For hundreds of years, women have struggled to gain essential rights equal with men. Held back and stripped of opportunities because of their gender, women have soldiered on for equality, fighting to be able to work, vote and other countless things. Feminism is the belief in political, social and economic equality of the sexes, no matter their race, religion or cultural background. Feminism and Women's movements allowed women to fight for rights and gain high positions in jobs that they were never able to before. Women now have power in government and they hold high and powerful jobs. They have gained their independence from a male dominated society and have risen to become less dependent on their husbands for financial support. Many women
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Having just survived a war where they were told work while the men were away, women were slowly moving back into motherhood positions. Those who were single were able to continue work, but were fired once they were married or pregnant. The “Help Wanted” section in the newspaper was divided into male and female jobs with the female section littered with requests for “pretty receptionists.” Contraception had just been made legal, but was not readily available, and abortion was still frowned upon. Violence against women was ignored, and rape within marriage was accepted (Hughes, 1998, p.5). According to Megan Behrent (2014), one of the worst cases of this in the US was recorded in a 1964 article in Archive of General Psychiatry, which published a report of thirty-seven women whose husbands had abused them. Behrent described that 'the report for the most part blamed the problems in such marriages on the wives whom they described as “aggressive, efficient, masculine, and sexually frigid.”' This gives a small hint into the daily lives of women who desperately needed the change the movements brought around. The feminist movement played an essential role in conveying the fear and distress of hundreds of women out into the public. In doing so, the personal was made political, and it connects women's individual experience with the wider social …show more content…
They have fought for women's legal rights such as rights to own a property, voting rights, and have also promoted women's rights to be a CEO of a company. They have struggled to protect women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape, and have strived for women's reproductive rights, and as well as the right to have abortions legally. Unfortunately though, there is still prejudice lingering in society. When a woman stands up for herself, whether in be in the workplace or in the society at large, she is immediately placed into a generalisation. In this generalisation, she is thought to be bossy, difficult and dislikes all men. This is the use of stereotyping that generalises all women and makes it difficult for her to be seen as anything else. When a woman declares herself as a feminist, the image immediately precedes her. This image is portrayed as "bra-burning fanatics with short hair and arm pits which look like they have got someone put into a permanent headlock" (Hughes, 1998, p.8). In both cases, it is really just a human being asking for same rights as everyone else, and she's acquiring masculine qualities to do it. In this case, the women's experience is being labelled by an image that is generalised, and used to instil fear into men with the thought that they may lose
Having just survived a war where they were told work while the men were away, women were slowly moving back into motherhood positions. Those who were single were able to continue work, but were fired once they were married or pregnant. The “Help Wanted” section in the newspaper was divided into male and female jobs with the female section littered with requests for “pretty receptionists.” Contraception had just been made legal, but was not readily available, and abortion was still frowned upon. Violence against women was ignored, and rape within marriage was accepted (Hughes, 1998, p.5). According to Megan Behrent (2014), one of the worst cases of this in the US was recorded in a 1964 article in Archive of General Psychiatry, which published a report of thirty-seven women whose husbands had abused them. Behrent described that 'the report for the most part blamed the problems in such marriages on the wives whom they described as “aggressive, efficient, masculine, and sexually frigid.”' This gives a small hint into the daily lives of women who desperately needed the change the movements brought around. The feminist movement played an essential role in conveying the fear and distress of hundreds of women out into the public. In doing so, the personal was made political, and it connects women's individual experience with the wider social …show more content…
They have fought for women's legal rights such as rights to own a property, voting rights, and have also promoted women's rights to be a CEO of a company. They have struggled to protect women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape, and have strived for women's reproductive rights, and as well as the right to have abortions legally. Unfortunately though, there is still prejudice lingering in society. When a woman stands up for herself, whether in be in the workplace or in the society at large, she is immediately placed into a generalisation. In this generalisation, she is thought to be bossy, difficult and dislikes all men. This is the use of stereotyping that generalises all women and makes it difficult for her to be seen as anything else. When a woman declares herself as a feminist, the image immediately precedes her. This image is portrayed as "bra-burning fanatics with short hair and arm pits which look like they have got someone put into a permanent headlock" (Hughes, 1998, p.8). In both cases, it is really just a human being asking for same rights as everyone else, and she's acquiring masculine qualities to do it. In this case, the women's experience is being labelled by an image that is generalised, and used to instil fear into men with the thought that they may lose