History of women’s rights and their rights to educate themselves, work, and get paid equally to men
The women’s right movement of the 1960s and the 1970s developed due to the turbulent social upheavals characterized through the decades evident in the American History. This movement was also referred as the “second wave feminism” to differentiate the suffrage of the movement based on the aspects of the 19th and the 20th century that were deployed as the “first wave feminism”. The feminist are determined to achieve equality for women by challenging the unfair labor practices and discriminatory factors (Wollstonecraft 1992). They provided the women with the educational sources based on sex and reproduction and they strived to legalize all the aspects of birth control. They also established political organizations and drafted books, articles, and essays that challenged sexism in the society.
However to obtain equality, women needed a change in the way the society thorough and spoke about them. This was simply through changing the laws required in the fundamental shifts based on all the aspects of the American society so that women and men would be termed as an equal (Curry and Messina 2005). The feminist developed in the year 1960s and 1970s was aimed at changing the pervasive belief that argued that because women were physically different from men, they were mentally substandard and were better suited by the domestic chores instead of politics and other involving careers. Women awareness was expected to be equal and it was referred as the feminist consciousness. This article focuses on the equal pay of women for the work they do, the female mystique deployed to change the opinion that people had over women and the issue of equal rights amendment in the Bill of rights to ensure that the rights of women are safeguarded through fair judgment.
Equal Pay for Equal Work
The issue of women receiving equal pay with men was one of the vital proceedings that added up to the rise of the feminist consciousness among the American women through the periodical of an account by the Presidential Commission on the Status of women in the year 1963. The commission documented the final report based on discrimination in employment, unequal pay, lack of social services such as childcare and the prolongation of the legal dissimilarity for women. It raised awareness that the issue on women inequality was systematic and it was not isolated or individuals (Wollstonecraft 1992). These issues led to the president responding by ordering the federal agencies to seek the career positions based on the ability to meet the requirements instead of the sex involved. During the same year, the congress implemented the Equal Pay Act that was made illegal through different rates of paying men and women who indulged in the same work (Women’s Rights Project and Human Rights Watch 1995). It was the first time that the federal government restricted discrimination against women by their personal employers (Curry and Messina 2005). Through the implementation of Equal Pay Act, the private businesses allowed women and men to have the same consideration based on the amount of their work. Employers often declined to hire women for their jobs as they undermined their abilities by comparing it to that of men. Feminists challenged the practice through the court cases and appeal of the congress. The civil rights of legislation were extended through legislation, and it prohibited the discrimination in the places of work based on gender or race bias.
Female Mystique
Betty Friedan’s book “The Feminine Mystique” contributed to the inspiration of the Women’s Right Movement. She defined “feminine mystique” as the idea in which the happiness of women and their identity was made complete through the sublimation of their personal ideas and interest to those of her husband and children (Wollstonecraft 2010). By being selfless, the woman would receive happiness as both mothers and wives. Freidan came into the realization of the facts in which he deployed women just as men to have a different individuality of their own. They had desires and dreams that failed through their domestic roles. Friedan argued that women were supposed to work in professions and through the education they would receive, employment was meaningful outside their homes. Outside their homes, women regained the sense of self worth, individual accomplishment denied at their homes (Wollstonecraft 1992). According to Betty Friedan who joined the women’s right activist in the year 1966, the main aim was to overturn the sexist attitudes that had prevailed in the American society through the challenging regressive laws that sued businesses. This was a way of fighting discrimination and enlightening the American men women on the need of women equality.
The mission statement deployed that, they believed in the true partnership that was evident between the sexes that demanded the concept of marriage through equitable sharing of the responsibilities. This was expected to be practiced at home and schools and it was termed to ease the economic and social burdens. The founder of the organization promised about the protest and endeavor that changed bogus descriptions of women in the mass media and through the texts, ceremonies and major social institutions (Women’s Rights Project and Human Rights Watch 1995). This fostered the self-delegation, confidence and the evasion of the responsibilities of women meant to undermine their abilities and to cultivate contempt for women. The organization added to its bill of rights for women “the rights of women to control their own reproductive lives” and they set goals that challenged the abortion laws and improved the aspects of contraception.
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was approved to the U.S constitution guaranteeing the equality of women under the law (Curry and Messina 2005). The amendment stated that, “Men and women had equal rights throughout the United States and that all the places were subject to jurisdiction.” During the world war 11, women got the privilege to do “men’s work” in the factories with the aim of supporting the war. This made the aspect of women equality to become a political issue. The Republican and Democratic parties contributed to the support of the Equal Rights amendment to their platforms. The women’s right organization made a passage of the ERA as the key goal of the women movement.
Birth Control
Before 1873, majority of the birth control programs were legal in the United States as the women had been educated on the issue of contraception. Condoms were available and widely used. Abortion was legalized in majority of the states until the fourth month of the pregnancy. Before the introduction of the Ultra-sound technology that allowed women to view inside the body, it was believed that life began at quickening (Women’s Rights Project and Human Rights Watch 1995). Women induced abortion through the ingestion of chemicals and herbs; they also consulted doctors who knew how to disconcert the uterus with the aim of terminating the uterus.
There were diverse organizations and voices that influenced the women movements. It did not have an effect on all women but it addressed the major problems experienced by poor women and the racial minorities. The African-American feminists felt despised by the women movements because they believed that the white, middle-class women, dominated these organizations. They also argued that the black women were harassed not only because of their gender but because of their race. They had a perception that the black and white feminists had similar goals, and there was no need to separate the organizations making it to become a dual discrimination (Wollstonecraft 2010). Others aimed at feminism to be more radical as they insisted that women were inferior being who had the purpose of enhancing the lives of men and that men were entitled to economic, sexual and sociological benefits due to male supremacy. Other radical feminists encouraged women to isolate themselves from men because of the gender inferiority. They claimed that heterosexual relationships were doomed and that sex relationships were the only ways in which women would achieve equal partnership (Curry and Messina 2005). The lesbian feminists were disappointed by the assumptions that all women were straight and were interested in issues concerning marriage, divorce, reproduction and childcare. The message of feminism broadened to contain all the ways in which women were oppressed and to realize that women of diverse classes, race and sexualities were discriminated due to the main fact that they were women. The major legal battles of the women rights movement had fulfilled their goals by the year 1980. Women were accepted in colleges on equal basis with women making education to be termed as equal to all the individuals. Majority of the women had the perception that they were living in a post-feminist era that had the perception of men and women being equivalent and this lowered their anxiety of participating in the women movements (Wollstonecraft 1992). The activist vigilance that there is still work to be accomplished because women are severally paid less than men for the same work done even if they have the same level of education.
References
Wollstonecraft, M. (1992). A vindication of the rights of woman. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Curry, J., & Messina, L. (2005). Women’s rights. New York: H.W. Wilson.
Women’s Rights Project (Human Rights Watch), & Human Rights Watch (Organization). (1995). The Human Rights Watch global report on women’s human rights. New York: Human Rights Watch.
Wollstonecraft, M. (2010). Vindication of the rights of woman: With strictures on political and moral subjects. Auckland, N.Z.: Floating Press.
