All throughout the 1970’s women are dealing with their lack of equality – may it be within the work area, politically, at home, or with laws. Sexism was very popular, and not uncommon, but these women are ‘at their ends’ with accepting it. The women of the decade begin to bond together – to fight for their rights as people. This will be known as the second-wave of feminism. They discover the power of sisterhood and begin to attract attention to their actions and when the Royal Commission of the Status of Woman steps in to make a report on the status of woman in Canada, laws begin to change, and debates on these new laws begin to occur.
Enrique’s Journey My Nonfiction Book that I read this term was Enrique’s Journey. Enrique’s Journey was written by Sonia Nazario and was first published as a newspaper series in the Los Angeles Times, and then later published in 2006 by the New York Random House. Enrique’s Journey was inspired when Sonia had a house cleaner (Carmen) who told her about her 4 children (2 girls and 2 boys) who she had left behind in Guatemala for 12 years so she could come to America to work to send money for her children back in Guatemala. Carmen goes on to tell Sonia that in 1998, her oldest son set off to find her, and he eventually found his way on Carmen’s doorstep. This is where Sonia got her idea for writing a book about the separation of a mother and her children.
Her brother became a dentist. Phipps entered Howard University as a physics and math major, and earned a B.S.magna cum laude She switched to psychology for graduate work after meeting her future husband and partner Kenneth Clark.They began their lifelong partnership and married in 1938. Both went on for additional study at Columbia University. In 1943 Mamie Phipps Clark was one of the first African-American women to earn a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University. At the end of World War II, Kenneth and Mamie Clark decided to try to improve social services for troubled youth in Harlem, as there were virtually no mental-health services in the community.
Throughout history, however, women have had many attempts to gain their independence from men. For example, the National Women’s Rights Convention in 1850, the American Women Suffrage Association, the Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and the National Organization for Women (NOW) were created to benefit women. These different attempts are named the different waves of the Feminist Movement. The book The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, published in 1963 and spoke of middle class women being outraged at the fact that women were not allowed equality. The outrage triggered the Second Wave Feminist Movement, a more modern movement, and the fight for women’s sexual freedom and equal opportunities in the workplace.
“Women took the place they customarily took in social movements, in the front lines—as privates, not generals,” (Zinn 504). Women organized movements and became the most enthusiastic about their cause, and by 1969, women were 40% of the labor force in the U.S. Other things that sprung up in the 1900s were multiple women’s unions, acts put in place that aided women, and literature aimed at women. Perhaps the biggest issue that began to be addressed was the subject of abortion, and the 1970s were a roaring time for this debate. It was for this right that women fought harder than ever before, and continue to fight. I really enjoyed reading this chapter; that is my reaction.
New forms of public life created by women - such as having an education, to fight for their equality of opportunity to get a career, fighting for their rights and changing their role from domesticity to public suffragists- reinforced their place in society. Women had many dramatic changes throughout the years dealing with their view as a woman, politics, labor force and popular culture. In the present, American women continued live in regard to work, family, sexuality, and political changes. A. Sara M. Evans is a distinguished scholar and Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Minnesota where she taught women's history since 1976. She studied women and gender studies as it can be seen by reading her book because of the knowledge she transmits about women’s history and all the stages women went through decades ago.
Over the years, women played the role as the housewife and most women were never involved with war and political issues. In the book All But My Life, Gerda Weissmann Klein, the author, demonstrates the struggle women endured in the holocaust and the sacrifices women had to make in order to survive Women in general never really had the experience to do the things men did. Women could not go to war and they could not do any job that involved manual labor so in reality women, were not up to par to men when it came to working. In All But My Life, The main character Gerda Weissmann Klein, author of the book, explains her life before World War II and the rise of Nazism and the struggle she and her family went through trying to stay together. Soon enough, Gerda gets separated from her mother and father and is all alone in a concentration camp.
Their focus was lobbying for a constitutional amendment to secure the right to vote for women. Suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who tried securing the vote on a state-by-state basis, had originally sought such an amendment. (Cott). Although in the end Paul did manage to get said amendment passed, she still struggled and battled with doing so for many years of her life. Paul gained a lot of followers and momentum through her very notorious silent picket strikes outside of the White House (“Angels”).
Women Rights Never Change “Never underestimate the power of a woman” (McClung). There have been many women in history trying to change the rights of women. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun the character Beneatha fights her way to the top to make her dream come true unlike Calpurnia in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. Both of the characters long for perfection to please their loved ones. Many characters in both plays always seem to believe that Beneatha and Calpurnia are powerless and weak.
Even slaves had the right to vote before women even could. Women were arrested just for voting, for speaking up for what they wanted to be heard. Rosa Parks was a great inspiration to most women because she stood up to what she believed in and for what was right. She believed that women should be treated equal and people had no choice but to listen to what she had to say. Susan B. Anthony was another great inspiration to the women society.