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Women 's Rights Of Women

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Since the middle of the nineteenth century, women in America have been striving to obtain rights equal to that of men. Before that time, women were viewed as physically, as well as mentally, inferior to men. Men had the upper hand, in all walks of life, including the workplace and at home. Obtaining equality among men has proven to be a difficult uphill battle for women, but, by the mid-1800 's, women began to see the fruits of their labors. It all began on July 19, 1848 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Jane Hunt, Martha Coffin Wright, Lucretia Mott and Mary Ann McClintock organized a convention in Seneca Falls, New York. This convention marked the first organized women 's movement in the United States of America. At the time, the rights of …show more content…

"Between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the home" ("Rosie the Riveter," 2010). During this time, a campaign was launched to promote working women while their men were away at war. Rosie the Riveter was the iconic symbol used for this campaign and is still recognized today. Sadly, "[t]hough women who entered the workforce during World War II were crucial to the war effort, their pay continued to lag far behind their male counterparts: Female workers rarely earned more than 50 percent of male wages" ("Rosie the Riveter," 2010).
Fast-forward 70 years and even in today 's society, gender roles are not equal. An experiment was performed by three Cornell University professors comparing the job process between mothers and women who did not have children. The professors produced an article titled "Getting a Job: Is There A Motherhood Penalty" to relay their results. Shelley J. Correll, Stephen Benard and In Paik produced fake resumes of different women with the exact same qualifications. The only difference was that some resumes read Parent-Teacher Association Director or something to that effect, suggesting some applicants being mothers and others not. This study showed that mothers had great difficulty getting hired for a job and if they did, they were offered significantly lower

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