A century of women:sexuality and social justice - Essay Example

Women for centuries have struggled for equality.Since time immemorial they are merely seen as the emotional that lacked the power to make logical decisionsThey did not have their own identities, as they only adopted the identity of their husbands or fathers They were open to abuse, both physically and emotionally; stifled by tradition and inhibited by their intellectual capacities. Women accepted their roles as mothers and house makers and silently tolerated centuries of oppression, until the 19th century when at last, women have tried to use their voice.

The great industrial revolution in the 1920’s has cultivated the improvement of equality among genders. The most crucial women’s right movement happened in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and paved the way for equality by giving the women the right to vote. But the right to vote was just one of the issues that each women through out time has encountered. Equality in every essence was lacking, including to access to information, jobs and especially education.

In Britain philosophers like Mary Wollstonecraft published works regarding equal education for man and woman. In her work “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” in 1792, she explained how unequal educational opportunities created discrimination. In the United States women educators such as Catharine Beecher conducted successful seminar for girls in Hartford, Connecticut from 1823-1827 (Flexner et al., 29). It began as a mere school to carry out “housewifely” and teaching duties, but from this vantage point other schools such as Vassar, Wellesley, Smith and Bryn Mawr would soon follow (30).

In the United States post-civil war, the civil rights movement was very fresh as all issues from the abolishment of slavery to the equality of rights between gender and race was being introduced. Authors such as Louisa May Alcott through her experience as a nurse volunteer in the war wrote books such as Little Women, that the author candidly admitted was “compounded by patriotisms, anti-slaver and twenty years of oppression as a woman” had produced (99). The Civil war required novel demands from women for nursing and relief works, at this time Women’s Rights movements continued to ponder, having a possible hope to achieve equality under the Lincoln administration.

By the beginning of the 20th century women’s lives in the United States have drastically changed. Together with this was the entry of progress, the age of industrialization. But the equality of women’s rights around the states were not completely effective, since the more conservative eastern states still continuously refused to give equal property right between man and woman at that time (223). Although the right to suffrage did not push through during this period, political debates regarding equality were very much talked about.

By World War I, President Woodrow Wilson required the support of every American citizen for his “war of democracy”. The women fully supported him and even served in the military but with a final demand for the right to vote, this was the final push for women’s right to suffrage in the United States and paved the way to the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. The role of women during the industrialization period created a great impact around the nation. At least 24% of workers in aviation plants were women.

By January 1942 at least 2,800,00 women were engaged in war related work as most men were out fighting battles across the globe. Through World War II, women aside from working as nurses and teachers were also active in manual labor. After the Pearl Harbor bombing at least 475,000 women were enlisted in the Army Corps working in aircraft factories. After World War II, women activist continued to struggle for better rights. By 1964 the passing of the Civil Rights Act secured better equal protection not just to race but also to gender.

The inclusion of sex as a protected category gave women a better right to end sex