Women In The Twentieth Century And Beyond Analysis

Women in the Twentieth Century and Beyond Summary
In “Women in the Twentieth Century and Beyond”, Kimberly M. Radek discusses the struggling events that occurred throughout history in order for gender discrimination to be eliminated.
In the early 20th century, women began to slowly participate in events to contribute to gaining equal right due to the fact that the terms of power were under male control: employment, politics, education and economy, which demonstrated male supremacy. Women initiated their road to success by achieving the right to vote in 1920, when the 19th amendment was passed, this act proved that women could just as well get into other areas to influence the society. Shortly after women gained their right to vote, they began

to pursue in more freedom activities that were ultimately represented by the flappers. However men, begged to differ, they suggested that women were ignorant and incapable of understanding politics and because of that men feared that because women made up to 51% of the population they could easily and quickly gain power and allies.
In 1929, all the good feelings ended when the stock market crashed. Prosperity came to an end, and gender roles came to take place again. Women where only hired when men went to war but as soon as they got back the women were fired.
As women had more leisure time, consumerism products such as: vacuum cleaner,
washing machines were marketed towards woman to create a haven for men when they got home from work. As families got larger, men worked harder to maintain a firm tidy home. These great demands began an era of rebellion causing both men and women to rebel against these intense expectations. Many of the achievements of the equal rights movement were destroyed creating social problems, domestic and other violence towards women.
As a result of this action women who did have an education took on workloads, took care of their kids, and continued to maintain a tidy home as well as keep up their appearances to prove that they could be just as successful as men.
Since gender discrimination still exists in the 21th century, Phyllis Schlafly, an activist, who is currently still activity, involved working towards equalizing opportunities and roles for both men and women. She has launched shelters for abused and beat-up women and federal funded daycare facilities. This article concludes that the future of gender discrimination that occurs during the 21th century is now up to us to preserve.