Feminism in the 1900s - Research Paper Example

English Feminism in the 1900s Since 1900s, women have been engaged in a struggle towards recognition of their role in the society, and this has led to a significant evolution on their way of life. There were numerous conventional principles regarding women experienced through confrontation faced due to factors such as economic depression, war and other activities. On the other hand, women faced impediments in the process of revolving public opinion. However, their effort to alter this perception resulted to a source of motivation, which facilitated establishment of gender equality. Nonetheless, prior to 1900s, women were constrained to becoming domestic caregivers, thereby having insignificant knowledge regarding their rights in the society. Occurrence of the World Wars had a substantial impact on their revolution since they were influenced to take a stand. This paper will explore ideas from different sources such as “The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald, “A Raising in the Sun” by Hansberry and “Jasmine” by Mukherjee, thereby discussing feminism in 1900s. During 1990s, women had managed to make their way into manual labor force in America, and others acquired professional occupations. For instance, Hansberry in “A Raising in the Sun” explains that Beneatha was socially progressive, whereby she undertook a course in the medical field and this enabled her to provide for her family (Hansberry, 23). On the other hand, women commenced to engage in a struggle aimed at establishing equal pay after the First and Second World Wars. In fact, this was contrary to expectations that they would give up their jobs and resume to their initial role of being domestic caregivers. Furthermore, they engaged into strikes, and they had a conviction that their effort would leave an incessant mark on American society. Women’s freedom to change their lives was attained during the 1900s, whereby they were offered a chance to vote and right to acquire education. In fact, this revolution led to increased changes in the work force, while fashion in America underwent continual upheavals. There were changes in women’s dressing, whereby they used fashion as a way of expressing themselves. For instance, in “The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald, there is a character named Myrtle Wilson, who is highly concerned with appearance and fashion (Fitzgerald, 26). During 1900s, women managed to acquire professions that were reserved for men, though there were those who decided to be employed in keeping boarding houses. In this case, women were able to secure employment in medical field (like Beneatha in “A Raising in the Sun”), while others became lawyers. In fact, all this revolution is attributable to revolution that occurred in nineteenth century. During this period, acceptance towards women increased significantly; this acceptance was based on their suitability in various occupations. Nonetheless, other women decided to continue with their domestic roles, thereby being excluded from attaining factory occupations and other professions such as writing or teaching Women who were married at a young age were denied a chance to pursue a career in the medical field due to lack of accessibility to necessary education. For instance, Beneatha became a professional in the medical field since she was not married; in fact, she was still living with her parents (Hansberry, 20). Prior to 1990s, women were offered a chance to become nurses, while men were offered a chance to become doctors. In addition, before the revolution in 1900s, there was a prohibition, which barred women from joining American Medical Association; in fact, they would not attend some medical colleges such as Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, but in 1910, women could join medical schools (Women's International Centre, 1). According to Women's International Centre, only seventeen and five present of doctors in America were women prior to 1900s (1). In fact, by 1930, there were no substantial improvements in women situation concerning other professions. For instance, only two percent of lawyers were women by 1989, and the number of judges in America, who were women, amounted to twenty-two percent (Women's International Centre, 1). Women ventured into other professions such as engineering by 1930; besides, by 1989, there were seven percent of the total numbers of engineers in America were women (Women's International Centre, 1). Mukherjee in “Jasmine” explains that women acquired power through their effort to secure employment; for instance, they would not be under authority of their mother in-law if they were working (147). Therefore, some women focused on acquiring clerical positions and other worked as bookkeepers, secretaries or typists in factories. Few women took jobs that involved operating machines in factories; in fact, most of them preferred occupations such as nursing, cleaning and hairdressing. Nevertheless, women managed to secure forty percent of the entire employment in United States of America; in fact, this was achieved despite being subjected to restriction in relation to deciding on issues regarding their profession. Numerous women took various executive positions by 1989 in their field of profession. However, this could not be compared to positions acquired by men in 1970s. In fact, women were still being underpaid, whereby they earned forty-percent lower than men working at the same profession or task (Women's International Centre, 1). Furthermore, women were denied equal chances of being promoted and being assigned challenging tasks. This led to a need for intervention by Equal Employment in 1970, which eliminated this form of discrimination. Married women were also subjected to a form of discrimination, especially those who were likely to start a marriage. In fact, this discrimination was attributed to a notion that marriage had a negative impact on women’s career lives. In this case, human resource managers were not willing to offer women a chance to become permanent employees. Nevertheless, later, married women managed to disapprove this claim, thereby justifying that they were a source of reliable workforce. Therefore, this led to increases in number of married women during 1960s and 1970s in different career fields, thereby accounting to fifty percent of total number of employees in America. On the other hand, others had secured employment prior to their marriage. Married women during the 1960s had a remarkable experience, whereby twelve percent managed to secure employment. In 1950s, forty-five percent of married women managed to secure employment and by 1980s, the rate had increased up to fifty percent. On the other hand, half the number of women, who had managed to secure employment prior to 1987, had children who were below three years of age (Women's International Centre, 1). In fact, these women were able to maintain their employment and homes, while some men were forced to work for one hour on some domestic chores since their women had to care for their families and maintain their employment. Apparently, a subject regarding maternity leave had raised substantial concerns in women employment. In fact, during the 1900s, the law stipulated that married women deserved to be given time during this period. Furthermore, other employers would even compensate them during their maternity leave. Therefore, it is evident that there were more employment opportunities for women by 1910s (Women's International Centre, 1). For instance, in Los Angeles, there was appointment of the first of a woman police officer. Later in 1919, more changes facilitated increase in chances for more women to become lawyers, and civil servants (Women's International Centre, 1). By 1922, women acquired job vacancies that had been reserved for men, whereby they some of them became chartered surveyors such as Irene Barclay, while others became solicitors (Lambert, 1). Moreover, the government had managed to make significant changes on the laws, thereby establishing equal compensation for women and men. In 1984, the government formulated law of equal pay, thereby increasing the number of women, who were able to attain a managerial post in their career field (Lambert, 1). Women were also allowed to participate in stock exchange in 1973; thus, they were able to generate significant wealth to invest. Due to increased earnings, women were able to purchase appliances, which had been invented during the twentieth century. In fact, acquisition of these appliances helped them significantly in dealing with their household chores. For instance, they were able to use devices such as vacuum cleaners and washing machines that enabled them complete their household chores quickly and effectively. However, some of these devices were affordable to the rich due to their premium prices. Later in 1930, these appliances became common, and through they were still expensive, numerous women could afford them. In fact, by 1959, thirty percent of women in America had acquired a vacuum cleaner (Lambert, 1). Nonetheless, other appliances such as washing machines and fridges were not affordable to numerous women by 1960s (Lambert, 1). On the other hand, in 1900s, there were establishment of birth control clinics, which increased accessibility to contraceptives for women (Lambert, 1). Therefore, women were able to make decisions regarding when to have children, thereby avoiding interruption caused by pregnancy. In conclusion, the paper has focused on exploring ideas from different sources such as “The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald, “A Raising in the Sun” by Hansberry and “Jasmine” by Mukherjee, in order to discuss feminism in 1900s. The paper has presented the revolution that occurred women’s way of life in terms of their careers. On the other hand, the paper has managed to present women’s transitions in terms of their lifestyles. Works Cited Fitzgerald, Scott. “The Great Gatsby”. Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com. 25 April 2013. Web. 24 March 2008. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York, NY: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1958. Print. Mukherjee, Bharati. Jasmine. New York, NY: Grove Press, 1999. Print. Lambert, Tim. 20th Century Women: Women's Rights in the 20th Century, 25 April 2013. Web. 16 November 2012 from Women's International Centre (WIC). “Women's History in America.” Compton's Interactive Encyclopaedia. 25 April 2013. Web. 16 November 2012 Read More