My Thoughts on the Feminist Movement

I believe that women have been very strong over the years as they gained their respect and rights. It has taken them many years and along the way it must have been hard. At times I believe that their dreams of being equal must have been hard to hold onto. Like in the poem “Harlem”, by Langston Hughes, many of the women must have given up at times, forgetting about their dreams, letting them “dry up / Like a raisin in the sun” (2-3). At times, some women may have completely forgotten about their dream of one day being equal to men. However, through hard work these women picked themselves up, recovered their dreams, and persevered. Even though I believe that overall the Feminist Movement has been a great thing, there are still a few ideas that I disagree with. These include some all boys’ schools not being allowed and girls joining boy scouts. It is great having boys and girls mixed in what they do during their everyday life; however these things like boy scouts are times when guys can just hang out with guys. It is good for women to be equal with men, but that does not mean boys and girls should be mixed in everything they do.

This is an example of the working conditions women had to work in during the Industrial Revolution.

http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/alumni/dm18/sweatshop.html

The Industrial Revolution

Another part of history that played a role in the Feminist Movement was the start of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution introduced many new things to the average family including indoor plumbing, mass produced products such as clothes, and easier access to food. By the Industrial Revolution introducing these new things to the world, many of the tasks a woman had at home became easier. Women became able to complete all of their household duties quickly and easily leaving them with hours of free time. With this extra free time, women began to look for jobs in order to help bring in money for the family. Also, because of all the new things the Industrial Revolution brought, such as factories, there were hundreds of new jobs open that were willing to hire women. Hiring women even became a good thing for these companies because they were able to pay the women less for being women. While many women were content with just having jobs, others began to demand better working conditions and fair pay. These women went on strike, demanding better working conditions and pay. Some were successful and were granted what they asked for while others were denied and replaced with women who were in search for jobs.

Rosie the Riveter was an inspirational character during WWII that was used to encourage women to work hard but also showed that women could be just as strong as men. Some men would never even take jobs that the women had to take so Rosie the Riveter also showed that these women could be better than the men.




http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/opinion/2009_09_01_archive.shtml

Women Move into the Workforce: WWII

A very important factor that played into the Feminist Movement was WWII. Once America became involved in the war it turned all of its efforts towards winning the war, meaning there needed to be a working force in the factories while the men were at war. This meant the women had to be the ones working. By the women being the ones holding up the country while the men protected it, they showed the world that most stereotypes of women were wrong and that the women were capable of working just as well, if not better, than men. By having this large workforce of women enter jobs and do just as well as the men did, the women’s role within the family changed as they became able to support their families. This also caused for the women to begin demanding equal pay as men because they proved that they could do just as well. Their wish was granted on June 10, 1963 when it became illegal to pay a woman less just for being a woman. Even though this law was passed women are still paid less on average than men.

This is a picture of an advertisement of a rally for women's right to vote in London.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/britain1906to1918/g4/cs1/g4cs1s3.htm

Women's Right to Vote

The first step that the women of America took to gaining their rights was gaining the right to vote. They held their first women’s rights convention in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. There were only about 100 people there but two years later at the next convention more than 1,000 people showed up. It was at these conventions, that were then held almost yearly until 1860, that the women planned out the women’s rights movement. For 70 years the women worked towards gaining the right to vote. Along the way they slowly made progress, becoming able to join juries and even gaining the right to vote in different states. Many women’s rights groups were formed and there were many rallies that worked towards gaining women’s rights. Finally on August 26, 1920 the 19th amendment to the constitution was made, granting women the right to vote.