Women in Society Essay Example for Free

Women in Society EssayThe purpose of women has changed drastically throughout history. Women were once conception to just now be able to stay at home and bleed the house and family. Women were iso upstartd in their domestic sphere however they did non stay thither. Women faced more than struggles during their battle to end their isolation from the predilection of gender graphic symbols within the workforce to the belief that women argon non liken to men and therefore do not deserve the same right(a)s as men.Before 1865 women had actionually(prenominal) few rights. Her legal standing depended upon her marital status, and once she was married everything became her husbands. She could not control or submit each property, she was not allowed to control any wages she earned, she could not transfer or sell any property, and she could not draw a lawsuit, or sign any contract. Her life rested solely in the hands of her husband. Women were expected to maintain the hom e which included cooking and cleaning. They were also expected to bear children and overhaul their days focused on those children. In 1840 something began to shift when two women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, met and discussed having a convention to address the federal agency of women. It took eight geezerhood for them to get stomach together and hold the convention cognize as The Seneca fall Convention.The Declaration of Sen cartridge clipnts and its resolutions were presented to a group of three hundred people, including forty men. This presentd that men and women were created equal and had a right to equality in all spheres including the right to vote. All of the resolutions were eventually passed. Afterwards they had to deal with blackguard and sarcasm. For example Frederick Douglass wrote a discussion of the rights of animals would be regarded with far more com habitationncy by legion(predicate) of what are called the wise and the good of our land, than would be a discussion of the rights of woman (na, http//www.npg.si.edu/col/seneca/senfalls1.htm). This shows just how womenwere thought of back then. They were thought to be less than animals. While they faced mockery and anger over the fact that they thought they should deal rights they did give the idea of womens rights publicity and brought attention to the idea. This was the modality some(prenominal) women lived until the end of the elegant War.After the Civil War the lives of women saw a change. America was expanding, and people were pushing double-uward. Women played a very important role in the conquest of the tungsten (Bowles, 2011, The sweet South and New West (1865- 1890), para. 29). Some women moved west with their families, unless there were also many superstar women who wanted to troika their ingest lives and widowed women who had no other choice. while I suspect that some of the women traveled west for a mate, others were interested in a life built of thei r own strength, ambition and endurance. Wishart reports in the 2004 encyclopaedia of the Prairie that, under the Homestead Act, only women who were single, widowed, divorced or deserted could sign for their own land (Willoughby, C.M., present 26, 2010, Pioneer women how the west was really won, para. 11). Widowed women were forced to take over the role of their departed men.These women took on the day-to-day responsibilities of farm and ranch life and were surprisingly successful. A quote from Katie Adams, a Pioneer widow, reads, I was just like a hired man. I was right there, I even followed the plow (Peavey Smith, 1996) (Willoughby, C.M., action 26, 2010, Pioneer women how the west was really won, para. 13). In Wyoming and Colorado, between 11 and 18 percent of all homesteaders were single women or widows (Bowles, 2011, The New South and New West (1865- 1890), para. 30). There was also a need for improve women in the west in order to teach in the schools that were macrocosm created and write for the newspapers. This gave women the opportunity to bring in their own monetary contribution to the household or maintain the single life they were creating.The late nineteenth ampere-second was still very rural. In these rural communities women were still treated as if their God-given role was as wife and mother, keeper of the household, guardian of the moral purity of all who lived therein. Housework took on a scientific quality, efficiency being the watchword. Children were to be cherished and nurtured. Morality wasprotected through the promulgation of Protestant beliefs and social protest against alcohol, poverty and the decay of urban living (Hartman, D.W., n.d., Womens Roles in the Late nineteenth Century, para. 2).The late 19th century saw a huge growth in industry. This growth changed the nature of work in America. In early 19th century work was per spirted by skilled workers known as artisans, however this changed as businessmen realized that mechaniz ation increased profitability and decreased the cartel on skilled labor (Bowles, 2011, Industrial Titans and Labor Unions (1860s- 1890s), para. 16). This opened up the door for women to take these positions.The duration period of the 1890s through the 1920s is known as the Progressive Era. During this time period women took on a different role. Women were able to find jobs in retail, or as typists, clerks, and telephone operators. much women were graduating from college and handout on to become professionals in the areas of law, healthcare, journalism, and science. Recognizing the changes that were occurring in the lives of some women, the public and the press coined a phrase for these women, the New cleaning woman.The New Woman was supposedly young, college educated, active in sports, interested in pursuing a career, and flavor for a marriage based on equality (The Status of Women in the Progressive Era, 2007, National Womens floor Museum, para.3). Many women, especially mar ried, middle class women still did not work out of doors the home, but they still played a role in helping the plight of women by focusing their efforts on the reforms of the era. Women were able to reform areas such as education, sanitation, health, wages, operative conditions, social welfare, and their greatest achievement was the implementation of the 19th amendment which gave women the right to vote.This brings us to the Womens Suffrage Movement in which women sought the right to vote. Granted this effect had been waiver on for quite some time however after the 14th and 15th amendment gave the right to vote to not just men but black men as well women believed their time for change had come. Two groups were formed with different ideas in how to achieve this goal. The National Womens Suffrage link (NWSA) was formed by Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. This group fought for womens rights on anational government level. The American Woman Suffrage connexion (AWSA) was th e second group that formed. This group fought for rights on a state by state basis. It was not until the two groups put aside their differences and became one forming the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1890 that serious surface was made. Elizabeth Stanton was the NAWSAs first president.Susan B. Anthony was the second president. While both of these women were in thrill things were handled rather diplomatically and without much in the way of militant tactics. This all changed when Alice Paul took over as the leader after Susan B. Anthony died. Paul organized many protests and marches including one that took place during Woodrow Wilsons rise as president. It was stunts like these that led many women within NAWSA to dislike her ways. She eventually left NAWSA and formed her own group, the National Womans Party (NWP). It was this new group that led a seven month picket of the white house which led to the arrest of the NWP suffragists.While they were imprisone d many of the women were placed in solitary confinement, so they went on a hunger strike in order to protest this cheating(prenominal) treatment. These women were then force fed for up to three weeks. When news of this mistreatment wrap uped the rest of America the suffrage move gained support including that of President Wilson (na., 2012). It was womens actions during serviceman War I that finally convinced the government that they were equal to men and in August of 1920 the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote was ratified. Women voted in their first election in November 1920.Women started off the 20th century in good standing. They had the right to vote finally, they were taking on more professional careers and they were becoming better educated. Women began smoking and drinking publicly, they cut their hair short and their skirts shorter. Women felt a intelligence of freedom at this pose which can be downn when we look at the womens bearing during these yea rs for instance the flapper was a popular look. This new sense of freedom would be short lived. A change was on the way. On October 24, 1929 the stock market crashed. This brought with it challenges for women that they thought they had overcome. Prosperity vanished al nigh over night, and very quickly, gender roles tightened up again. Many people blamed the crash on the loose morals of the introductory decade, and the practicecrisistoo many laborers, too few jobsseemed to dictate a return to the natural roles (Radek, K. M., 2001, para. 12).This was the inauguration of a time known as the Great Depression. Families bewildered everything during this time. There were very few jobs, so what jobs there were went to men. There was an emotional crisis, as well, especially as men had been traditionally defined by workingespecially since the industrial revolutionbut couldnt find work. In other words, without work, they couldnt see themselves as men. To this end, many areas enacted laws t o privilege men over women in regard to employment. Women were thrown out of work, and many states had laws mandating that if men were available, women couldnt legally workor if a womans husband worked, she couldnt (Radek, K. M., 2001, para. 12). Women were expected to take care of everything in the house regardless of a reduction in income.Sociologists Robert and Helen Lynd notice this trend in a employment of Muncie, Indiana, published in 1937 The men, cut adrift from their usual bend, befogged much of their sense of time and dawdled helplessly and dully about the streets while in the homes the womens piece remained freehandedly intact and the round of cooking, housecleaning, and mending became if anything more absorbing. To put it another way, no housewife lost her job in the Depression (Ware, S., nd., para. 3). While traditional gender roles seemed to take over men could not be expected to fill the role of receptionist or nurse, therefore women in these positions were able to maintain their employment although they usually took a pay cut. This lasted until America became part of World War II after the pom-pom on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.With the onset of World War II it became requirement for men and women to change their view on gender roles in the workforce. The men in the country were being mobilized to go to war, and the country needed someone to fill their positions. Who else could they turn to but the women of the country? Women took up jobs in factories manufacturing clothes and boots for soldiers they started working in munitions plants and aircraft factories, shipyards, and railways. Women were mail carriers, transit workers, and taxi drivers. They worked on farms and picked crops. Every area of the workforce became focused on the war and creating that which was needed to win the war against Hitler.Some women took a place in the military. Manywomen served as nurses for the army and the navy however for the first time women were all owed to serve. According to the National Womens accounting Museum (2007) more than 400,000 women served, 432 died, and 88 were prisoners of war. Women also served as pilots flying aircrafts from the place they were manufactured to the place where they were needed. Eighteen classes of women graduated from the Army personal line of credit Forces flight training school they called the Women Air Force process Pilots (WASPs). These were the first women military pilots in U.S. history, and the nation needed them because there was a general shortage of practised pilots for the war. In total, 25,000 women applied, 1,800 were accepted, and 1,000 completed the training (Cole, 1995) (Bowles, 2011, The World at War (1941-1945), para. 17).World War II could not last forever, and with its end men returned home expecting to have their positions back. Women who had found a purpose in working now found themselves no longer needed. They were sent back to their domestic sphere. Families moved to t he suburbs, fostered a thwart boom, and forged a happy life of family togetherness in which everyone had a specified role. Women were considered domestic caregivers, with sole function for the home and child rearing, while men brought home the bacon. Popular since the 1950s, this tenacious stereotype conjures mythic images of stopping point icons June Cleaver, Donna Reed, Harriet Nelson the quintessential white, middleclass housewives who stayed at home to rear children, clean house and bake cookies. (Meyerowitz, 1994) (Holt, J. (nd)., para. 1).America after World War II was a place of hope and new beginnings for many families in America. This was the time of the coddle boom. Women were having more babies which increased their duties in the household therefore solidifying their role as caretaker. This was also a time of great consumerism. Many things were being created with the hope that it would make the lives of women easier such as vacuum cleaners, toasters, wash machines, and then of course there was the television. This allowed manufacturers to create commercial specifically geared towards the women of the household. It seemed as if the goal of most families was to be prosperous, happy members of society, but for the women of the 1950s there was an underlying anger that stemmed from being outback(a) from jobs that made them feel accomplished and good about themselves. The culture was simplynot portraying a lifestyle women wanted indeed, studies indicate as many as 80% of post-war women felt working outside of the home would lead to a more satisfied life (Renzetti Curran, 2004) (Holt, J. (nd)., para.8). It is this animosity that sets the stage for the women of the 1960s and 1970s.The women of the 1960s and 1970s were dissatisfied with their lives and the fact that they were being relegated to the role of housewife and mother. They wanted something else, something more than what they were being given. This is the beginning of the womens liberation movement. Women watched as the civil rights movement was fought for, and gained insight into the fact that a movement could reach an entire nation. The civil rights movement breathed new life in to the women of this time. In 1966 the National shaping for Women (NOW) was created. The purpose of NOW was to bring about the true equality of women in America. According to NOWs statement of purpose (1966) a majority of the women working outside the home are in routine clerical, sales, or factory jobs, or they are household workers, cleaning women, hospital attendants which indicates that the better jobs are going to the men.The statement (1966) also shows how poor the wages are for those women that are working outside the home with the women only earning 60% of what the men earn. One of the last things that the statement (1966) brings to light is the fact that well educated women are not able to hold jobs of importance in society. Women wanted a change in politics, education, and busines s.They wanted to be treated as equals. In 1972 the equal rights amendment was passed out of congress and ratified by 28 states, but that was not enough to make it a part of the constitution. This amendment would make it illegal for any form of gender discrimination. One major accomplishment of the womens liberation movement was the ruling in roe v. Wade which ended a ban on abortion in 46 states. The strides gained during these critical years were short lived as the 1980s brought with it the idea that everything had been settled.Things essentially remained the same in the 1980s. These were quiet times for women. More women were entering professional positions in their careers and achieving better education. There were some key accomplishments during the 1980s such as the fact that the ERA expired in 1982. Sandra DayOConnor became the first woman justice of the independent Court in 1981. Sally Ride became the first woman in space in 1983. In 1984 Geraldine Ferraro was the first wom an nominated for the office of vice president. President Ronald Reagan made it known that a instructor would be selected as the first private US citizen in space.This idea was called the Teacher in seat Program and on July 19, 1985 a high school teacher named Christa McAuliffe was selected to participate in this program. Unfortunately the joyfulness of this accomplishment was short lived. On January 28, 1986 when the space shuttle Challenger took off it exploded 73 seconds into its locomote killing everyone on it. In 1986 over half of college graduates are women. For most working women during the 1980s there is the harsh realization that although they have made advancements in their respective fields their advancements can only go so far before they hit the glass ceiling. It is obvious that the 1980s had some large gains for women in society, but it also had some downfalls as well.The 1990s saw great changes for women as they versed that they could be appointed to higher roles in the government. Madeleine Albright was appointed Secretary of State, Janet Reno became the United States Attorney General, Sheila Widnall became Secretary of the Air Force, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court. Women saw a boost in their sense of self-worth as several women including Anita Hill came forward to testify about the fact that they had been sexually harassed by Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. The fact that this case was put in the public eye showed women that they did not have to put up with sexual harassment, and gave many women the courage to stand up for themselves.In 1991 the supply Ceiling Commission was created in order to ensure that women who are qualified for a job are not blocked from advancements. In 1993 emphasis is put on women in the work place as the first annual Take Our Daughters to Work Day is held. The Violence Against Women Act was established in 1994. This act made a priority out of investigating an d prosecuting violent crimes against women. In 1997 General Claudia Kennedy became the first female person three star general, and the WNBA is created. By 1999 some 60% of women work outside the home (Women of the Century, 2012). At this point it is obvious that there has been a huge shift in the wayAmericans view womens role in society.The role of women has changed drastically since 1865. There is even a drastic change in the way women are treated and viewed in just the last 50 years. The modern woman of the 21st century has moved out of the kitchen and into the workplace. Her focus has shifted from that of housekeeping and child bearing to that of education and career. In the prehistorical, college was viewed by many as a place for women to find a husband or get their Mrs. Moving past that mentality has resulted in an increasingly large number of female college graduates, all coming from a alteration of backgrounds (Sarna, M., 2004, para. 3). The education of women has gone from teaching them how to be the perfect wife and mother to giving them the opportunity to study anything they want including areas that were considered for men.Women are choosing to climb the corporate ladder rather than start a family. They are rest single longer and waiting to have kids until their careers are solid. Women of today are living a wholly different life than any of the women that have come before them. They have access to better education, careers, and are actually living longer than women in 1865. There are still people that maintain the idea that women should be barefoot and pregnant cooking for their husband, but that is not the thought of the majority. There is still progress to be made which is why the role of women is ever evolving. Women have faced many struggles, but they have been able to overcome those struggles and are no longer trapped in the domestic sphere of women in the past.ReferencesBowles, M. (2011). A history of the United States since 1865. San Die go, CA Bridgepoint Education.Diane, D. (March 11, 2011). American History of Women in the 1990s. Retrieved fromhttp//www.infobarrel.com/American_History_of_Women_in_the_1990s Evans, S. (2012). Womens Liberation Movement. 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