Women's Rights Of Women Essay

Women’s rights in the United States has always been a controversial issue since its origins. Until the 1920’s, women were not granted the right to vote, and since then a new form of feminism has taken over leading into the the modern-day. Now, many citizens in America claim women have more freedom than they did prior. Yet in Envisioning Women in World History, the authors disagree, stating women 's freedoms and rights have declined due to patriarchies. These patriarchies and the subordination of women have been caused by urbanization, and is evidenced heavily through multiple societies such as those found in Eurasia, the Mediterranean, and India. Women in Eurasia during the Neolithic Age were granted equal, if not more power compared to men. Within Hunter-Gathering societies, groups of 20-35 people hunted small game and gathered edible plants, and is here where women and …show more content…
Prior to the introduction of democracy in Greece, women had many more freedoms. However, after the urbanization and creation of city states, such as Athens and Sparta, women began to see a rise in patriarchy. Athenian women found themselves depleted of rights or roles. In Athens, women were proud of their gender and equal with men. Yet once democracy came into existence, this equality was scarce. Democracy prohibited women and slaves from voting, allowing only 25% of the population being politically active, which were primarily men (pg. 34). Outside of the political spectrum, urbanization led to an increase of infanticide, the act of killing infants, and was directed towards young girls. This was because it was economically beneficial to raise boys, for men could work fields, while women were seen, once again, as a liability (pg. 36). Through all of these factors, another byproduct of urbanization in Greece was the “anti-men”, a stigma that meant anything a man was not. Henceforth, the stigmatization of women being inferior was