Introduction
The presentation’s research question: “What lessons from women’s struggles for equality in the past can help inform current and future women’s rights issues?”
Women’s Right to Vote: Background
At the dawn of the twentieth century, the women’s suffrage movement reached its culmination, moving the entire US public to radical changes. Millions of women across all states joined around one progressive idea: to grant women their natural right to vote on an equal basis with men. The realization of this intention became possible due to many remarkable figures, one of which was Alice Paul who spared no effort and health to enhance women’s significance in society. She, along with other committed activists, raised the authority of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and even went further by establishing the National Woman’s Party (Michals, 2015). The latter association was directed at lobbying Congress for the 19th Amendment. Moreover, Paul arranged parades, pickets, and massive demonstrations in different states to initiate active actions from leading policymakers.
Women’s Right to Vote: Reasons
The reasons for this movement were as substantial as the idea itself. In her article, Jane Addams (1915), a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, argues that the improvements of society are rooted in the well-being of households where women take a prominent place. Therefore, they should also possess the voting right to be able to express their opinion on various critical issues and, thereby, promote social advancement. Furthermore, Alice Paul was profoundly convinced that in addition to suffrage, women should have the right to peaceful assembly and free speech to impact policymaking and facilitate favorable social changes.
Women’s Right to Vote: Consequences
The women’s suffrage movement had significant and long-term outcomes, imprinting on diverse social processes and causing many succeeding prominent events. Specifically, in 1920, women managed to defend their voting rights, persuading necessary three-quarters of the state legislatures, that is, 36 states, to approve the Nineteenth Amendment (Michals, 2015). However, the Amendment’s ratification was more than an event. It has moved the status quo from the dead point, which was grounded in American society for centuries. Suffragist’s early efforts gave rise to the phenomenal growth of female self-consciousness and the struggle for equal rights for women in all spheres, including employment, healthcare, and politics.
The Feminist Movement: Background
In the post-World War II period, the fight for women’s equal rights gained a new powerful impetus, which gradually grew into the consolidated feminist movement of the 1960s. At that time, there was a widespread assumption that the main duties of females are doing chores and caring for babies, which was supported by then governmental policy, advertisement, and circumstances. Nevertheless, various tragic and front-page events, including the deaths of Marilyn Monroe and Sylvia Plath, and resonant publications, such as The Feminine Mystique by Friedan, raised vigorous debates about women’s role in society (Cochrane, 2013). A continuously increasing number of women became inclined to the belief that they were worth better life and opportunities for respectable employment, pay, healthcare, and education.
The Feminist Movement: Reasons
The reasons for the feminist movement and providing women with equal rights in all main social spheres were more than convincing. As Friedan stated in her book, most women tended to experience frustration, depression, fatigue, and dissatisfaction with their life due to the constant attachment to the household. Such conditions, along with domestic violence and negligence from men, often result in tranquilizer and alcohol abuse (Cochrane, 2013). Shirley Chisholm (1969), speaking before the Congress, claimed that, graduating from college, females faced the bleak prospect of working as secretaries or librarians, while the door to specialization such as administrators, lawyers, and officials was almost closed. Discrimination for black women was even more rigid and more visible. Such a situation was of an acute necessity to be transformed and appropriately addressed.
The Feminist Movement: Consequences
The feminist movement spanning all the US states achieved its victories, if not triumphant but significant. The Dagenham strike accelerated the adoption of the Equal Pay Act in 1970 (Cochrane, 2013). In five years, the Sex Discrimination Act, prohibiting discriminating actions related to job selection, promotion, dismissal, sexual harassment because of sex or marital status, was passed. Furthermore, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) could have also been approved if required 38 states ratified it. However, despite these achievements, core social transformations have occurred primarily at the lower stratum of society, and employment and sexual harassment still persist widely.
Making Connections
It is unquestionable that the past two social movements, namely the suffrage and feminist movement, are tightly connected with the present times. At those times, determined and brave activists, including Alice Paul, Jane Addams, Friedan, and Chisholm, incited by ubiquitous social injustice, stood up for the natural rights of women. Their bold actions and resolute position on the ingrained unjust status quo can be dignified examples for the present generation of activists. This is because, despite considerable shifts in sex equality, women still possess significantly lower representation in high-income and responsible jobs and encounter severe maltreatment. For instance, according to Cochrane (2013), almost 70000 women are raped in Wales and England, and only 22 percent of the local and federal governments comprise women, clearly indicating inferior female position. Such a wrongful state of affairs requires more determined joint efforts at all social strata to awaken inert governments to acknowledge women’s rights at all spheres of human activity.
References
Addams, J. (1915). Why women should vote. Fordham University. Web.
Chisholm, S. (1969). Equal rights for women – May 21, 1969. Iowa State University. Web.
Cochrane, K. (2013). 1963: The beginning of the feminist movement. The Guardian. Web.
Michals, D. (2015). Alice Paul. The National Women’s History Museum. Web.