Civil Rights: Sexual Equality
Question 1
Rosen discusses various issues that affect women and their push since the historical times of the women’s rights movement. At first, Rosen views women revolutionists like Betty Friedan as among the leading women who brought to the limelight the women issues from the hidden corners of society and placed them into their proper place. During the period of the cold war, women were used as a societal weapon up until the beginning of what is known as the women’s rights movement, where women began to assert themselves and finally moved to the modern women liberation movements that grew up from the civil rights movements. In the 19th century, women expected to confine themselves to the duties of a mother and a wife, a notion that women would want anything else as they needed education and engage in other economic activities that would support their families (Rosen 38). At this time, the women did not have the right to vote or participate in any political process. Hence, the women’s movement pursued the right of women to participate in the electoral process, and as such, they become more politically active through the temperance and abolition movements. In these movements, the women stretched their roles outside of their prescribed places, and they began changes that would enrich them in terms of their standing in society.
Further, Rosen uses the work of Friedan’ Feminine Mystique’ as a yardstick to measure the progress that the modern woman has made in the achievement of their rights as she looks at the various ways in which mystique was perpetuated as well as celebrated in society as she argues that it was used as the bulwark against communism during the cold war such that the American superiority defined the gender roles (Rosen 10). Besides, the celebration of women’s role as mothers and wives made the role of housewife professional in an act that turned it into patriotism. However, the rights of women to reproductive health as well as the right to property ownership were curtailed (Hardy). Although some single women were allowed to own property, their married counterparts were not since there separate legal identities were deleted under the covertures, a legal principle. In this regard, they did adopt not only their husbands’ legal names but also the property they owned becomes their husbands. With these events, the women pushed for their rights to own property and got higher education and the right to hold professional positions in society. Although the women had few reasons, they played an essential role in transforming American society as they were active in social movements such as the abolition movement.
Question 2
Despite the progress in women’s rights, they are still disadvantaged by their domestic labor commitments that impair their access to well-paid jobs. In some cases, they are denied the right to access employment opportunities due to their gender. This discrimination is seen to hence adverse consequences to the individuals well being as well as their economic development. According to Bates in her talk about everyday sexism, she narrates of the American working class having the least number of women with many of the corporations as well as government agencies having gender imbalance in their employment. The stories come from over 50,000 women from about 18 countries globally that has become renowned internationally. The state of the movement for sexual equality started way back in 1792 when Wollstonecraft set out principles for women’s emancipation, which included education for girls as a way to end the prejudice that was being seen. This was seen as a way to evaluate the girl’s merits rather than the achievement of their families (Bates). Centuries own the line, women have gained legal rights save for the universal women suffrage as well as the implementation of the legislation by many countries that observed gender equality. To this end, few jurisdictions globally have achieved sexual equality in absolute terms relative to their male counterparts.
However, according to Rosen, for all progress made, the elimination of discrimination against women and sexual equality has not been achieved. For example, 23 percent of the women in parliament are women, one-third of girls, especially in the developing states, get married before they reach 18 with some getting married before they reach 15 years (Hardy). Similarly, access to primary schooling in most developing countries is an issue of sexual equality as most girls miss out on education at this point. In regards to the workforce, currently, many women have entered the workforce. However, there are some works, especially in the informal sector, that are characterized by weak earnings as well as insecurity (Rosen 19). Therefore, the persistence of gender gaps due to discrimination s still there, although there has been an achievement inequality in terms of institutional treatment of the women. Further, the inequality between men and women is not just intrinsic, but also instrumentally crucial to the policymakers and scholars who began the discussion of gender equality as economic practice. For instance, sexual inequality is seen to play a vital role in many of the developmental outcomes. In this regard, the improvement of a woman’s access to resources and opportunities leads to a ripple effect on the family, as the children will also have access to basic amenities such as schools and proper nutrition, besides reducing the government’s corruption and increasing economic growth.
Question 3
Several barriers make it difficult for women to have full and equal rights and protections in the US. First, there existed legal obstacles that prevented women from experiencing the same rights and protections as men. During the cold war and periods before the commencement of the women’s rights movement, were discriminatory laws that prevented women from fully participating in the economy with minimal laws that constitutionally guaranteed the protection of women against discrimination. Global citizens’ campaign on gender equality and the abolition of laws and practices that limit girls and women from opportunities persist in the US despite the efforts made by the women’s rights movement. For example, in some states such as Massachusetts, one cannot advertise birth control through the mail. Some regulations prohibit the sale of birth control to any group of women, married or not, which were deemed illegal in the 1970s (Rosen 41). However, despite the lobbying, the laws still seem to be in place as it attracts a fine of thousands of dollars or a year in prison if found distributing information of any nature that represents or intended to prevent pregnancy. The discriminatory laws have adverse effects on women’s reproductive health, including the use of contraceptives, as it is deemed illegal.
Further, in other states such as North Carolina, women are not allowed to withdraw consent or call for actions of rape. In this law, there is allowance of some forms of rape to be legal such that certain kinds of sexual assault go unpunished with the law still existing to date. Moreover, in Congress, women are not allowed to wear sleeveless tops while in session, while men are allowed to wear jackets. Politically, Rosen imagines of women being on crossroads in parliament since they hold less than a fifth of the political offices and not only in the US but globally and still appear to be stuck (76). Formal barriers to women’s participation in politics are today almost nonexistent in America and around the world, with the glass ceiling remaining in place. The most disadvantaged group of women are the minorities who, besides being discriminated against based on their racial backgrounds, are also not exposed to opportunities like the other white women in the US (Bates). The changes in feminist organizing and policy demand promotion of gender equality and higher political power for women. At the basic structural levels of governments such as districts, there exists a single-member district system with a first-past-the-post rule that appears to favor men.
Question 4
Women advocates applied several methods to seek tangible legal protections against sex-based discrimination and for sexual equality. I 1913, the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage and the National Woman’s Party was critical in raising awareness in the public domain of the women’s issues called the suffrage campaign. The women used a variety of tactics that finally pushed President Woodrow Wilson, the Congress, and the state legislators to support the passage of the 19th Amendment enshrined in the Constitution that guaranteed women the right to vote and the right to other opportunities through a sexually equal society (Rosen 78). The women advocates effectively commanded the attention of politicians and the general public through various tactics that included aggressive agitation, cunning publicity stunts, relentless lobbying, and creative of civil disobedience methods confrontation that were non-violent. The methods were imaginative as they were versatile and drew inspiration from a variety of events that included the American labor movement and the British suffrage campaign as well as the antislavery, temperance, and other earlier women’s campaigns for their rights in the US. Besides, traditional lobbying, as well as petitions, was the first act of the women advocates. However, these activities were supplemented by other, more public actions such as demonstrations, pageants, parades, and street speaking.
Further, the women advocates realized that they need to achieve their dreams by escalating their pressure and adopting more aggressive methodologies with the essential one being picketing at the White House for many months hence leading to the arrest and imprisonment of many of the women advocates. The willingness of the women to picket and allowing their arrest was also a tactic that was meant to increases their recognition as political prisoners of rights rather than as criminals (Bates) Other acts such as civil disobedience while in jail was another improvised tactic that brought the attention of the nation with many people supporting their cause. Besides, through constant agitation, the women managed to effectively compel the President to agree to the federal woman suffrage amendment with similar pressure mounting on the national and state legislators that led to the enshrinement of the sexual equality laws across states. One of the prominent methods used by the women advocates to ensure there is sexual equality was through lobbying and petitioning, which started in 1912. The primary purpose of the women was to exert pressure upon Congress to pass an amendment to the Constitution that would not only see sexual equality but also allow women to participate in other economic activities. Lobbying for the Amendment of the Constitution remained integral to the women’s progressive organizations as the use of lobbying as a popular technique for social change was not a new tactic as it had been used in the antislavery and other campaigns in the US.
Nevertheless, the methods were successful, with most of them achieving the there main goal. The practice of exerting pressure upon the political office holders as a way of effecting change and ensure abolishment of existing discriminatory sexual laws that limited women’s opportunities or were seen to curtail the women rights as private or political figures an established tradition in the women’s rights movement (Rosen 20). For instance, at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, reformers formulated resolutions which brought the attention of the courts and the state legislatures as they used educational tactics to enrich the public and ensure that women know of their rights. In this regard, the image of partitioning was born as there was a gathering of signatures in support of the resolutions and formally presented the documents to the political representatives for them to demonstrate graphically the people’s wishes also was a time-honored political tradition. Another method used by the women advocates paraded, where the women planned large and elaborate parades in the big cities such as Washington, with the prominent one being the parade on the eve of President Woodrow’s inauguration. The event has been celebrated as the first national parade for the women advocates in the US as earlier and larger processions inspired it.
Question 5
One of the primary oppositional sources of power that served as push backs to the advancement of sexual equality in America was the use of government policies and laws that were seen as discriminatory against women. In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution ensured that women’s suffrage was ratified. However, some individual states resisted as the political class placed push backs that ensured that the Amendment is not implemented since most of the political figures benefited from the inequality. In 1961, there was the formation of a commission whose primary function was to review the status of women, and the committee found that women suffered considerable discrimination, especially at the workplace, despite the being laws that protected them from such acts. This was an indication that some people had social and cultural sources of position to the advancement of sexual equality in America, which led to persisted discrimination. One of the opposed acts was the Equal Pay Act, which made it illegal for women to pay less than men for the same job done with other laws such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which made it discriminatory for employers to hire people based on gender. Therefore, the nature of the oppositional forces was political, social, and economical. Their motivation to maintain the status quo in favor of the men with the methods used is the offering of unequal pay for work done, among other techniques. But the women advocates and the civil rights groups, have been successful in reducing the forces, although they still exist.