The End Yet the Start

The End Yet the Start
 

Women have come a long way in United States. They started with very little importance, where there words almost went unheard to becoming and playing a crucial part in this world. Women in the beginning of time were only thought of typical house wife. Their job was to cook, clean and take care of children. Some were slaves and some were not, they were not always treated equally whether it was race or gender. Men were always the house “boss” and when women wanted to express their opinions about anything especially politics, they were looked down at as if who is she to state an opinion.

Women today have become the opposite of what they were in the past. They have gained the right to vote, speak freely, express their opinions and play major roles in political views. Women have worked their way from abuse and a life that was very depressive, to a life that is happy and free of any violence. Women are looked at with respect and have very important roles in and out of the house.

Women are smart enough to continue the battle of equality in their live. The unequal pay that is between men and women in the same field is going to change. Women are going to be able to state that they are as equally smart and talented as men if not more. They are going to be freer and be able to have more of a say in everything that is going around us.

Women in history will defiantly open up the eyes of what women have really accomplished through life. The idea of feminist that people have perceived about all the women is false. When you tell a guy that you are feminist or even what they think of the idea feminist, they will express ideas that are not valid. Sure there are some women out there that are extremely feminist, however, the concept has been ruined from what the true meaning is. Women have become feminist to protect their rights that were taken away from them in the beginning. Till this day, women are going to be fighting for what really feminist means because it is still a concept that is misunderstood so far.They’ve worked so hard in order to give an equal right and freedom future to their children who are the future of this world. From the beginning till today women still fight for the equal rights they deserve. Women have come a long journey and I think they will still continue to gain more and fascinate us still.

Where the Girls Are

Where the Girls Are

Throughout history, music played an important role in everybody life. Specially in America, music has been there through thick and thin during war times. Every body is able to relate to music some way. However, during the 1950s and 1960s, young teenage girls were the most dependent. In the novel Where the Girls Are by Susan Douglas, covers the major times in what was really going on through a perspective of a women. Whether the topic was music, fairy tails, mothers and public media,film and sex and many others, she talked the truth about it. The novel analysis how far women have come and how mass media assembled and projected the image of women.

Douglas wrote this book about women's history but including personal anecdotes that made the reading fun. Her main thesis was that women were stuck between their feminine desires and their feminist side. She based her argument around the history of hate and love relationship of women to the mass media. She clearly also outlines the feminist and sexist image that the media was portraying these women during the 1950s and 1960s. Mass media plays a central role in our socialization and it continuously bombards women with unclear message regarding what women should and should not, what they can be and what they can not. One of Douglas's key points is that one cannot assume that "the media is all powerful, or that the audiences are just helpless masses of inarticulate protoplasm" (page 16). She argued that audiences resist media images and messages all the time by turning off the television, by ignoring the magazine advertising.

Where the Girls Are is an extremely enjoyable book to read. Her way of telling the female mass media experience and using her own lived experiences is what makes the book unique. At the end of the 1950s and 1960s, the book shows how far women have came along in being more dominant than before. 

Decade of Discovery " The Personal Is Political"

Decade of Discovery " The Personal Is Political" 

The 1960s was the time where deep changes were refining the role of women in American society. More females than ever were able to work and get paid money. Many women however were dissatisfied because of the huge gender imbalance in pay and advancement and sexual harassment at the workplace. One of the most extreme and great change that was occuring in the sexual life of women during this time. It was around the end of the 1960s that most wives were using contraception after the federal government in 1960 finally approved the birth control pill. This freed many women from the unwanted pregnancy and gave them choices, and freedom, in their personal life decisions. 
Americans women during this time started accepting some of the basic goals of the 1960s feminists. These basic goals included the equal pay for equal work, an end to domestic violence, the reduction of limits on women in managerial jobs, an end to sexual harassment, and sharing of responsibility for housework and child rearing. In 1966, the National Organization for Women was formed. In 1968, feminists protested at the Miss America contest in Atlantic City, arguing that the pageant was very sexist. This show that in gender issues was present during this time. 

In the Sara Evans text, Born for Liberty, " in the late sixties feminists challenges were in the headlines and oppositions to the war in Vietnam had toppled the president" (page 284). This shows that women started having their voice count more because they were sick of being in war. They were also able to create a peace movement in 1968 that had over thousand people marching and agreeing on the concept of no more war. In conclusion, the 1960s really did make many significant changes for women.  

The Cold War and the "Feminine Mystique"

The Cold War and the "Feminine Mystique" 

Following World War II, the early Cold War era was marked by a polarizing gender ideology. Women who had entered the manufacturing industry at unprecedented numbers during the war effort, left or were pushed out of higher education and the workforce.
During this time, an idea was arises and was called the Feminine Mystique. The feminine mystique was the false notion that a woman’s “role” in society is to be a wife, mother and housewife nothing else. The mystique is an artificial idea of femininity that says having a career can somehow go against women's role. The mystique was the constant bombardment of housewife and nurturing mother images that esteem the virtue of keeping house and raising children as what woman are supposed too, while criticizing the “masculinity” of women who want to do other things. 
However, the "Feminine Mystique" was not an idea, rather it was a book. Even people who have not read the "Feminine Mystique" can often identify it as a book that drew attention to the massive unhappiness of women trying to fit a media-idealized “happy suburban housewife” image. The book examined the role of women’s magazines, Freudian psychology and educational institutions in limiting women’s life options. Betty Friedan drew back the curtain on society’s pursuit of the pervasive mystique.
During this time period, events were being created which was starting to lead to unsettling feel in women. In the Sara Evans text Born for Liberty mentions " Domestic ideology redefined a new reality- female labor force participation to remove the potential threat of female power and autonomy by making women's work legitimate only as a n extensions of traditional family responsibility."  (pg 262) This quote shows that women during this era started going backward instead of gaining more power. Cold war gave the men the power of control back, putting the women back to their house duty cage again. 

Women in the 1940s

Women in the 1940s

The 1940s and especially the first half of the decade  brought a massive change to the role of women in American society. Not only did women enter the production process, but the whole perception on the capabilities of the so-called "weak gender" altered. Despite the fact that the change was short-lived, according to the National Park Service, the road taken by women in the 1940s continued into the future.

Previously women had very little say in society and were stereotyped to stay home, make babies, be a good homemaker and wife. The 1940's were different, life for women was expanding, the men were at war and some one had to step up and take the men's place.

Not only men were going to war either, the war was so big that in 1942 The Women's Army Corps (WAC) and Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services (WAVES) were established. After these organizations were accepted congress authorized women to serve in the U.S. Navy. Going back to state side roles women worked factory, labor intensive jobs and become the attention of society in the entertainment industry.

1943 The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was founded. In 1945 Eleanor Roosevelt became a U.S delegate for the newly established United Nations. Through out the 1940's the amount of women in the workforce increased by 25-35 percent. In the book Born for Liberty, by Sara Evans, emphasizes on how much good Eleanor Roosevelt did in the rights of women. She supported their freedom and tried to understand the aspects of what a freed women is. This was a successful and strong time in women's history.

Women Surviving The Great Depression

Women Surviving The Great Depression


The Great Depression did not affect everyone the same way. Many rich people felt no impact at all, and were oblivious to the suffering of others.The Depression changed the family in dramatic ways. Many couples delayed marriage - the divorce rate dropped sharply (it was too expensive to pay the legal fees and support two households). As a result, women during this time abandoned their husbands completely. 

Women found their status being enhanced by their new roles and responsibilities. Black women especially found it easier to obtain work than their husbands. Either it was working as domestic servants, clerks, textiles workers and other occupations. This employment increased their status and power in the home, gaining them a new voice in domestic decisions.

The unemployment that men faced,  was a harder hit psychologically than women were. Since men were expected to provide for their families, it was humiliating to have to ask for assistance. Although some argued that women should not be given jobs when many men were unemployed. Also, in the Sara Evans text, Born for Liberty, one man wrote to his congressman " If less women were employed it would make room for the employment of many of the idle men in our country... in the last analysis women's true place is her home where she can see to the proper raising of her children while the man earns the living."(page 201) This quote supports that men were still against women working and they will always be the easy target in a crisis like this. 

Traditionally female fields of teaching and social services grew. Children started taking on more responsibilities, sometimes finding work when their parents could not. Women started taking a more important role and space in the society through hard times. Women gaining enough confidence and taking over all the jobs that are both in and outside of house is a step in more freedom.  As a result of living through the Depression, some people developed habits of careful saving and frugality, others determined to create a comfortable life for themselves.

Flappers, Freudians and All That Jazz

Flappers, Freudians and All That Jazz

The 1920s were the age of the dramatic social and political change. For the first time, more Americans lived in cities rather than living on farms. 

Most people are familiar of this era because it was called the "Roaring Twenties." During this time, there was something called the "flapper." A "flapper" women would be described as a unladylike women. Most "flappers" were northern, urban, young, single and middle class women. Young women with a hair cut that is short to an even length of neck and chin, mini short skirts, drank, smoked and were sexually "free" than previous generations. 
At night, flappers engaged in the active city nightlife. They frequented jazz clubs and the shows in the nightclubs. Speakeasies were a common destination, as the new woman of the twenties adopted the same carefree attitude toward prohibition as her male counterpart. Ironically, more young women consumed alcohol in the decade it was illegal than ever before. 

Women were able to vote at last with the 19th Amendment. The Amendment to the Constitution had guaranteed that right for women to vote in the 1920. Millions of women worked in white collar jobs and were able in affording to participate in the burgeoning consumer economy. During this time, women also had the opportunity to use birth control devices. The increased availability of birth control devices such as the diaphragm made it possible for women to have few children. 

As mentioned in the Born for Liberty text by Sara Evans, " perhaps the new freedoms and new attitudes of the twenties repsented a necessary experimentation with individualism specially on the part of young women ( p.195). " Women needed a change in the roles that they played and they reached a time were they broke free and did everything that were not allowed or prohibited from them before. This act remind me of setting a kid into a candy world with no rules and observing what happens to them. Women are finally proving who they are in society no matter what the cost is.  

Women During 1890-1920

Women During 1890-1920

During the Progressive Era, women played more active roles in the larger economic, cultural, and political transformation of American society. This growth in women's public roles allowed suffragists to be more aggressive in support of their cause as they developed stronger bases of support in the settlement houses, temperance organizations, labor unions, and reform movements that now sprang up across the country. The National American Women's Suffrage Association, led by Carrie Chapman Catt, fought for suffrage using parades, street speakers, petitions, and rallies.

In the book Born of Liberty by Sara Evans talked about 1900-1918 was the time that America was completing its rapid shift from an agrarian to an urban society. This caused major anxiety among the country's because it introduced "disturbing" changes in their society.As the growing middle class base of the woman's rights movement shifted suffrage from the periphery of women's organized activities toward mainstream, suffrage advocates increasingly with the class and race prejudices of white middle class. 

Also the Evans text mentioned that the working conditions continued to be extremely dangerous and work hours very long. Pay was also low which made the whole situation even more worst. However, as more factories opened and businesses women got the change to have work more and get paid. Trade union women brought together around thirty women's organizations in Illinois Women's Alliance between 1888 and 1894. They worked in factory inspections by women and new programs arose. Women are really trying to take every opportunity to prove themselves more and more. They are trying to become as equal as possible with men to have equal rights in voting and any decisions in and out of their homes. 

Women in Gilded Age

Women in Gilded Age 

The idea for this age was to create a maternal commonwealth. Upper-middle-class women of the late 19th century were not content with the cult of domesticity of the early 1800s. Many had become college educated and wanted to put their knowledge and skills to work for the public good.
One of the biggest changes in the late 19th century and the one which had the most impact on women lives was the growth of the cities. Most of the Urban life, created new problems and opportunities for both men and women. Women have already been trying to to find many ways to expand and better their lives. With urbanization going on, female spheres began to be included in evening out goings with their husbands. In most cases, as women became more visible in the social world, their behaviors were always under examination and resulted to find some mean between displaying class and status and demonstrating etiquette
Another way that women promoted the values of women's sphere into the public, was through the Settlement House Movement. A Settlement House Movement was a home where  immigrants could go when they had nowhere else to turn. Settlement houses provided family-style cooking, lessons in English, and tips on how to adapt to American culture.
In Born for Liberty by Sara Evans, Many educated women of the age felt that many of society's greatest disorders could be traced to alcohol. To their view, alcohol was leading to increased domestic violence and negligence. It is decreasing the families income that was being spent on necessities and promoted prostitution and adultery. 
As we can see through the readings, women are pushing ahead to perfect the politicls of influence, build organization of working women and bring together the republican claim of female citizenship with maternal commonwealth. Their main goal was to be as successful as men and have all the rights to be as equal as men. 

Women During 1845 - 1865

Women during 1845 - 1865 

During this period of time, men and women’s roles became more sharply defined than at any time in history. In earlier centuries it has always been usual for women to be working alongside their husbands and brothers in the family business. As the 19th century, women were slowly easing themselves to the society and breaking the spheres between men and women.  

According to Born for Liberty by Sara Evans, mentions that in 1848 New York passed a law granting married women all the control over property that they brought into marriage or received afterwards. During the 1840s the fur trade had virtually collapsed due to the overhunting demand. This led for women not being to cultivate crops because the men could not hunt. Women turned to needle work taught by missionaries and brought the traditional designs to crafts such as quilting.

One of the most important events during this time was women's rights movements. The main focuses are primarily concerned with making the political, social, and economic status of women equal to that of men and with establishing legislative safeguards against discrimination on the basis of gender. Women's rights movements have worked in support of these aims for more than two centuries. After doing some research, the first women's rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York. After 2 days of discussion and debate, 68 women and 32 men signed the Declaration of Sentiments, which the rights for the women's rights movement. The twelve resolutions were adopted and called for equal treatment of women and men under the law and voting rights for women.

During this period of time, women finally got the chance to make a rule in the congress that allowed equal rights to everyone. For the longest time, women have always been put down and they've never got passed being a housewife. They were not allowed to get any education but during this time they changed that too. This period of time, women made a big movement that effected the future women's rights and equality. Also, the reading of the Evans text gave so many important facts that was going on during this period of time.

Women in Age of Association 1820 - 1845

Women in Age of Association 1820 - 1845

This weeks blog is going to focus on women during the 19th century. Female friendship in the 19th century were long lived, intimate, loving friendship between two women was the first type of this phenomena. No one really thought about or even written about this aspect of female relationship. Women consciously or unconsciously chose to ignore it. Most women during this century formed emotional ties with one another. These relationships ranged from the supportive love of sisters to sensual filled with emotion of love by mature women. In the 19th century openly lesbian women were thought to be mentally ill. Those admitted to insane asylums often faced forced marriages.

In Born For Liberty by Sara Evans, she focused on the aspect of education in women. During this era, the availability of educated young women grew suddenly. By 1840, 38% of white Americans between the ages of five and twenty attended school. By 1850 most white women were very liberate and well educated. Women gained confidence after being educated. They taught and engaged in social reforms outside their homes and participated in the second Great Awakening.

The second Great Awakening focused on distinctly feminizing religion to its followers. They preached universal salvation rather than predestination. This lead to the notion of female moral superiority receiving further reinforcement as the main ideals of femininity and Christianity appeared. In May 1834, females had their own book of religion  that was 400 chapters of American Female Moral Reform Society. The goal of this society was to eradicate prostitution that was a threat for moral fabric in society and vulnerability of the women. Catherine Beecher was one of the most important women in this era. Beecher wanted women to have moral superiority in their society. She refused to marry anyone and had no contradiction between advocacy of domesticity and marriage.

As you can see, women during this time gained power but yet lost some. For example, lesbian women were not very talked about or heard about during this time. if a women outright admitted her love to another women she was thought on being crazy and sent to asylums. On the other hand, women gained power in the move of education and second Great awakening. In the book Women In America,  the readings about the relationships between women was interesting to learn about. Both of the novels that I mentioned above, taught me a lot about  this era and seeing how women are slowly standing up for themselves is amazing.

Women During Revolution Era

Women During Revolution Era

Majority of white women in the 18th century spent their days performing many tasks in and around their homes. Women on average gave birth to between five and eight children. Women did not have any political voice in colonial America. During the war against England, slaves found the presence of British troops as a possible way for them receive freedom. Many of the slaves left their masters and found freedom in Britain. Some women on the other hand, found work as nurses doing the most subordinate, low-level tasks in military hospitals.

A movement began to improve the education of women to give them more means to support themselves. Women began to play a greater role in the public sphere by participating in various reform movements that arose from the 1820s, especially the temperance and abolition movements. It is very important how the early social reform movements were to women's rights were.

Abigail Adams was one of the first advocates of women’s equal education and women’s property rights. Abigail Adams had been unable to convince John Adams and the Continental Congress to grant women more rights as they shaped the new national government. Therefore, Elizabeth Cady Stanton used the most important document which was the Declaration of Independence. It was as a model for the Declaration of Sentiments, which she presented at the first Women's Rights Convention.

Revolutionary war women were able to play a significant role, specifically because men looked down upon them. Because women were considered too uneducated to understand complex military strategies during the American Revolution, men spoke freely around them. Therefor, they made great spies, providing food and peddling wares to enemy camps while listening for important information. One of the most important times in history was the era for Revolution. Women finally got the chance and right to speak and say their opinion. It is always fascinating to learn more women who were involved during the revolutionary era. Women during Revolution Era was absolutely my favorite.

Women In Colonial Times

Colonial Women In America

The early women and settlers were expected to help the men in a variety of hard labor that was essential in survival. As time passed the lives of Colonial women became more traditional roles of women which related to taking care of the house or farm and raising the children. The work roles were dependent on wealth and status of the women.

Through resource sharing, I learned that the legal rights of Colonial women were few. Men dominated society and women were subservient to the men in her family such as her father and bothers. Divorce was practically unknown as Colonial America. Women in real communities had some social power through informal channels. They worked together through childbirths and funerals. Selling and buying milk, butter, or thread was what most women did. Privacy did not exist during that time and social control mattered from sexuality to economic transaction remained primarily external and often in the hands of the women who had one job, "gossip".

In the novel Born of Liberty, in Colonial societies, women who delivered children outside of marriage were faced many burdens. They were brought to court where they were accused of adultery or fornication. Some of these cases led to legitimating marriage and some women just received little support. However the children automatically became servants and had no choice.

This chapter was the most informational. Learning that women had commercial opportunities during that time was pretty impressive to know. Economic success lead to separation in men's and women's religious as well as economic activities. It gave me a background of information of how women were treated during Colonial times. The reading of "Born Of Liberty" was very interesting and where I learned the most. Finding our own links through resource searching was interesting because of us found different information's of Colonial Women. It was more informative to do research and learn about the assignment. Almost every bit of the information above, I learned through reading the book and research.

Native American Women

In the first chapter of Born of Liberty, it focused on the first women in Native American tribes. About 20,000 years ago women had different value in each tribe. For example, in this chapter it talks about the Iroquois tribe. Women gathered seeds, fruits and other food necessities. Man were frequently away for long time and women farmed in a very organized matter. They were very powerful and controlled their tribe. They were very well respected. Daughters became the most important people in the tribe. They controlled the land and the distribution of all food.
It talked about how Algonkian Indian women seized the opportunity to start trading in European goods.  Among the group of Indian women, there were some who married fur traders that created economic and cultural pattern. The marriages that occurred between Indian women and fur traders resulted a very strong and lasting alliances. They lived in social and economic structure that was based on their husbands work in the European trade. When the men went to Europe to trade, most women were abandoned and didn’t see their husbands for a while. Indian women were very active in trading. They interpreted linguistic and diplomatic abilities to their husbands. Using their skill they trapped small animals.
Around the 19^th century the Lakota culture arose. There were strong separation between men and women. There was something called “Double Women Dreamer”. They Lakota women believed that dreams of Double Women cause them to behave in aggressive masculine way. They had the power to almost put a spell like on men and seduce them. They were very determined and were fine to live alone in wilderness. They were warrior women and manly hearted.

In conclusion, Europeans couldn’t be a strong women tribe like the Iroquois.  The reading of the chapter was very easy and it taught the reader various points about women. It was very interesting to learn more about these Native American women. It almost gets you addicted to learn more and more. Do more research about these tribes. The Iroquois held a strong example for how a women can play an important part in democracy and politics. The gender difference did not allow them to do something but instead it pushed them to become leaders.