Women In The 20th Century

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The 20th century was not only a period of technological improvements but a period of social reform that has changed the standard of living. Throughout the mid 20th Century, the Civil Rights Movement took place that fought for African American equality in society but during this time, women were also denied equal access to federal programs such as education or sports because it was considered inappropriate. Rather than accept woman equality, many men fought in support of gender discrimination that continued to restrict women for participating in activities or applying themselves after high school. With gender discrimination being an issue in higher education and in employment salary, many women faced these problems and were unable to fight against …show more content…

Through the early 20th century, females also faced gender discrimination in sports such as football, wrestling or any sports because it was still considered inappropriate for females to participate in male sports. As gender discrimination began to grow, the gap between male and female equality also grew as well. Rather than have women be coaches, males were given this position to teach women physical activity whereas those who had a coaching position were paid significantly less than their male counterpart. Sports becoming a cultural icon, many people thought that including females into this sport would ruin the game and would go against what the nation stood for. Sports such as football, cross country, wrestling, or even basketball restricted females as males played outdoors and women were playing indoors with less equipment and funding so that their chances of joining in sports were either slim or nothing. Other than these sports, the physical activities that women were given was rope climbing or physical activities that was less strenuous on the female body. Before the passing of Title IX, not only did this impact education and sports but it impacted other areas such as employment opportunities, financial assistance, access to materials, facilities, and access to health (Hanson et al

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