Rights and Status of Women

Overall, the estimables and status of women fool improved visualizeably in the depart century however, gender equality has been threatened within the last 2 decades. Blatantly sexist laws and practices are slowly macrocosm eliminated while companionable perceptions of womens roles continue to stagnate and even degrade back to traditional ideals. It is these accessible perceptions that challenge the evolution of women as equal on all levels. In this study, I testament argue that subtle and exigent sexism continues to exist end-to-end educational, nonrecreational and sub judice arenas.Women who carefully follow their judge roles may neer recognize sexism as an oppressive delineate in their life. I obtain m whatsoever parallels between womens experiences in the nineties and Betty Friedans, co installer of the National Organization of Women, in her essay The Way We Were 1949. She dealt with a society that expected women to fulfill reliable roles. Those roles completel y disregarded the needs of educated and move business women and scientific women. The subtle message that society gave was that the educated fair sex was actually ungenerous and evil.I remember in particular the searing effect on me, who erstwhile intended to be a psychologist, of a story in McCalls in December 1949 called A Weekend with Daddy. A little girl who lives a lonely life with her mother, divorced, an intellectual hit the sack-it-all psychologist, goes to the republic to spend a weekend with her father and his new wife, who is wholesome, happy, and a good cook and gardener. And there is love and laughter and growing flowers and hot clams and a epicure cheese omelet and square dancing, and she doesnt want to go home. notwithstanding, pitying her shortsighted mother typing away all by herself in the solitary(a) apartment, she keeps her guilty secret that from now on she will be lively for the moments when she can escape to that dream home in the country where th ey know what life is all ab appear. (Fetzer, 57) I have often consulted my grandparents about their experiences, and I find their historical perspective enlightening. My grandmother was pregnant with her third claw in 1949. Her work experience included interior design and casting womens clothes for the Sears catalog.I asked her to read the Friedan essay and let me know if she matt-up as moved as I was, and to share with me her experiences of sexism. Her immediate chemical chemical re march was to point out that, Betty Friedan was a college educated woman and she had certain goals that never interested me. My grandmother, though growing up during a time when women had a couple of(prenominal) well-disposed rights, said she didnt experience oppressive sexism in her life. However, when she describes her life accomplishments, I timbre she has spent most of her life fulfilling the expected roles of women instead of move goals that were mostly reserved for men.Unknowingly, her life was controlled by traditional, sexist values familiar in her time and still prevalent in the year 2000. twenty-four years after the above article from McCalls magazine was written, the autonomous court decided whether women should have a right to an spontaneous abortion in roe v. Wade (410 U. S. 113 (1973)). I believe the decision was make in kick upstairs of womens rights mostly because the court do a progressive decision to hold the woman as a human who may be motivated by other things in life than just being a mother.Justice Blackmun delivered the following opinion Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future. Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by child care. There is also a distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted child, and there is the paradox of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it. In other cases, as in th is one, the additional difficulties and continue stigma of unwed motherhood may be involved. (Goldman, 205)I feel the court decision of Roe v. Wade would non have been made in 1949. Even in 1973, it was a progressive decision. The problem of abortion has existed for the entire history of this country (and beyond), but had never been addressed because discussing these issues was not socially acceptable. A culture of not discussing issues that have a well-grounded impact on women is a culture that encourages women to be powerless. The right of abortion became a major issue. Before 1970, about a million abortions were through every year, of which only about ten thousand were legal.Perhaps a third of the women having illegal abortions mostly poor women had to be hospitalized for complications. How many thousands died as a result of these illegal abortions no one really knows. But the illegalization of abortion clearly worked against the poor, for the rich could manage either to ha ve their scotch or to have their abortion under safe conditions. (Zinn, 499) A dilettante of the womens endeavor would quickly remind us that women have a right to decline marriage and sex, and pursue their individual interests.However, I would argue that the social pressure women must endure if they do not conform to their expected role is unfair. The problem goes beyond social conformity and crosses into brass hinderance (or lack thereof). The 1980s saw the pendulum swing against the womens movement. Violent acts against women who sought abortions became common and the government was unsympathetic to the victims. There are parallels between the Southern Blacks courtly rights movement and the womens movement Blacks have long been accustomed to the white government being unsympathetic to violent acts against them.During the civil rights movement, legal action seemed only to accrue when a white civil rights activist was killed. Women are facing alike(p) disregard presently, a nd their movement is very one for civil rights. A matter campaign by the National Organization of Women began on 2 marching music 1984, demanding that the US Justice Department investigate anti-abortion terrorism. On 1 heroic federal authorities finally agreed to begin to monitor the violence. However, federal official Bureau of Investigation director, William Webster, declared that he saw no attest of terrorism.Only on 3 January 1985, in a pro-forma statement, did the President notice the series of bombings as violent anarchist acts, but he still refused to term the acts as terrorism. Reagan deferred to Moral Majoritarian Jerry Falwells subsequent campaign to have cardinal million Americans wear armbands on 22 January 1985, one for every legal abortion since 1973. Falwells anti-abortion outburst epitomized Reaganisms orientation We can no longer passively and quietly wait for the Supreme Court to change their mind or for Congress to pass a law. Extremism on the right was n o vice, reasonableness no virtue.Or, as Hitler explained in Mein Kamph, The very first essential for winner is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence. (Marable, 40-41) This mentality go along on through 1989 during the Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (109 S. Ct. 3040 (1989)) case. The Reagan Administration had urged the Supreme Court to use this case as the basis for overturning Roe v. Wade. (Goldman, 767) It is trouble that the slow gains achieved by the womens movement are so volatile and imperil when conservative administrations gain a majority in government.To put the problem into perspective a womans right to have an abortion in this country did not come until 1973. Less than two decades later, the president of the United States was push to take that right away. It seems blatant that society is bent on putt women in their places. From the above examples, it appears American culture prefers women as non-professional, non-intellectual, homemakers and mothers. This mentality is not easily resolved, because it is introduced at a young age. Alice Brooks experienced inequality on the basis of her race and her sex.In her autobiography, A Dream Deferred, she recalls the reaction of her father when she brought up the idea of college to him I found a erudition for veterans children and asked my father to sign and furnish proof that he was a veteran. He refused and told me that I was only overtaking to get married and have babies. I compulsory to stay home and help my mother with her kids. My brother needed college to support a family. Not only was I not going to get any help, I was also tagged as self-seeking because I wanted to go to college. (Fetzer, 234)This is another example of women being denominate as selfish for wanting the kindred opportunities as men. Alice Brooks is manifestly a very courageous woman having the ability to overcome any oppression she may encounter. She states that women who succeed in male preva il field are never mediocre they are peculiar achievers. Her insight encapsulates much(prenominal) of the subtle sexism that exists today. I feel that no one can truly be equal in a society when only the extraordinary achievers are allowed to succeed out of their expected social role.This attitude of ascent blatant and subtle attacks on womens civil rights is further exemplified in recent reactions to approving action plans. These plans have been devised to try to give women and minorities an opportunity to take part in traditionally white male dominated areas. However, we see the same trends in legal action for the use of affirmative action plans as we saw in the 1980s backlash against the Roe v. Wade decision. A few interesting points were presented in the case, Johnson v. Transportation theatrical performance, Santa Clara (480 U. S. 616 (1987)). Mr. Paul E.Johnson filed suit against the Santa Clara County Transportation Agency when he was denied a promotion, feeling the c ompanys affirmative action plan denied him of his civil rights. Some interesting facts were presented in this case Specifically, 9 of the 10 Para-Professionals and cx of the 145 Office and Clerical Workers were women. By contrast, women were only 2 of the 28 Officials and Administrators, 5 of the 58 Professionals, 12 of the 124 Technicians, none of the Skilled Crafts Workers, and 1 who was Joyce of the one hundred ten Road Maintenance Workers. (Goldman, 784)The above statistics show women have been considerably underrepresented at the Santa Clara County Transportation Agency. These numbers are not uncommon and are found throughout business. It is interesting to note the current popular perception is that affirmative action precludes white males from finding employment with companies that implement these plans. The truth is in the numbers, however. The fact that Mr. Johnson felt he was denied his civil rights because an equally qualified woman was given a promotion, instead of hi m, is just a small window into the subtle sexism that exists today.Most critics of affirmative action do not consider the grossly unequal numbers of men in management and professional positions. Secondly, it never seems an issue of debate that a woman may have had no other previous life opportunities in these male dominated areas. I do not intend to argue that affirmative action is good or bad, but only wish to point out that the current backlash against these programs is heavily rooted in sexism and racism. Often blatant violence or unfair acts against a group of people will cause that group to pull together and empower themselves against their oppressors.The womens movement has made large steps to eliminate many of these blatantly sexist acts in the last century. Now the real difficulty is upon us subtle acts of sexism and the degrading social roles of women in todays conservative culture. Alice Brooks so eloquently expound her experiences with inequality, stating, the worst pai n came from those little things people said or did to me. (Fetzer, 236) As these little things accumulate in the experience of a young woman, she increasingly finds herself powerless in her relationships, employment, economics, and society in general.The female child has as many goals as the male child, but statistically she is unable to commit these goals because of the obstacles that society sets in front of her. Society and media attempt to create an illusion that women have every right that men enjoy. However, women will never be equal until the day female scientists, intellectuals, professionals, military leaders, and politicians are just as accepted and encouraged to participate in all of societys arenas as males.