The film Hidden Figures Is a historically accurate story about three african american women working for the NASA. The movie was based off of the book ‘Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race”. The three women,Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, were considered “human computers” due to their vast knowledge. The “human computers” group was made up of mostly women who worked for NASA to see that our astronauts made their trip to space safely. Even though those three women were considered as smart as a computer, they didn't get the wage that they deserved due to segregation and black rights. During the time that hidden figures took place is was around the very peak of world war two; Which meant that the “human computers” were pushed very hard to get humans to space before any other country could. THe women were described as “ordinary and extraordinary”. During that time world war two was just reaching its peak on becoming a full on war. The time period was a real inconvenience on people of color to basically anything to as simple as taking a walk. Due to segregation at the time black women and even white women were discriminated, some more than others. These women only wanted a job that they see themselves fit and they got turned down just due to something they couldn't even change about themselves. To wrap everything up, The movie Hidden Figures was a beautiful movie written to inspire and inform everyone around the world. The movie described a wonderful relationship that three extremely intelligent mathematicians. It was to show the struggles not just that NASA faced during the war but what people all around had to face during that time as well. This was one hell of a story and it is sure to go and be told for many centuries to come. In my opinion Hidden Figures remind me of the movie and book, The
In 1943, most women worked as teachers, nurses, or done some sort of domestic labor. Their opportunities were nowhere near as vast as the men’s. This caused the women to feel left out or unequal. Women fought for more equal opportunities as well as equal treatment. This along with their sense of patriotism is what led them to work in these factories. They wanted to be viewed as equal counterparts and have the same opportunities as men during this time. Not as many opportunities were open to the women so they jumped at the chance to widen them when the idea of working in the factories came up. This also paired with their sense of patriotism, making their determination to work stronger. The women knew the men were off fighting for their freedom so this would give them a chance to contribute to the cause as well as help war production. This challenged the views of the workplace as well as the beliefs of where women belonged in the workplace. Numerous men...
...ing to survive. Their militant demeanor and strong willed nature foreshadowed the coming modern civil rights movement. They realized the importance of education and utilized it to change the climate of their time. I think these to women defined the term "ordinary to extraordinary". They had both broke through color and gender barriers and earned the respect and admiration of colleagues, politicians the African American people. Who knows what would have happened if these two brave women did not stand up and accomplish what they had done. Would "White Supremacy" prevail in a post WWII society. It is hard to quantify the contribution of these women to the civil rights movement but I think it is safe to say that we were fortunate as a nation to have these great crusaders, as well as many other notable figures, to educate us and force us to see change in the United States.
Exploitation of Women Exposed in The Bell Jar and Enormous Changes at the Last Minute
During the war, women played a vital role in the workforce because all of the men had to go fight overseas and left their jobs. This forced women to work in factories and volunteer for war time measures.
How were women discriminated in the United States of America? Well, before the First World War, gender didn’t matter, because all women were subordinate to men. Traditionally, people believed: “Woman has meant to be a wife or mother in a family and has been responsible for supervising the children and doing house works.” After the congress signed up the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920; however, women have had the rights to vote. In short, women played a very large role in the social justice movement.
Before WWII, women knew their place. Carol Harris of BBC News says, “In the 1930s, social roles were clearly defined. A woman's place was in the home, a man's place was out at work. With the onset of war, everything changed”(8). While there were women in the workplace before WWII, their options were limited. With the absence of a large percentage of the young men, these options opened considerably. Despite the expansion of opportunities for women, women were still seen as disobeying social norms by working in factories or joining the Armed Forces.
Many factories became short-handed and had to hire women to cover the jobs. The factories were very dangerous and unhealthy, and the women were only getting paid half the wages of men. The women were not unionized because the Labor Union said that they had to hire many women to replace one man and that the skilled tasks were broken in to several less skilled tasks. They had no protection, so their lungs and skin were exposed to dangerous chemicals. Many women worked in munitions factories, where they worked with sulphur.
The two ideas of female gender roles and women’s rights collided throughout world war II. Due to the rising need of jobs being filled while men went to war was the basis of the new workforce for females. As time went on females rights evolved, and WWII was the basis of this progression. This is why World War II is considered a “milestone” in the womens workforce. Due to all of the changes in World War II women now have the ability to work in any profession they want, and have the same rights as men.
Around 1900 the situation for blacks was dire. They suffered extreme discrimination and were frequently the victims of violence in the South. Blacks could not vote and their career opportunities remained limited. White society excluded blacks from equal participation in many areas of public life; they wanted to keep blacks in a position of economic, political, social and cultural subservience.
Women have been oppressed since the beginning of time, they have always been thought of as lesser to men in our culture, and they still are. Although some people may disagree women are still put at a lower bar to men. They have a lower chance of getting certain jobs, making more money and being put into places of higher power. People of color have also been oppressed for a very long time. Back in colonial times this sexism and racism was even stronger and more powerful. Women couldn’t get any jobs that had to do with government and had very little power over what they could or couldn’t do. African americans were almost all slaves and if they weren’t they still had little to no rights, it was extremely difficult for them to find jobs. This
Moody’s position as an African American woman provides a unique insight into these themes through her story. As a little girl, Moody would sit on the porch of her house watch her parents go to work. Everyday she would see them walk down the hill at the break of dawn to go to work, and walk back up when the sun was going down to come back home. At this time in her life, Moody did not understand segregation, and that her parents were slaves and working for a white man. But, as growing up poor and black in the rural south with a single mother trying to provide for her family, Moody quickly realized the importance of working. Working as a woman in the forties and fifties was completely different from males. They were still fighting for gender equality, which restricted women to working low wage jobs like maids for white families. Moody has a unique insight to the world of working because she was a young lady that was working herself to help keep herself and her bother and sister in school. Through work, Moody started to realize what segregation was and how it impacted her and her life. While working for Mrs. Johnson and spending the nights with Miss Ola, she started to realize basic di...
In conclusion, details involving the characters and symbolic meanings to objects are the factors that make the novel better than the movie. Leaving out aspects of the novel limits the viewer’s appreciation for the story. One may favor the film over the novel or vice versa, but that person will not overlook the intense work that went into the making of both. The film and novel have their similarities and differences, but both effectively communicate their meaning to the public.
Women were not only separated by class, but also by their gender. No woman was equal to a man and didn’t matter how rich or poor they were. They were not equal to men. Women couldn’t vote own business or property and were not allowed to have custody of their children unless they had permission from their husband first. Women’s roles changed instantly because of the war. They had to pick up all the jobs that the men had no choice but to leave behind. They were expected to work and take care of their homes and children as well. Working outside the home was a challenge for these women even though the women probably appreciated being able to provide for their families. “They faced shortages of basic goods, lack of childcare and medical care, little training, and resistance from men who felt they should stay home.” (p 434)
The three women handled their situations differently. Some handled it stronger than others. It shows each women 's personality while dealing with their
Managers began to segregate workers based on gender and paid women significantly lower wages than the men. Early in 1942 the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration created, by executive order, the National War Labor Board (NWLB) with broad authority to resolve labor disputes and thereby facilitate the war effort. In practice this board provided binding labor arbitration throughout World War II (Workman). (Cite Source) urged employers in 1942 to voluntarily make "adjustments to equalize wage or salary paid to females with the rates paid to males for comparable quality and quantity of work on the same or similar operations." Not only did employers not follow the "voluntary" request, but once the war was over, most women were pushed out of their new jobs to make room for returning veterans. With an influx of women in the workplace, people in society felt that it was not the woman 's role to be working. Women were expected to fulfill their domestic role within the homes with proper roles as wives, homemakers, and as mothers to protect the well-being of society. People feared that women working labor intensive jobs would not be able to carry out these domestic