrible and they worked long hours, “In 1900, the average workweek in manufacturing was 53 hours,” (Fisk, 2003). Women took “pink

Revised Thesis: The women’s suffrage movement opened many doors for the women of America and allowed them to achieve many objects they had never before thought of including: economic roles, political positions, and a place in social society.

Despite the participation of women in the labor struggles and in farm works, they were paid low wages and were perceived as mere auxiliaries to the labor union and probable a threat to men’s

The Women’s Rights Movement is very popular, and tracing back through the extensive history of all the powerful women the world has had, we learn that one important starting point was during the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution is was “the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840 (Powell 2017).” The revolution introduced new ways of manufacturing and selling goods. New machinery, ways of thinking, and factories were prevalent during this time period- as well as the introduction of women working in large-scale locations. Before

The war marked a watershed in the history of women at work, and temporarily at least, caused a greater change in women's economic status than half a century of feminist rhetoric and agitation had been able to achieve. (125)

The fight against sexism is not a new fight. Women have been fighting for equal rights, as well as fighting for their lives, culture, and values to be just as important as men's. On August 18, 1920, women were granted the right to vote; but this was only the beginning. From then to now, the role of women in society has significantly changed due to women standing up for their rights at protests and rallies, as well as on social media. While “The Good Wife’s Guide” focused on the promotion of the traditional gender role of women and defined appropriate emotions for women, “The Revolt of ‘Mother,’” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, represents the start of the resistance of the traditional gender role of women that we see in society today.

The women’s rights movement was a huge turning point for women because they had succeeded in the altering of their status as a group and changing their lives of countless men and women. Gender, Ideology, and Historical Change: Explaining the Women’s Movement was a great chapter because it explained and analyzed the change and causes of the women’s movement. Elaine Tyler May’s essay, Cold War Ideology and the Rise of Feminism and Women’s Liberation and Sixties Radicalism by Alice Echols both gave important but different opinions and ideas about the women’s movement. Also, the primary sources reflect a number of economic, cultural, political, and demographic influences on the women’s movement. This chapter

In her influential article, prominent historian Alice Kessler-Harris criticized the "superficial" question, frequently asked by male unionists and historians, "Why don't women organize?" and, rather offered to focus on "Where are the organized women workers?" asked by the economist and labor activist Theresa Wolfson, in 1925. Changing the question, according to Kessler-Harris, would help us to understand the mechnanisms which enabled women's participation in trade unions or, those effectively excluded them (1975, p. 94). The question has received many responses since then, from different parts of the world. In this thesis, I aim to provide an answer to this question by revealing women's labor activism beginning from the second half of the 1960s