Women 's Influence On Women Essay

"Changing attitudes in Britain Society towards women was the major reason why some women received the vote in 1918". How accurate is this view?

1. Why did Cato object to repealing the Oppian law? What was the basis of his objections?

The gender roles in America have changed tremendously since the end of the American Civil War. Women and men, who once lived in separate spheres are now both contributing to American society. Women have gone from the housewife so playing key roles in the country's development in all areas. Though our society widely accepts women and the idea that our society is gender neutral, the issues that women once faced in the late 1860s are still here.

Throughout the history of society, women and men both have faced the constricting roles forced upon them, from a young age; each gender is given specific social and cultural roles to play out throughout their lives. Little girls are given dolls and kitchen toys, little boys are given dinosaurs and power tool toys, if one was to step out of this specified role, social conflict would ensue. Contrast to popular belief, sex is a biological construct, and gender is a social construct specifying the roles men and women are to follow to be accepted into society as “normal”. The effects of gender roles have had on women have proved harmful over the decades. Although the woman’s involvement in society has improved throughout the decades,

This clause meant that young men who had been fighting overseas during the war for more than six months did not meet this requirement and were disenfranchised. This caused public outrage and was seen to be completely unacceptable that young men were deemed ineligible to vote for the government of the country they had risked their lives fighting to protect. Bartley argues that due to the unjustness of this, the whole electoral system had to be rethought and this included women's rights.

To understand the reasons behind some women getting the vote in 1918, one must look back at the history of the women’s movement to fully understand the reason female suffrage was sought and gained. In Victorian Britain there was a longstanding and persistent belief that men and women occupied separate spheres. The

World War I also provided women with the means to finally achieve suffrage. Groups such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association, led by Carrie Chapman Catt, enthusiastically joined the war effort, thereby intertwining patriotism and women’s rights. After the House of Representatives passed the women’s suffrage amendment in January 1918, President Wilson told the nation, “We have made partners of the women in this war. Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?” (James and Wells, 67-68). True political equality did not result from the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment—very few female candidates were elected in the 1920s—but, in the words of Allen, “the winning of the suffrage had its effect. It consolidated woman’s position as man’s equal” (96).

The women’s suffrage movement adopted tactics of British suffragist, having Alice Paul to head those activities (Keyssar 2000, p. 203). British tactics played an important role in the latter half of the movement’s deployment of aggression on that account a crucial causal factor of successful outcomes. The women’s suffrage movement also exploited the opportunities of the U.S. engaging in World War I and using wartime as an advantage. The first advantage, the war enabled suffragist to mobilize and diminish the ancient argument that women shouldn’t vote because they didn’t bear arms (Keyssar 2000, p. 216). The war’s second advantage was the mobilization of women allowed them to stress the importance of their role and pressured congressional support for the 19th amendment (Keyssar 2000, p. 217). Exploitable advantages World War I provide suffragist the persuasive power they need to stress women’s rightful ownership of suffrage. The international factors were of utmost importance to the final success of the women’s suffrage

On August 18th 1920 the nineteenth amendment was ratified in the United States granting women the right to vote. Over that time women have gone out and exercised their right to vote, since so many fought for this privilege. However, in this current day are women still motivate and women are still an easy group to mobilize? Logically the answer would be yes since hundreds of suffragettes fought for this fundamental right, but in the most recent presidential election about only 55.6% of all Americans exercised their right to vote. In the United States gender influences a multitude of different experiences, decisions and affiliations many would think more would go out and vote. Throughout this paper it will focus on both voter mobilization and party affliction for women overall. In the ANES Codebook (2012) over 3000 women were respondents compared to the “2847” male respondents. This alone shows how females are a fundamental and an extremely influential part of the voting process, which means their opinion can either make or break a candidate. If women feel that a certain candidate will not provide them certain rights the percentage of women voting for that particular candidate should decease, and vise versa. The reason this relationship exists is because many women in this country strive for equality and most want political figures to help provide certain benefits to eventually achieve gender equality. Throughout this paper I will provide literature that focuses on the subject

Full electoral equality was not in place until the Representation of the People Act 1928. Both the Suffragettes and the Suffragists celebrated up and down the country; the Act had been achieved after tireless years of campaigning and four years of filling jobs left by men who went to war – which, to most, undeniably helped to convince Parliament to greater effect than the extreme activities of the Suffragettes pre-WW1. Many agree that the Suffragists’ efforts also played a very important role, including Joyce Marlow, women’s history writer, who wrote in Votes for Women (2000);

American history is primarily concerned with the evaluation of imperative events affiliated with the primordial American society (Kellogg & William 439). It sheds light of the past on the present hence, establishing a significant correlation between the precedent, present, and future. Slavery, the revolutionary war, the colonial period, and the U.S independence are some of the predominant events that characterize the American history.

The major reasons for women receiving in 1918 the vote in my opinion were divided into sections, political view, male view, war effort and changes in law and legislation. Whilst some historians argue that the women’s work during WWI in factories and other work programmes radically changed male ideas about their role in society other traditional historians suggest that the government passing the legislation to give women the vote in 1918 was almost a reward for their efforts I believe that this explanation too simplistic. This is mainly due to the large amount of other factors that had to happen in order for everything to align and women to get the vote. For example it can be said that the war ‘smoothed the way for democracy’ and so there are other factors which come into significance, such as, the efforts pre-war by suffrage campaign groups ,WSPU & NUWSS, and growing equality with men. Whilst this essay will attempt to recognise the importance of the view that the war effort had the largest driving force during WWI by the women was significant to women receiving the vote it also intends to highlight that things were not so simple and also highlight other factors involved.

It was uncertain to what extent did women’s participation in WWI changed the attitude and position of women in post-war Europe. One thing assured is that women’s wartime efforts were recognized in the years after WWI. In recognition of women’s support during the war, Canada, the United States, Britain, and a number of European countries extended suffrage to women. It seems that the turbulence and the despair of World War I had caused a re-examination of many of the treasured values in many western societies, including gender expectations.

One of the most influential writers Adrienne Rich once said, “She is afraid that her own truths are not good enough.” Adrienne Rich talks about women’s role and issues in her essay called “Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying”. She describes how women during the 1977 lied about everything. They lied about their appearance, their job, their happiness, and even about their relationship. Adrienne Rich is one of the most powerful writers, who identifies herself as lesbian feminists. Her work has been acknowledged and appreciated mainly in her poems. Throughout her decades of work as a writer-activist, Rich uses essays, speeches, and conference papers, magazine, articles book reviews, and personal reflection to articulate with

Annette Bair and Marilyn Friedman have opposing views on whether women have distinct moral perspectives. Like Friedman, I believe that women have no different moral perspectives than men. Some people, like Bair, think that women base their moral perspectives on merely trust and love and men base theirs on justice. Friedman points out that care and justice coincide . People use justice to decide what is appropriate in caring relationships and care is brought into account when determining what is just. Since these two moral perspectives correspond, gender does not distinguish different moral perspectives.