Essay about Womens's Struggle for Equal Rights

What is feminism? The definition is often argued over by feminists and anti-feminists. Feminists believe that the expectations for women are far too high to be attainable for most—they are expected to be the perfect weight, the perfect height, the perfect everything in the eyes of society in order to be seen as worth anything. Feminists believe that women are seen by society as less powerful, less smart, simply less than men. Feminists also believe that feminism promotes gender equality, not misandry. They aim to fix this. Anti-feminists, on the other hand believe that feminism is women being obnoxious and putting themselves above men. They think feminism in 2015 in unnecessary. Women already have the right to vote, what more could they possibly want? This oppression is just one reason why feminism exists and—in my opinion—is extremely important in today’s world.

What exactly is Feminism? Feminism is all about women's liberation; the liberation in a world where men are not only looked as superior, but also run the world and tell women what we can or cannot do. Feminists dream of a world where we can be treated equally as men. We do not care

Women have long been fighting for their right to be seen as equal to men. Even to this day, women continue to fight for their rights, things such as the right to non-gender discriminatory wages. While there may be some arguments over the state of gender equality in the modern world, it is undeniable that there have been great strides made toward recognizing the female 's worth in the workforce and as a human being. Despite these strides, however, things are still not yet ideal for women and many of the issues females face today are the very same issues that have been plaguing them for decades. While it is unfortunate the oppression of women has been so long-lived, the length of that exposure has thankfully enabled many talented writers to both lament over the fact and emphasize the need for gender equality.

Feminism, according to Merriam-Webster (2016) is defined as "the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men." Though this is the definition of the term,

What is feminism? According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary the standard definition defines feminism as “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” I believe the word feminism means a woman who is capable of doing the exact things a man can do. Both men and women are equal regardless the gender. There are many misconceptions when it comes to the word feminism such as, women having hatred towards men, women thinking they're above men, or only women can be feminist, and the gender stereotype. On the other hand, feminism is gender equality, acknowledging that any kind of violence is unacceptable regardless the gender, and realizing that women and men are not the same and recognizing that gender and sex are

Although it was not seen as a right before, equality has grown into the statement for all of the natural human rights. Throughout the growth of the United States, much has changed: technology has advanced, wars have come and passed, old ways have been updated. However, the one thing that has followed slowly behind in the race for change is the equality for all. Those who were once viewed as lesser to the American males—females—are still having to make strides towards equality, but are considerably closer due to their fight for freedom and recognition. The documents “Now We Can Begin” by Crystal Eastman and “What’s Become of Rosie the Riveter?” by Frieda S. Miller are examples of what some of the women were out there fighting for.

The definition of feminism is very elusive. Maybe because of its ever-changing historical meaning, it’s not for certain whether there is any coherence to the term feminism or if there is a definition that will live up to the movement’s variety of adherents and ideas. In the book “No Turning Back,” author Estelle Freedman gives an accurate four-part definition of the very active movement: “Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently part of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are necessary to achieve equality between women and men, with the understanding that gender always intersects with other social hierarchies” (Freedman 7).

For the record, feminism by definition is: ‘the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.’ It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes. (Watson 1)

Even as far back as the United States independence, women did not possess any civil rights. According to Janda, this view is also known as protectionism, the notion that women mush be sheltered from life's harsh realities. Protectionism carried on throughout the general populations view for many decades until the 1920's when the women's movement started. Women finally received the right to vote in the Nineteenth Amendment. The traditional views of protectionism, however, remained in people's minds until the 1970's (Janda et al, 2000: 538-539).

Feminism is a body of social theory and political movement primarily based on and motivated by the experiences of women. While generally providing a critique of social relations, many proponents of feminism also focus on analyzing gender inequality and the promotion of women's rights, interests, and issues.

The textbook definition of feminism is “a doctrine that advocates equal rights for women” (WordNet, 2010). While this is correct, there is much more to it than that.

Throughout many decades women have been struggling to be equal to men, both at home and in the work place. Women have come a long way and are certainly fighting to gain that equality, but gender roles are very important in our society. They have become important in life from birth, and society continues to push these gender roles. The treatment of the male gender is very different from that of the female, and this issue has become very important to me, as a woman. As children we learn and adapt to specific gender roles, and as we grow they become more evident and more important to our role in a society. There is a lot of discrimination against the female gender. Carol Gilligan argued that

Feminism is the belief that women should have economic political and social equality with men. This term also refers to a political movement that works to gain equality within a male and female relationship. In a male and female relationship both the roles of the male and female should be equal. Equal in many ways ten one: they should trust each other, share responsibilities, listen to one another, respect each other, and of course love one another equally.

In the 1800’s a women was suppose to have four things Piety, Purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. These principles shaped the “Cult of True Womanhood” an idea that women were to be seen but not heard. Women had no say when it came to politics, they couldn’t own property, they were not allowed to do many jobs, and they couldn’t even speak in front of men. They had the duty to be a mother and raise their children but even thought they had this responsibility it was the husband who had the complete control and guardianship of the children. Because of these ideas it was very difficult for change to happen. When women started to receive more education they began to ask questions about why they were being denied these rights, which began the

Feminism has been defined as the advocacy of social equality for men and women, in opposition to patriarchy and sexism.