Gender roles went through dramatic changes in the 20th century, especially towards the end. Vicki Ruiz illustrates a good example with her book, “From out of the Shadows” where she shares this poem “Rise Up! To Woman Rise up! Rise up to life, to activity, to the beauty of truly living; but rise up radiant and powerful, beautiful with qualities, splendid with virtues, strong with energies.” (99) When reviewing history, accounts men are dominant. When women are represented, they are depicted as passive, naïve, or “feminine,” but in all reality, the only women who experienced this femininity were of the property owning class which meant work was a necessity, not an option for working class women.
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.
In this novel, Julia Alvarez manages to capture and express the true feelings of women which deconstructs the stereotypes through Yo. Feminism is defined as “a political movement that works to achieve equal rights for women and men” (Hirsch 113). For the past ages, women were seen in the society as inferior to men and were greatly excluded from education and the right to property ownership. A British feminist named Mary Wollstonecraft argues, “educational restrictions keep women in a state of ignorance and slavish dependence” (Blake 117). The shattering of classifications and stereotypes, and the subversion of traditional gender roles, and the concept of sisterhood or unity among women are among the main tenets of feminist criticism.
In the epic tale of Beowulf, translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland, it is the role, worth and importance of the woman that is greatly questioned by some readers. When one first reads this tale at a glance, one might not even see the true value of women during this era due to the portrayal of the women characters in the story. One must do close reading to see the true importance of each women character or lack of importance. After close reading one might see that it is the status of women and the significance or function of their role for that particular status in society that should be focused on; for each woman regardless of status, held some worth and importance. If one did not have a proper status or ancestry, they were held in very low opinion, therefore, those women deemed of low status or low ancestry held the roles of monsters and wenches.
An individual’s views and concerns may alter as time progresses, in keeping with the changing values of society. Over the centuries women have been the subjects to gender discrimination and unequal treatment, however within the last 100 years this has changed. Throughout Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, written in the 1800’s. many issues are raised towards women and their role in society. In comparison Fay Weldon’s Letters to Alice, written a few centuries after, shows a clear link of how particular concerns, held by society, have altered.
In this essay, I will discuss what Eleanor Roosevelt’s activities revealed about the limitations of women in the early twentieth century. I will also examine whether she challenged or reinforced traditional conceptions of women’s “proper” role. I will also comment on historian Allida Black’s conclusion about Eleanor’s achievements and biggest failure as a first lady. First, Eleanor Roosevelt fought very hard in order to encourage women to become more knowledgeable. One of the biggest restrictions that ER found was that women at that time did not know how to read the newspaper.
Due to the limited amount of resources and the restrictions laid upon women for practicing rhetoric, it is astonishing how many women were still able to make a significant impact on the field of rhetoric which I feel has paved the way for women’s liberations rights today. Christine de Pizan portrayed the art of rhetoric through language and letter writing as she challenged the boundaries of women’s input at the time. She sought to save the reputation of women, who at the time were being slandered and shine a new spotlight for women’s advancement. It is imperative that more time and space be dedicated to Christine De Pizan in Herricks textbook of rhetoric and many more to follow. Christine De Pizan is a brave woman who stood up to the verbal assaults on women in the 14th century.
Steinbeck leaves her unnamed so she lacks something that makes her appear as an equal individual. She is not meant to be very important in this novel. Curley’s wife is not part of the story to connect with the reader, and by giving her a name, the reader would become much more attached. Curley’s wife is isolated and ignored in Of Mice and Men. She isn’t cared about at all.
Let Women Vote by Marlene Targ Brill This book is young adult literature is written down to the readers so the understanding of civil right can be more clearly, the book tell some stories of how the women right had been an impact in America society better said the fight for the nineteen amendment. The main focus of this book is to understand the story in how society discriminate women during several eras. The narrator explain the time frame in a different matter, he begin with the story of Carrie Chapman in what she did to fight for the women rights and what she saw, followed the chapters with more important personalities involved in this suffrage. Each chapter covers a different period, but they all share the same organization of describing the social, cultural, political, philosophical and scholarly aspects of the period in respective subsections. This made it easier to later refer to previous chapters and compare different periods in order to learn the comprehensive history of Woman suffrage Amendment into the United States Constitution.
Notwithstanding, social scientists believe that there are several elements involved in making changes to the collective mind in similar situations such as these. Among them are attitude, structure (as in the structure of society), and the technical aspects specific to the situation to which they are applied. The number of reports filed rises every year, indicating that the problem is becoming more pronounced, than more and more women are being harassed, belittled and demeaned simply because they were born female. A chief complaint among these women who do speak out is that they are passed over for promotion, the positions instead given to men with lesser qualifications. Yet, in literature, most of authors announce those issues in their written novels, stories, or even poems.