In Mary Wollstonecraft’s essay “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” she
constantly compares men and women. Her comparisons range from their physical nature
to their intelligence, and even down to the education that each sex receives.
Wollstonecraft states, “In the government of the physical world it is observable that the
female in point of strength is, in general, inferior to the male.”(line 1.35-37) to show that
women are inferior to men in physicality, and a number of areas throughout the essay, yet
through it all she voices her concerns for the rights of women and how well deserved they
are.
Throughout mankind’s history there has been an obvious bias towards men. Men
have always been deemed superior to women, whether it be physical or intellectual.
When Wollstonecraft says, “…I presume that rational men will excuse me for
endeavoring to persuade them [women] to become more masculine and
respectable.”(lines 1.81-83) she tells her fellow women to fight for equality, while
flattering the opposite sex. Her statement tells women that in order to get what they want
[equality] they must change their ways and habits. Its sort of like–If you can’t beat them,
join them. There is just one thing holding women from their full potential–men.
Wollstonecraft states, “…men who, considering females rather as women than human
creatures, have been more anxious to make them alluring mistresses than affectionate
wives and rational mothers…”(lines 1.17-19) Regardless of what women do there will
always be men who will continue to degrade and discourage rational, intelligent, and
free-thinking women. Humans have been around for thousands of years, yet men still
degrad...
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...…the heart should be clean…Women ought to endeavor
to purify their hearts…”(lines 1.129-132) Wollstonecraft felt that women had to ignore
and shed all of the things that men had told them and taught them. Women need to be
themselves and not conform to anyone’s regulations. Wollstonecraft wants women to be
strong, to defend their honor and innocence, and to learn to think rationally again. She
says, “Weakness [in women] may excite tenderness, and gratify the arrogant pride of
man…”(lines 1.142-143) and “…the woman who strengthens her body and exercises her
mind will, by managing her family and practicing various, become the friend, and not the
humble dependent of her husband…”(lines 1.145-147) Rational and independent thinking
will help women in their endeavor for equality, and Wollstonecraft was an excellent
example of that.
“On the Equality of the Sexes” began with arguing against the idea that woman were not mentally equal to men in all areas.
Today, women and men have equal rights, however, not long ago men believed women were lower than them. During the late eighteenth century, men expected women to stay at home and raise children. Women were given very few opportunities to expand their education past high school because colleges and universities would not accept females. This was a loss for women everywhere because it took away positions of power for them. It was even frowned upon if a woman showed interest in medicine or law because that was a man’s place, not a woman’s, just like it was a man’s duty to vote and not a woman’s.
While the issue of women’s suffrage has roots based in every country in the world, most think that the initial inroads were painfully carved through the efforts of early women pioneers in America. This perception is easily formed due to the early publication of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Right’s of Women in 1792. However, the movement gained national attention in New Zealand in 1893 and in Australia in 1902, eclipsing the suffrage movement in Britain, Canada and America by at least 25 years. The struggle for women’s rights has been ponderous and slow moving throughout the years and not without internal divisions.
Ihara Saikaku’s Life of a Sensuous Woman written in the 17th century and Mary Woolstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman written in the 18th century are powerful literary works that advocated feminism during the time when women were oppressed members of our societies. These two works have a century old age difference and the authors of both works have made a distinctive attempt to shed a light towards the issues that nobody considered significant during that time. Despite these differences between the two texts, they both skillfully manage to present revolutionary ways women can liberate themselves from oppression laden upon them by the society since the beginning of humanity.
In the speech ‘Ain’t I a Woman’, she mentions she has no rights as an African American woman. She hears how “women should be treated” and taken care of
Women have always been fighting for their rights for voting, the right to have an abortion, equal pay as men, being able to joined the armed forces just to name a few. The most notable women’s rights movement was headed in Seneca Falls, New York. The movement came to be known as the Seneca Falls convention and it was lead by women’s rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton during July 19th and 20th in 1848. Stanton created this convention in New York because of a visit from Lucretia Mott from Boston. Mott was a Quaker who was an excellent public speaker, abolitionist and social reformer. She was a proponent of women’s rights. The meeting lasted for only two days and was compiled of six sessions, which included lectures on law, humorous presentations and discussions concerning women’s role in society. The convention was organized by a mostly radical group of Quakers while ironically their leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a non-Quaker skeptic. Stanton and her Quaker followers presented a document entitled the Declaration of Sentiments to the convention, which was accompanied by a list of resolutions that were to be debated by the members of the convention before it was signed. One hundred of the three hundred attendees of the Seneca Falls Convention signed the Declaration of Sentiments. The Seneca Falls Convention was merely a single step in the right direction for the women’s rights movement; it was seen as a revolution in which women were fighting desperately for equality to their male counterparts. The Declaration of Sentiments became a staple document in the women’s suffrage, as it was the first time that men and women came together to demand women’s right to vote. Women’s suffrage gained national attention due to the conventio...
The French Revolution was a period of time in which France underwent many changes, many which could be considered revolutionary. France’s whole system and way of being was completely changed. New ideas were proposed everyday. An idea is revolutionary when it is a new idea, when it is something that has never been thought of before. The Declaration of the Rights of Women written by Olympe de Gouges on September 1791, was one of the ideas proposed to the National Assembly (Hunt, Web 1). The document proposed that since the French Revolution was all about finding equality for all people, women should be equal to men and therefore, should have the same rights as men did. Women at the time live in terrible conditions. They had little access to education, and therefore could not enter professional occupations that required advanced education, were legally deprived of the right to vote, and were not considered citizens (Class Discussion Notes). If equal rights were not given to women, the French Revolution had not reached its full potential, according to Gouges. She expressed this idea in her document, saying, “This revolution will only take effect when all women become fully aware of their deplorable condition, and of the rights they have lost in society” (Gouges, Web). Anyone that questioned the Revolution was immediately put to death (Class Discussion Notes). If Gouges’ document and ideas were important enough to catch the attention of the National Assembly and for her to be put to death, her ideas could be considered important and revolutionary (Britannica, Web 1) But, the document was not revolutionary. The Declaration of the Rights of Women was not a revolutionary document because its ideas were taken from other people and were no...
Many women have contributed to supporting women 's rights, leaving their mark on history. Four women will be discussed, describing their work and events that incorporate the campaign that each woman supported or lead.
“Sexism is an oppression that is hard to avoid, as it is difficult to rid ourselves of the social institutions of gender that we have been taught at a very young age (“Sexism in Society”).”
Today, women share the same equal rights and opportunities as men; nevertheless, that has not invariably been the case. Before the Jazz Age era, gender discrimination between men and women in society was considerably popular. Women were seen as inferior to men. Their jobs were to care for the home, children, and other domesticated duties while men were able to work, get an education, and become doctors or lawyers. Many women like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida B. Wells, Sojourner Truth, Zora Hurston, to mention a few, seen the unfairness in women's rights and fought for equal rights for women through different movements, efforts, protests, and even marches to abolish women’s rights. As a consequence, women now pursue not only higher education and higher paid jobs/ businesses, but their rights. One of the world’s most controversial issues among churches of today is the role of a woman. Many people are confused about the duty of a woman and how she is supposed to serve God because of history. History taught us to never deny someone of gender, race, or even diversity since he or she has human rights. However, this issue should not be viewed as men versus women because this is not a political issue; instead, it should be viewed as the structural of a church. Women should not be priests, pastors, or even rabbis for God condone women for being priests, pastors, and rabbis as well as proscribed.
Mary Wollstonecraft was a self-educated, radical philosopher who wrote about liberation, and empowering women. She had a powerful voice on her views of the rights of women to get good education and career opportunities. She pioneered the debate for women’s rights inspiring many of the 19th and the 20th century’s writers and philosophers to fight for women’s rights, as well. She did not only criticize men for not giving women their rights, she also put a blame on women for being voiceless and subservient. Her life and, the surrounding events of her time, accompanied by the strong will of her, had surely affected the way she chose to live her life, and to form her own philosophies.
...lways be inferior to men. In their everyday immersion, they are constantly reminded by this fact, and so they constantly subject to men and follow the daily routines prepared for them. They beautify themselves the way man would perceive them to be attractive. And so, even if some women are now displacing men in their own game and in their own world, as long as they wear powders and plastics, they will remain as others. As long as we look at ourselves in context of the eyes of men we will always be treated as mere objects.
Society has violated females’ privacy for thousands of years. The violations have crossed relational, physical, spiritual, sexual and emotional borders of women and girls’ privacy and privileges. Furthermore, women hold almost 52 percent of all professional-level jobs; however, American women stay behind men when it comes to their representation in leadership positions. The last decades of the 20th century women’s professional advancement slowed down, narrowing the percentage of women in management jobs. Philosophers like Plato and the ancient cynics have tried to advocate in favor of women. Yet, society has given more attention to the feminist’s political rights than the actual feminist’s social rights as the ones that women should enjoy on their work environment; although achieving equal political rights for women is a necessary condition for women to succeed, it is not sufficient to cover the gender break in leadership and management positions. It would not be sufficient because women’s oppression under male domination does not consist only in depriving women of political and legal rights, it also extends into the arrangement of our society and our culture.
What makes women less effective than men? On the website Sister In Arms there is a article
Women have always been essential to society. Fifty to seventy years ago, a woman was no more than a house wife, caregiver, and at their husbands beck and call. Women had no personal opinion, no voice, and no freedom. They were suppressed by the sociable beliefs of man. A woman’s respectable place was always behind the masculine frame of a man. In the past a woman’s inferiority was not voluntary but instilled by elder women, and/or force. Many, would like to know why? Why was a woman such a threat to a man? Was it just about man’s ability to control, and overpower a woman, or was there a serious threat? Well, everyone has there own opinion about the cause of the past oppression of woman, it is currently still a popular argument today.