Modern age can be characterized by the great development of the ideas of tolerance, democracy and humanism. People are supposed to have equal rights no matter what religion they practice, what color of skin they have or what their sex is. However, it is difficult to imagine that even 70 years ago situation was absolutely different. People did not devote their time and efforts to such problems. Moreover, discrimination was not taken as something unusual and it was believed that some people had more rights because of their belonging to a certain race or gender.
The issue of gender discrimination was very topical at this period of time as women were supposed to be mothers and housewives. They were not allowed to participate in social life or occupy some important vacancies (“Women in Congress: An Introduction” para. 2). However, with the further development of society, the level of self-realization and conscience increased.
That is why, being taken as inferior to man, women, though, realized their thirst for life and started their struggle against discrimination. They managed to show the whole world that they are unique creatures with their own peculiarities, needs and traits of character. This statement is proved by the work of Crystal Eastman.
The author cogitates about the main aspects of the life of woman. First of all, she shows a great importance of the act which stated that women had the right to vote. Starting the work with the description of this act, she underlines that is was just the beginning of womens struggle for equal rights. Crystal Eastman takes it as the turning point in the whole feminist movement.
It can be taken as a very strong argument which underlines great importance of this work and the process in the whole. She compares results of the Federal suffrage amendment (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848–1920” para.3) with the acquisition of freedom. Additionally, she creates a good basis for the further discussion.
It should be said that traditionally woman was taken as a creature which has no rights, and, which is more important, no important needs to be fulfilled. She could be taken only as someones daughter or wife. The author of the work also underlines this fact, stating that women lived in slavery, not owing some property or being able to influence society (Eastman para. 4).
Using the term womens slavery the author wants to draw readers attention to this issue. Moreover, some historical allusions can be seen here. Humanity understood pernicious character of slavery and made a great effort to get rid of it. However, no one noticed conditions under which women lived. That is why, using these words the author wants to underline the importance of this issue and the role of woman in society.
The work seems to be well organized, moreover, great number of rhetorical questions, used by the author, serve to make reader think about the issue and try to find answers which are also presented in this work. The author raises the question of the character of feminism and its main purposes. At the same time, she also gives direct answers which serve as a good argument to prove her thoughts.
This practice turns out to very efficient. The thing is, that rhetorical questions are considered to be rather powerful remedy themselves, however, their combination with powerful and meaningful answers promotes increase of the level of involvement of a reader in the issue significantly. These questions go one after another, addressing more and more complicated issues.
The last thing to be mentioned is the way the issues of feminism and womens struggle for their rights are shown. The author not just cogitates about the question of gender discrimination and the role of woman in society. She suggests certain steps and actions which can improve the situation and lead to the further progress in this question.
She underlines the fact that men like working women, that is why it is necessary for them to find a job. Moreover, she also outlines the necessity of creation of the new way of thinking for the next generations to be able to understand great importance of this issue and try to avoid mistakes of their predecessors. The author ends the article underlining the fact that it is necessary for women to obtain economic independence, though it is rather difficult for them to do it as all work about the house and children depends on them. That is why, the demand for motherhood endowment appears.
Having analyzed this article, it is possible to make certain conclusion. First of all, it should be said that it is devoted to a very important question which is unfortunately still topical nowadays. The author tries to show the necessity of change in the attitude towards women and their role in society. Moreover, she underlines certain steps which can help to do it. Taking all her arguments into account, it is possible to say that she managed to create rather convincing work which makes a reader think about the issue of gender discrimination.
Works Cited
Eastman, Crystal. “‘Now We Can Begin’: What’s Next?”. abouteducation. 1920. Web.
The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848–1917. n.d. Web.
Women in Congress: An Introduction. n.d. Web.