11/22/2016
Short Essay #4
Gender is defined in the dictionary as “Either the male or female division of a species, especially a differentiated by social and cultural roles and behavior.” Throughout history “gender” has been constructed, shaped, altered and manipulated multiple times, and yet we still see issues on the perception of gender and gender equality today. Many events for example, the Lewis and Clark expedition, the push of activism, socialism and feminism, and many other events have altered the idea of what gender is and how it is perceived. The perception and Idea of gender has changed multiple times due to the large events in history like the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the push for feminism in the 20th century. …show more content…
Women have always been perceived to be only good for few things. Sex, reproducing offspring, and caring for the family and home. In many different places women were workers or they weren’t at all. The women of the Nez Perce tribe during the Lewis and Clark expedition would be in charge of collecting food and berries. During the expedition they had travelled over the mountain and ran out of food. They then found the Nimpu women of the Nez Perce tribe whom would then help them. These Nez Perce women did a lot of work in this sense and farm jobs as well. These women were different than many other groups of women for example the seventh century women of the Middle East during the rise of Islam. The role of the women in the Middle East was to stay home and care for the family and maintain the house hold. The women must always obey their husband and had very little privileges. These women were not allowed to get any sort of higher education which might put them above men in their society. They would stay home all day, cook and clean, care for the children and were to ask permission from the man of the house if they wanted to leave their home for any reason. This shows the outstanding challenges that women of our history received when it comes to how gender was perceived. Gender was a very significant factor where now days much has changed. Although it is nothing close to perfect, we are very close to full gender equality where your sex …show more content…
Over the 20th and 21st century the push for gender equality also known as feminism took its course. The goal of the feminist movement was to change the perception and rights of women in society. By the 1920’s, feminism was a term not used just to campaign for suffrage but for all women’s rights. The French revolution was a big step towards gender equality. According to Winslow’s, “Feminist Movements,” the French revolution was unleashed the power of women in the streets, political clubs, and political assemblies although they still had to deal with the anti-feminists whom were still against women’s rights. The anti-feminist still believed that women belonged in the household and still had no right to speak up in terms of politics. In the 19th century a “Declaration of Rights and Sentiments” was drafted by Elizabeth Stanton in 1848. This began as a paraphrase of the declaration of independence and further began to call for further rights and privileges given to women. The declaration basically called for women to receive the same rights as all males in the U.S, which included the right to vote. Following the end of the 19th century the women’s suffrage movement in the US continued. Women were gaining way with gender equality and feminism but still were struggling with a movement to gain women’s voting rights. The right to vote was