The Political Influence of Women

Because of the 19th Amendment that allowed women the right to vote, Women started to gain legitimacy in the eyes of society. There was no law that made them lesser of a

As the millenniums pass and years go by, the world continues to evolve each day. Across the world, in every society, men and women have specific roles that they carry out. During ancient times, in most cultures, women were inferior to men. This is still true in many countries today. It has taken American women many centuries to have gained the rights and privileges they have today. Women have made many immense achievements, fought for their rights and stood up for what they believed in during the past century. It is very important to understand the role of women in history because they have played an imperative part of how each society functioned. In Classical Athens, women and men were citizens however men were superior to the women.

Empress Catherine the Great ruled Russia for approximately thirty years from 1762 to 1796 when she died. She was known throughout the world as an unusual ruler, having taken over the throne after the brutal death of her husband Peter the third. There she was made Empress of all Russia, this was unusual because instead of being made regent for her son they circumnavigated the rules and she was made Empress Regnant. During her time on the throne she made many radical and life changing decisions. She was a voracious reader and writer, often helping to translate others works into Russian. She herself was inspired by Voltaire, Diderot, and Montesquieu. All of which culminated in her greatest work “Great Instruction”, which was the beginning of basically all her future endeavors. Catherine the Great was an enlightened ruler who tried to bring about a new way of life in Russia, by allowing certain freedoms and educating the public.

During the late seventeenth century under the leadership of Peter the Great, Russia underwent a period of modernization and westernization due to Peter’s reforms. However, without the reforms he instituted, Russia would have remained the most culturally unevolved country in Europe for quite a long time.

In the first half of the nineteenth century in British North America, women’s political roles differed from those of men. British North America was a European male-dominate patriarchy society in which women’s roles within society were limited. During the nineteenth century, men were considered superior since they had power and control over everyday aspects of life; however, women slowly began to slightly change the social order of society by contributing and influencing decisions on political issues. Despite this not being seen as the norm, for the most part, men dominated politics. Women were able to contribute to the public life, but due to a European influenced patriarchal society within British North America during the nineteenth century, women had limited influence in political decision-making.

Some people believe women are not socialized in a way that prepares them to hold political powers. Some view politics as a masculine domain. This is a gender stereotype. It is the public’s perception that women cannot make a difference in politics which is often influenced by the

This book covers a number of aspects throughout history, and more specifically, the role women played in them. The overall theme of the book is the role that women had throughout history. It explorers a chronological view of history of women and the impacts they made. A lot of

They are attributed with “westernizing” Russia and reformed the country using models used in Europe. Both Peter and Catherine the Great focused on St. Petersburg as Peter established it as the capital; whereas Catherine focused on expanding the beauty of the city. While these are incidents of where their rule benefitted Russia, there are also examples of where their rule hurt Russia. For instance, Peter worked at expanding the autocracy while enforcing the servitude on the peasants. The differences between these rulers was that Peter strove to add governmental features to Russia, such as growing the Russian army and adopting certain habits he had observed in Western countries. Catherine, however, focused on adding to the prestige of Russia by adding new buildings and incorporating art into St. Petersburg which added not structural changes, but was effective in making the city more beautiful.

Women throughout time have experienced position changes more times than can be counted. Not just in modern times, gender roles began in the B.C.E era. In Egypt and India, gender roles were a huge part of society. In both locations, male’s word was law. What they said was the final answer and a woman could not change that. The gender distinctions were similar in ways that women had minimal power in familiar locations, like their homes. They had a small opinion about certain subjects, but they never ventured out of the comfort zone of subjects they were allowed to discuss. Men were treated better than women, yes, but the power women held was used for some of the most important topics.

Since during the World War 1, women held no form of presentation in the legislature. I gather what was the first obstacle of why there was no women in the government before, reason for this was due to their inability to vote. Women were not allowed to vote until 1920, a big factor to limited power and representation in Congress. During the World War 1, important figures in the women’s rights movement help fight fighting for equality, Suffrage leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone pushed for women to gain a new sense of power. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granted women the right to vote two years after the war, Congress granting women to vote was a step towards women in legislature. It marked a sort of way to change the political system by voting to change the system. Voting is an essential tool to get women voices heard, the next step to get more female representation in the government. Following the Ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting women to vote, 2 years after, Rebecca Felton became the first women to serve in the U.S Senate in 1922 for four years.

Throughout the period of 1856-1964 war acted as an accelerator in propelling Russia into social economic and political developments. I believe the War was a major turning point in the development of modernising due to the consequences of wars they faced. The First World War acted as a catalyst for social advancement. WW1 highlighted the need for change immensely. However there were other factors which affected different aspects of the development.

She was an exceptional woman not only because of her position of power but also because she was well educated and continued to educate herself throughout the Enlightenment by being a patron to the arts and sciences. She had many victories on the military front and on the foreign affairs front. Her biggest flaw was not preparing her son to be an affective ruler, he was well educated but he had very few experiences leading a country.29 Thus upon Catherine’s death Russia was left without a strong leader. Catherine had ruled for nearly a generation, since 1762 she had been the autocratic voice of

One of Catherine’s greatest contributions to Russia was the improvement of her economy. As Anthony P. Johnson discusses in his book The Original Diva: The Life and Times of Catherine II the Great, Catherine implemented a variety of policies to stimulate economic growth: First, she established the Free Economic Society (1765) to encourage the modernization of agriculture and industry. Second, she encouraged foreign investment in economically underdeveloped areas. Third, Catherine relaxed the censorship law and encouraged education for the nobles and middle class. (Johnson,

Throughout history it has been seen that women have a sound role to play in positive movements against governments. There is a saying, “Behind every great man is a great woman”. There have been many events that could only be done by women to get a progressive transformation in society. There are instances where women and men had to unite. Women took part in many events that transpired in the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. Even though women were encouraged to hold down the household this was not there only role as they also were the reinforcement section of the working force, women were the back bone of many revolutions. There are many important women such as Olympe de Goupes, also many infamous events, but the most memorable actions in which women were involved might have been the March to Versailles and the Peterloo Massacre.

A women's role has changed tremendously and is making its greatest impact in our society today. Many years ago, women's contribution to society was limited and controlled by men. Women are standing tall and are playing a major role in many important areas. Women's role has changed at an accelerating rate and have part in areas such as Politics, Professional Training Jobs, Medicine,Business and Law. Formerly they were not part of any political matter, but they have advanced in many aspects. For example, women have attained power and have been growing in political office.