...Why did the Women’s Liberation Movement Emerge in the late 1960’s? Discuss with reference to Britain and the United States of America. In a decade where the whole world was experiencing revolutions due to social discontent, this increased the desire, of women, in the late 1960’s to ‘confront existing structures of oppression,’ giving the impetus for the emergence of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Caine argues the emergence of the movement bought a ‘new tone,’ when discussing women’s oppression. Rather than focusing directly on women’s suffrage, this was a political movement demanding ‘rapid and radical change,’ in an ever increasing ambience of liberalisation. Upon inception, it is vital to highlight one can account different reasons for the emergence of the movement in Britain and America, as different domestic situations led to different reasons for the emergence of a more radical form of feminism. This essay, together with a multiplicity of historians, will consider the importance of World War II and the Civil Rights Movement, and the impact they had on the emergence of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Linked to this is the ever apparent discrimination women faced and increasing desires to change this, coupled with developments of new opportunities, demonstrated by the aforementioned world events. Additionally, the impact of literature such as Betty Friedan’s, The Feminine Mystique, needs to be considered. Whilst all the factors play an important role in contributing...
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...Feminism is the fight for equal rights of both genders. Feminists try to gain the rights that women have been deprived of, but men have always seemed to have. Much of the world portrayed women as dispensable house wives before the turn of the 20th century. It wasn’t until the idea of a global war that women started to gain importance and value throughout society. Women worked in the factories and other various jobs during the war. They enjoyed the independence they experienced from receiving their own paycheck. Preceding the war, women began to riot and march as groups that stood for equal rights of both genders. These women impacted today’s society and the rights of women with their perseverance for change. They liberated and gained civil rights for women that lead to equal rights in many countries throughout Western Europe. Women changed the social, economic, and political factors of the world with their movements, which in turn, entirely changed the way they were perceived and valued. Socially, women suffered in the pre-war era. Women worked in their homes for most of their lives. They had no control over matters like reproduction or daycare because no methods were presented to them. Birth control was non-existent and day care wasn’t needed because women were expected to be at home during the day. Women had no control over their own body; they were forced to have children they didn’t want because of conflict with their spouse and were also forced into having illegal abortions...
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...achieve in order to have the same freedoms and equality as men. 1. Economic independence for women, including the freedom to choose an occupation and receive pay equal to a man. 2. Gender equality at home, men in the home sharing the responsibilities of family life. 3. Reproductive freedom, the ability to choose when, if and how many children they would have. 4. Financial support for homemaking and child raising (Ellen Carol DuBois; Lynn Dumenil, 2012). Since 1920 women have won many rights and opportunities in areas like education, professional sports and in some states same sex marriages. However, if we look at the “priorities” that Eastman identified how far have we actually come when the U.S. Constitution does not even guarantee women the same rights as men? With ground already broken in the workplace due to women’s participation in various professions, trades and unions, women believed that equality in the workplace would be the easiest part to achieve. One of the foremost obstacles was inequality in pay, a problem that has shown to be amazingly enduring. The Equal Pay Act is the landmark law that was passed 50 years ago which require employers to pay men and women equally for substantially equal work. Yet here we are 50 years later, with equal pay still being unfinished business. When the Equal Pay Act was signed into law in 1963,...
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...Belief in the Cult of Domesticity by many men resulted in many women staying in the private sphere unwillingly, unequal pay compared to similar jobs done by men, and few socially acceptable career options for women, causing them to fight these injustices legally in courts and participating in strikes and protests. On average, women received inferior education when compared to men, which prevented many women from becoming skilled workers; therefore, women claimed that the education system needed reforms due to the lack of equality. As a significant Antebellum reform movement, abolitionism attracted many women, which in turn caused them to reflect upon their own similarities with slaves and encouraged themselves to combat the social transgression...
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...Progressive movement? Explain some Progressive policies and ideals while also discussing some of the leaders of the Progressive movement and their role in American society. The Progressive Era was a movement that influenced the improvement of the United States through both political reform and social activism. This movement occurred from the 1890s to the 1920s. This era is marked by the policies, ideals, and people that positively transformed our nation. Though this movement was marked by many positive advancements, three policies are memorable enough to stand above the rest. The addition of women’s suffrage worked to give American women the representation they deserved. The entirety of the occupation issues found hazardous...
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...The women’s right movement is an ongoing campaign to abolish inequality between the sexes on a multitude of platforms. The movement has been a prevalent part of history around the world, with origins as early as the 1500s with literature sprinkled with the mention of women having mind, reason and a voice that is equal to that of a man. This fight for women to be placed on the same level as men has seen much struggle and oppression that is still prevalent in today’s world. However, the fight for women in today’s world is labeled as feminism, which quite literally means the social, political, and economic rights of the sexes. Rebecca Lewin depicts feminism as a “model for a social state – an ideal, or a desired standard of perfection not yet attained in the world”. Lewin expressed this in 1983, and still today’s society has failed to reach this goal. Feminism has transformed into the second “F” word, where society labels feminism as a harmful, extremist movement. The feminist movement has become synonymous with man – hating, bra – burning, lesbians who engage in radical protests to ultimately eliminate men from society and become a female dominated world. Which, is why this world needs a continued women’s rights movement to eradicate the ideology that fighting for the equality of women is obscene or unnatural. Feminism eventually inspired the term “Herstory”, which emerged in the 1960s, a very exciting time in American history full of social change. Herstory aims to look at history...
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...The Economic Contribution of Women in Bangladesh Through their Unpaid Labor Analysis and report writing Debra Efroymson, Buddhadeb Biswas, and Shakila Ruma Editing Lori Jones, Sian FitzGerald, and Ethel Tungohan Research Save the Coastal People (SCOP), MultiTask, Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), Shahid Nazrul Sriti Sangho (NSS), Bangladesh Integrated Community Development (BICD), Sylhet Jubo Academy, Service of Helping In ‐ land of Poor Agency (Shipa), PULSE, Chadpur Community Development Shangstha (CCDS), Rural Acting Arrangement Center (RAAC), and Karapara Nari Kolan Shangstha (KNKS) Financial and technical support HealthBridge Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) WBB Trust ‐ HealthBridge Dhaka, September 2007 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgments..............................2 Summary...........................................2 Introduction.......................................3 Background and rationale.....................4 Purpose..............................................9 Methodology....
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...After years of a corrupt government, the country was in dire need of a transformation. The once very put together United States was slowly falling apart due to corrupt businesses and a laissez-faire government. The Progressive Era, which occurred from the 1890s to 1920s, was exactly what the nation needed. This era not only brought about a shift for the government, but for the citizens of the United States. After the long period of negligence from the government, the middle class began to gain a voice during this time. This voice of the middle class would prove to be very significant in making changes to the structure of the nation. The Progressive Era was extremely successful in bringing political, social, and economic reforms at both the...
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...companies who promote female gender equality surpass their competitors on every measure of profitability, yet women are failing to attain high-level positions. Possible reasons for the persistent wage and gender gap between men and women in senior leadership positions can be found by reviewing current data on women in the workplace, studies on the correlation between gender diversity in senior management and company performance, and literature on gender behavioral differences in the workplace. Women play an increasingly significant role in today’s workforce. “Women make up almost 73 percent of the healthcare workforce, yet there still remains a significant gender gap in management and executive leadership positions” (Lantz, 2008). Even though women’s educational attainment and workforce ranks have increased, their advancements into the higher management ranks is plateauing. The four categories of barriers that prevent women...
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...the Seneca Falls Convention was held (Loria, 10). This convention was the beginning of the Women’s Rights Movement that resulted in equal rights for women. Before the Movement, females were not recognized as citizens and did not have the same privileges as males. Women were roles were solely in the home and family and therefore, at social and church gatherings they were also considered lesser. Although many women were discontent with their lack of rights, only a couple were actually courageous enough to make a change. Among the few were Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, two of the organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention. With only five days between their decision to hold the convention and the convention itself, they drew up the Declaration of Sentiments; a declaration that would be...
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...The focus of my research is on women and mothers, discrimination and income inequality of gender in our social environment. Having read through some researchers’ articles and journals I can generalize that motherhood penalty still exists. Many sociologists have defined “Motherhood penalty” as when working mothers encounter lots of disadvantages in pay, and benefits when compared to childless women, and they are perceived incompetence at work places. This research project will further summarize motherhood penalty in the private and public sector at a company in France, how mothers are discriminated at getting a job when compared to fathers and women without children, comparison of the early and current year of motherhood penalty in the United...
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...Women’s Health issues are greatly involved and affected by the health and portability act passed by congress in 2010. It is good that this act began a restructuring of the healthcare system in the United States, as we have many, many areas that need to be looked at and changed in order to bring about financial solvency and better health coverage to the people of this nation and without taking a first step, we will never learn how to walk. Although this first step may very well land us on our knees, I do not, now, after studying some of the aspects I have, believe we will fall on our faces. In dealing with women’s health, a little history is always nice. Women are historically known to be the caretakers of the family, often at the delay or lack of care of themselves. They will make sure their children, spouses (if they have them) parents and even friends and neighbors are cared for before they seek care for themselves. If asked, over 30-35% will say they postpone seeing a Doctor or a Dentist due to cost (kaiseredu.org). Although a few changes are being seen as of 2010-2011, like extending health care coverage for dependant children up to age 26, whether they live in the home or not and whether they are married or not (not to their spouses or children, however), and no lifetime limits, no pre-existing condition exclusion for children, just to name a few, the most of the changes come by 2014. These are very important to women, as they will begin...
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...how to act or what they had to do and also being told no with many things. The men seen us as home workers as well as baby makers. Women were not allowed to voice their opinions, and they also were not allowed to vote. It felt like they were in prison. Women started to gain their own sense of independence and being when the social movements captivated them. The three social movements that have changed the women would be education and literacy, marriage and reproduction, and also woman and the work and economic life. All of these aspects have given women the empowerment that they were deprived from back in the day. This helps to make women stronger, as we are not told what we can and can't do. Literacy and Education When it comes to women's education as well as the ability to further their degrees, this was always a huge factor of independence. The education seems to raise as the age of women want to start bearing children and also when they restrict their fertility over the course of their life. The first step is basic literacy. There are large portions of the world that can not read. The countries also vary a very great deal on how they educate their populations, and there is a significant amount of difference when it comes to men and women with education. There are many women that feel if they higher their education that there is a less chance of them being judged. There are many countries where there is a huge gap in literacy between men and women. Both the wealth and development...
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...If Dead Women Could Talk Even fifty years after the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights was established, violence against woman and girls is still a global problem (Women and Human Rights). Ireland’s Supreme Court refused a 14-year-old the right to travel to England to get an abortion after being raped be her father’s best friend. Only after she threatened suicide did they relent (Women and Human Rights). There are many ignorant people of both genders that do not understand the importance of feminism and gender equality. Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. Recently, in a class we were asked to raise our hand if we considered ourselves a feminist. I was the only one out of about 20 people that raised their hand. This only proves how misinformed the general population is about this issue. Feminists and activists for gender equality are not seen as they truly are. Gender equality is believing that men and women deserve the same respect, and that is something that has been stripped from women everywhere. I believe that women should be able to stand up for their beliefs freely, be equal to men, and that the general population should know what feminism is and how important it is. The Consequence of Beliefs Feminists receive mistreatment every day, all over the world for standing up for the rights of women. In October 2014, Utah State University received a letter stating that if they did not cancel...
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...establishing greater rights, legal protection for women, and or women's liberation. It includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. Nancy Cott defines feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept. Feminism has earned itself a bad reputation, but it never undermined gender differences that exist between males and females. A man can never be as good a mother as a female can. Similarly, a woman can never be as good a father as a male can. While accepting these anatomical and physiological differences between the two genders, feminism seeks for both genders to be equally respected. They are both human and as a species, humans cannot progress without either one of them. Maggie Humm and Rebecca Walker divide the history of feminism into three waves. The first wave transpired in the nineteenth and early twentieth century’s, the second occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, and the third extends from the 1990s to the present. In each wave of the movement, though men have taken part in significant responses to feminism, the relationship between men and feminism has been complex. Historically, a number of men have engaged with feminism. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham demanded equal rights for women in the eighteenth century. In 1866, philosopher John Stuart Mill presented a women's petition to the British Parliament and supported an amendment to...
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