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The impact of the women's rights movements
The impact of the women's rights movements
19th century women's rights
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Recommended: The impact of the women's rights movements
Women’s Rights is known as a movement that is rich is history yet still impacts the present day. The movement began in the 19th century with women seeking to be treated as equal to men. The Women’s Rights Movement focused on social and institutional barriers that limited women’s rights – family responsibilities, limited educational and economic opportunities, and no voice in political debates. While it is written in history that the movement lasted from 1848 to 1920, much of the Women’s Rights Movement is still applicable today. While women’s rights now include the right to vote, women are still fighting for reproductive rights, the right to work for equal pay, and a greater voice in politics.
In 1840, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton met at World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. Even though they were denied leadership positions in London because they were women, the two women used that denial to develop a coalition for
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women’s suffrage. In 1848, they organized the Women’s Rights Convention. It was held in Seneca Falls, New York. These two women built upon the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal”. Over the years, the movement supported numerous causes such as anti-slavery laws but also focused on getting women the right to vote. While it took time, their pursuits were eventually successful. Women won the right to vote in 1920 with the passing of the 19th amendment. Since then, the movement has grown to include reproductive rights, the right to work for equal pay, and a greater voice in politics. Reproductive rights for women focuses on the right to have access to birth control and the right to obtain an abortion. In 1973, a U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas law prohibiting abortion, effectively legalizing abortion throughout the United States. The debate over abortion, however, has continued. Each year since 1973, pro-life supporters go to Washington, D.C. to protest the legalization of abortion. This event is known as March for Life and has continued to grow into the largest pro-life event annually. On the other end of the spectrum, Planned Parenthood is one of the largest providers of sex education in America and a leader in the reproductive health and rights movement. Planned Parenthood gets funding from the federal government and private donations and supports abortion. The political fight continues. Although the federal laws legalize abortion, numerous states have laws restricting abortion. For example, Mississippi recently banned abortions after 15 weeks. Of course, opponents of this new law have quickly sued. Only time will tell the outcome to the lawsuit. In addition to the hotly-debated reproductive rights issue, women are hammering away at the right to work for equal pay. Historically, women (along with minority men) were denied adequate educational opportunities, which greatly hampered their economic opportunities. Women were often not able to take on jobs that offered higher pay because they were unqualified for the job. As educational gaps narrowed, women began flooding the job market and found that they were being paid substantially less than their male counterparts. In 1963, the Equal Pay Act was passed. Among other things, this act required equal pay for equal work for all people. There could be no discrimination for race, sex, or disability. Through the years, the pay gap has lessened. However, there is still a gap despite these laws. In 2013, it was found that women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. For minorities, the gap is even wider. The average African American woman earned 64 cents and Hispanic women earn 55 cents for every dollar earned by white men. There are several reasons that this gap still exists. Often women are not aware of the difference in pay since most people do not publicize their earnings. Other times, the company may hire the person as an independent contractor and therefore not have to follow that law since the person is not officially an employee. Still, if an employee finds out they are not getting paid equal pay, there is a time limit for which a complaint can be filed. Many miss this opportunity and the company benefits. Luckily, the Women’s Rights Movement was successful in gaining the right for women to vote.
However, even though women can vote, the voice of women in politics is still not equal with that of men. Slowly things are changing, and more women are getting involved in politics. While Jeannette Rankin was the first woman ever to be elected to Congress, which was in 1916, few women followed in her footsteps. Congress consists of mostly males. “Only 20 percent of congressional seats are held by women”. Some states have taken longer to elect a woman to Congress. For example, Cindy Hyde-Smith became the first woman to represent Mississippi in Congress and she was appointed, not elected. “She’s the 23rd woman currently in the Senate and the sixth Republican woman senator in office” . On a higher political level, Hillary Clinton announced her 2016 Presidential Bid in April of 2015. She was fully backed by the Democratic party, and she ran a good race. Even though Trump won the election, the loss was not ever considered to be due to her
gender. Although the Women’s Rights Movement began long ago, and great progress has been made, the movement is still relevant today. Gaining the right to vote gave women a huge leap into equality with men. Through the years, women have fought for and continue to fight for reproductive rights, the right to work for equal pay, and a greater voice in politics. While abortion is legal, the Equal Pay Act is law, and more women are getting involved in politics, women cannot turn a blind eye to protecting themselves. The progress needs to continue. Each year, the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women are celebrated around the world on March 8, which is International Women’s Day. This celebration began in the 1900s and continues to this day. Looking back, women have a lot to be grateful for. Looking forward, there is still more work to be done.
Women, like black slaves, were treated unequally from the male before the nineteenth century. The role of the women played the part of their description, physically and emotionally weak, which during this time period all women did was took care of their household and husband, and followed their orders. Women were classified as the “weaker sex” or below the standards of men in the early part of the century. Soon after the decades unfolded, women gradually surfaced to breathe the air of freedom and self determination, when they were given specific freedoms such as the opportunity for an education, their voting rights, ownership of property, and being employed.
In the beginning of the 1840s and into the 1850s, a rather modest women’s reform was in the process. This group was full of visionaries that began a movement that would soon lobby in change and this movement was the groundwork of equality for women and their right to vote within in the United States. Despite their efforts this movement required a length of seventy years to establish this necessarily equality and the right for all women to vote along the side of men. According to the CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOUNDATION “After male organizers excluded women from attending an anti-slavery conference, American abolitionists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott decided to call the “First Woman’s Rights Convention.” Held over several days in
Whereas the women’s suffrage movements focused mainly on overturning legal obstacles to equality, the feminist movements successfully addressed a broad range of other feminist issues. The first dealt primarily with voting rights and the latter dealt with inequalities such as equal pay and reproductive rights. Both movements made vast gains to the social and legal status of women. One reached its goals while the other continues to fight for women’s rights.
The need for women’s rights began back in colonial America where women were referred to as “inferior beings”. This era, though it is not particularly noted for it’s feminist movements, did hold such people as Margaret Brent, who was a wealthy holder of land in Maryland and was a strong, but unsuccessful voice in securing a place for women in the legislature of the colony. It was also a period where Quakers, and many other individuals, such as famous American patriot, Thomas Paine supported the rights of women, but at the time it was not enough to make a significant difference and it wasn’t until the 19th century that women would get the real chance to make a difference.
Most traditional societies and until recent times, women generally were at a disadvantage. Their education sometimes was limited to domestic skills (“Women’s rights” n.p.). After, there was revolutions, and working women in the former soviet union intended to hold low paying jobs. They were also represented in party and government councils (“Women’s rights” n.p.). The late 1960s and early 70s active feminists organized numerous women’s rights group (“Women’s rights”n.p.). Women encountered discrimination in many forms. In 1960 equal opportunities were given to women (“Women’s rights” n.p.). During the women’s movement certain social institutions and traditional values, were questioned (“Women’s rights” n.p.). Else where in the world the women’s rights movement has also made progress in achieving its goals. In nearly every nation, women have the right to vote and hold public office (“Women’s rights” n.p.). Women’s rights movement made progress in achieving goals in nearly every nation after that (“Women’s rights” n.p.). Major unsponsored conferences on women were held in 1975, 1980, 1985, and 1995 (“Women’s rights” n.p.).
Gaining woman 's rights and establishing woman suffrage were the obstacles that woman activists of the nineteenth century faced back then. Women 's rights are said to be universal and that means that it concerns all women. Most of the policies and laws in the nineteenth century highlighted the importance of men and their rights. However, women strived and struggled to fight for their rights. There was a similar group of people who fought for their rights who were African Americans. Voting rights and worker recognition was the main focus of women, as well as African Americans. Moreover, women 's rights and abolition often clashed together, but both events worked together as women were supporters of abolition. There were numerous rights that
A house is not a home if no one lives there. During the nineteenth century, the same could be said about a woman concerning her role within both society and marriage. The ideology of the Cult of Domesticity, especially prevalent during the late 1800’s, emphasized the notion that a woman’s role falls within the domestic sphere and that females must act in submission to males. One of the expected jobs of a woman included bearing children, despite the fact that new mothers frequently experienced post-partum depression. If a woman were sterile, her purposefulness diminished. While the Cult of Domesticity intended to create obliging and competent wives, women frequently reported feeling trapped or imprisoned within the home and within societal expectations put forward by husbands, fathers, and brothers.
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls of many societies worldwide. In some countries these rights are supported by law, local cultures and behaviors, but in others they may be ignored or infringed on. They are considered different from the broader concept of “human rights” because of historical and traditional bias against the rights of women in favor of men. These rights include: the right to vote (also called suffrage), the right to work, the right to have equal pay, the right to own property, the right to education, the right to serve in the military, the right to enter into legal contracts, and the right to have marital, parental and religious rights.
Social movements refer to informal groups of people who focus on either political or social issues. The goal of the social movement is to change things in society, to refuse to go along with the norm, and to undo a social change. For example, the Women’s Rights Movement that began in the 1840s was geared towards getting women more equality in relation to political, social, and economic status in society (Foner). Along with this, women gained a louder voice to speak out about what they wanted to change and implemented the change. Prior to the Women’s Rights Movement, women were often timid, compliant, obedient, and mistreated. After the 1920s, a movement towards more equality was shifted in society views, however not all were convinced or changed by the new ideas of women. Although women began to get increased rights, the typical gender roles, which they were expected to follow did not loosely lesson. Women still found themselves doing the same gender roles, house roles, and family roles even after the 1920s. It was not until the 1960s when the Feminist movement began (Foner). The literary piece is “Why I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady and the goal of the Feminist Movement was to create new meanings and realities for women in terms of education, empowerment, occupation, sexual identity, art, and societal roles. In short, the Feminist Movement was aimed to gain women freedom, equal opportunity and be in control over their own life.
Though the 19th amendment secured this right women in 1920, most of the rights or gains achieved by women happened after this time. Since the 1960’s women have gained so much more the goal o have equal treatment and an end to gender discrimination. During the Civil Rights era legislation mainly focused on giving rights to african americans and other minorities under the Equal Protection Laws. Though this did not help women at the time, an inclusion was made under the Civil Rights Act in 1964 that put sex as a protected category and gained women a legal tool powerful enough to start an end to sex discrimination and shatter the cultural stereotypes produced about women. The fight for women rights has led to the challenges of roles in society such as domestic relations, employment , education and even criminal law. Though there have been many gains to women’s rights it all started by that of the women’s suffrage movement and without the first gain of the right to ballot there is no telling where women would be today. The movement is an important part of history that I feel should not be forgotten especially by women , seeing as even in 2015 there is still an ongoing fight for rights and equal
However, women, like so many other groups, have gained legal rights to face less institutional, but more subtle forms of discrimination. The idea that women are equal because of women’s rights is, in my opinion, valid in some ways and invalid in other ways. Traditionally, women have been regarded as inferior to men physically and intellectually. Women could not possess property in their own names, participate in business ventures, or control having children if they wanted them or not, or even control their own lives. The Feminist movement dates from 1848, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Coffin Mott and others who were at a women’s convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y. issued a declaration of independence for women, demanding full legal equality, full educational and commercial opportunity, equal compensation, the right to get paid and the right to vote.
Beginning in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, women began to vocalize their opinions and desires for the right to vote. The Women’s Suffrage movement paved the way for the nineteenth Amendment in the United States Constitution that allowed women to have that right. The Women’s Suffrage movement started a movement for equal rights for women that has continued to propel equal opportunities for women throughout the country. The Women’s Liberation Movement has sparked better opportunities, demanded respect and pioneered the path for women entering the workforce that was started by the right to vote and given momentum in the late 1950s. The focus of The Women’s Liberation Movement was idealized off The Civil Rights Movement; it was founded on the elimination of discriminatory practices and sexist attitudes (Freeman, 1995).
This successful phase of the Women’s Rights Movement set insight for the ability for a woman to hold a position of power in the national political office. Even with the right to vote independently, women’s choices still shadowed in the footsteps of the men in their families which made it all the more difficult for women to sustain power in a political party. “Not only did they face institutional prejudices but nearly three quarters of the first generation were dependent of their husbands or fathers for positions.” However, even with this pattern, the new women in Congress paved the way for the century-long fight to expand women’s roles in the
From the beginning of time, females have played a powerful role in the shaping of this world. They have stood by idly and watched as this country moved on without them, and yet they have demanded equal rights as the nation rolls along. Through the years the common belief has been that women could not perform as well as men in anything, but over the years that belief has been proven wrong time and time again. So as time marches on, women have clawed and fought their way up the ladder to gain much needed equal respect from the opposite sex. However, after many years of pain and suffering, the battle for equal rights has not yet been won. Since women have fought for a long time and proven their importance in society, they deserve the same rights as men.
The rights for women have been fought for bravely throughout centuries by women who were able to overcome many forces of oppression. In the late 19th century the efforts for women’s equal rights became an identifiable movement, the first wave of feminism was aiming to allow equal opportunities for both men and women which focused on political change. The suffragettes were a group of women and men who partitioned for women’s right to vote, in 1894 this legislation was granted in Australia.