Women 's Influence On Society

Throughout the nation’s history, American’s have sought to put an end to discriminatory practices and bring equality toward minority groups. For example, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech were directed at putting an end to mistreatment of African Americans. Likewise, Jane Adams and Susan B. Anthony used their authority as women’s rights activists to push for greater equality amongst the genders. While some may argue that women are lagging behind in the race to equal rights, others claim the opposing approach. In today’s society, women are achieving true equality due to a shift in the old stereotypes toward women, increasing opportunities for women to become educated, higher expectations for women in the workplace, and a stronger influence of women in government positions.

The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World by Joni Seager discusses the inequality around the globe with a focus on women with an objection to raise awareness to the public. Eager states “As we enter the 21st century, we need public and civic leaders who will build on these feminist foundations to make unflinching real- not rhetorical- commitments to social justice for women” (Seager 9-10). Seager presents an intriguing idea stating that “leaders” in office must understand the full extent of how serious this issue is; if not, human rights will not be altered. Several women today are not being treated equally. They are harassed and bullied with harsh mental and physical abuse.

From short stories like “The Yellow Wallpaper,” to the court cases like Ellen Pao’s Suit vs. Kleiner Perkins, and even a data book like Women in the Labor Force, it is clear to see that inequality and mistreatment of women still exists today. People often say that inequality is a thing of the past, however it has been a serious problem since the dawning of civilization itself, and it is still so today. Women are often seen as lesser beings than men, and are treated accordingly. It is getting better, and women are starting to take their rightful places as equals in the workforce, and as equals in general. However, the world still has a long way to go before the inequality and mistreatment of women comes to a complete stop.

Gender inequality is a battle that is still being fought today. There is need to change the way women are treated in work, at school, and across the world. When women realize - that intentionally or not - they are being treated unfairly, their confidence diminishes. Today’s society is in need of some major changes towards equal treatment.

ability to do anything they wish. The authors of this book stress to their readers that there is no difference in gender, but it is society that is setting the false misconceptions and invalid judgment.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “No one else is free while others are being oppressed.” Throughout history, women have been stripped of basic civil rights, being constantly oppressed, and they are continued to be so in today’s society. Oppression occurs around the world, ranging from third world countries to developed nations such as the United States of America. Women’s inequality is an immense issue, and the world needs to change their perspective and treatment of women.

In today’s society, there is often a misconception among women and men and the roles they are expected to follow through with. Although there has been advances in the way women are treated, it is unfortunately still an unbalanced dynamic in our society. From an early age, women are often persuaded, even if subconsciously, to follow a certain pathway in life. They are most often associated with staying home, keeping the house clean, cooking, baking, and raising children. Certain mediums that girls are exposed to tend to sway them towards these specific wants and aspirations. The way in which certain products are presented to little girls create an image they feel like they need to master. Men, on the other hand, are taught something completely different. They are regularly habituated with more masculine and self-reliant tasks. From an early age, they are automatically seen as people that deserve to be educated and use their smart, resourceful assets to contribute to society. They are without a doubt going to get a job and become a father and husband that provides for his family. In most situations, even if the woman has a job, men are the main “bread-winner.” Going along with this belief, the products boys are often marketed portray the idea of strength and independence. Whether it is a toy or a book, men are more often than not characterized as the heroic, more capable gender. There are many cases in which different mediums exhibit the ideas of men being the superior

discriminated often times. This paper aims at educating and encouraging every woman to become powerful and inspire others by their lives.

Women’s fashion has been tremendously changing throughout the history. Women belonging from different ethnic group had different fashion, even the women belonging from same ethnic group followed different fashion depending on their race, cast, status or religion. Different clothing styles have impacted the women in different ways; in different eras the character of women has been determined by their clothing style. Similarly, clothing patterns of women in United States kept changing throughout the time. Fashion has been reformed throughout the ages. Change in fashion has reshaped the personalities of women. Particularly in nineteenth century, fashion played a significant role in enforcing the existing definition of femininity, it had a notable effect on women’s health; however, the reformation of the fashion redefined femininity.

Women are powerful. Though society has not always recognized and respected women as they deserve, members of the female gender have strongly influenced the world ever since the beginning of time when Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. Today, women continue to increasingly achieve power and status. Likewise, in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, women play an important role in influencing the protagonist, Pip, although both positively and negatively. Through their words and actions, women cause Pip to make significant lifestyle changes, either beneficial or adverse. He is continuously pushed to pursue different personae by Mrs. Joe, Miss Havisham, Estella, and Biddy, and he learns important lessons from each of them.

Being a young, successful and independent women in today society is something that women aspire to becoming in the 21st Century. The changes from the 19th and 20th Centuries have been ever changing since the middle of the 20th century. Women who were previously perceived as pure, weak, frail, and submissive have taken on a complete different role and in some instances have gone as far as an alteration of gender roles. Gone are the days of the women that are likened to ladies in the Victorian era and women with a free spirit such as Charlotte Temple are looked at in a new light in today’s society.

As if being a girl in this world today isn’t hard enough, it 's even harder being a female in a traditional African-Islamic family, where respect isn’t earned but just given to. Till this day I don 't understand why the females in Islam are treated so differently. I always thought that it was because we lived in Africa, but that 's not the case. Muslims males always deny that females are not treated with the same equality as the males, but that 's has been absolutely absurd.

It doesn’t matter what gender you are, men and women should be treated equally. Well, sadly that has never been the case. For example, if we look at history on women sports, we can see that women had to come a long way until they could play some type of sport. However, there are still some customs around the world, which constantly shows that men are superior than women. Women in India fast once in a year all day long without eating and drinking, so that they their husbands can live long and happy life. But how come men don’t have to fast once a year, so they can pray for their wives’s long life? In mostly uneducated areas of middle east, when a girl is born, she is either or killed or there is no celebration of her birth even if she is the first child. However, when a boy is a born, people give a big celebration to show how happy they are and how he will carry on their family traditions. But why baby girls is not celebrated and loved the same way as her baby brother? All these questions just proof that your gender makes a huge difference and emphasize the idea of men’s double standards. In this book, Jessica Valenti really beautifully portrayed the gender inequality. This book was quiet interesting to read and left me in thoughts. Three double standards that really stood out to me were “he can a beast, she must be a beauty; he’s gonna be a success, she’s gonna be stay-at-home mom; he’s himself, she’s Mrs. himself.”

As America has grown and developed different forms of social classifications, there have also been instances in history where men and women embodied specific roles in their relationships and households. During in the 1800’s, women were expected to be the caretakers of the home, to produce children, to never really have professional jobs of their own, and to do as they were told by their husband. During this time men were the leading figure of “dominance” in the household due to their social and professional images. The freedoms that women have today were basically as far out of sight as could be. Now in the 21st century men and women are able to work and have professional lives and have a sort of equal “dominance” in their household. However, even now there are instances of women still being suppressed in either the home or in the workforce to which they have established for themselves. So therefore it is still a question of whether or not women are truly equal or just statistics to help boost company image.

As a white female, I have experienced very little discrimination in my lifetime thus far because of my racial orientation. But, it has become very evident in our society today that many people do not live in the same state of mind, or living situation that I do. A sense of superiority plays a big role in the act of defining individuals, or rather perceiving another life to amount of lesser value than yours. A numerous amount of other individuals have been victimized for what they had no control over, whether it be their identified race or gender. However, there are two specific beliefs that have influenced my life specifically, Feminism and Catholicism.