Women's Suffrage - Research Paper Example

Introduction: Women once had few life options beyond isolation in the domestic sphere, however, the Great Depression and its implications, the 19th amendment and the influx of women in fields of importance, such as education, military and public offices, presented significant new opportunities for women in society. This change was triggered by the alarming changes subsequent to the Great Depression. The Great Depression led to a fundamental change in how economies worked and challenged classical economic theories and their real life application. The increasing role of women was further enhanced by the implementation of the 19th amendment which led to greater importance of women in all fronts, leading, in turn, to increased involvement in education, military, public offices, technology and electoral processes. Women and Great Depression: The role of women during the Great Depression was in contrast to traditional modes of economic contribution. The traditional modes of contribution and work anticipate monetary rewards and compensation to justify effort, but for a significant period of time, women continued to work without expecting monetary rewards. Traditional societies viewed working outside home and serving the home at two distinct, non-overlapping activities, wherein, traditionally, men are associated with earning money by working outside the house, whereas women are expected to stay at home. During the Great Depression, economics, idealists and esteemed philosophers thought that women had to come out of their shell and take up responsibility to help the country out of an economic calamity of such magnitude. Women in the 1930s, time of the depression, had employed husbands who provided enough to help the family live on. There were times, however, where they would struggle to survive given the lack of resources at their disposal. The decade saw a study decrease in median income across all fronts leading to increased stress and survivability issues. Women and men experienced the Great Depression in different ways. Men considered themselves as breadwinners, hence when they lost their jobs; they considered themselves failures because they couldn’t provide their families with sufficient resources. Women, on the other hand, saw their significance at home increase as they juggled home and work responsibilities and started to play a role as breadwinners. It is interesting to note that no women lost her ‘job’ of working at home whereas their husbands struggled to earn money and find new sources of work. Challenging economic conditions challenged traditional gender roles and women slowly but surely started to move out of their role of staying at home. Women who were widowed or divorced, or single women, struggled to keep themselves afloat. They were truly living on the margins. The Great Depression is often associated with the struggling, unemployed man, however, women who were in a similar state of economic disaster, found themselves working it out on the sidelines on their own and trying to survive. Women who sought employment were often scorned as transgressors guilty of taking jobs away from deserving men. Many theorists and opinion leaders shared this view and when Norman Cousins noted that the gainfully employed number of women equaled the national unemployment total in 1939, he suggested that women should be fired, as they are not supposed to be working anyway, and men should be hired instead. Women were made a convenient scapegoat for the Great Depression. This was despite the fact that women had little options as they had to do something to ensure survival. Furthermore, the social segregation entrenched during those days made it difficult for men to take up jobs performed by women in any case. While men were concentrated in jobs involving heavy machinery, mining, etc. women were working in domains such as nursing, cleaning and clerical jobs. It is also essential to note that men dominated fields such as heavy industry and manufacturing were the hardest hit by the depression whereas women dominated fields were less affected, resulting in a greater number of women retaining jobs, while men loosing the same. Women experienced the depression differently, depending on their age, marital status, location, ethnicity and several other factors. The social status of women played a role in the interpretation of the impact of the depression. Whatever the case, it was evidently clear that the role of women in the society had increased significantly in the wake of the Great Depression, partly because women started to seek jobs, but largely because women who had jobs contributed a greater percentage to the resources of the family. This increase in importance led to greater respect and appreciation of women in the years that followed. The 19th Amendment: The 19th amendment was a landmark legislative achievement that played a vital role in transforming gender roles and entrenching the importance of women as an equal member of society. The fight for women suffrage is traced to the ‘Declaration of Sentiments’ initiated at the first women rights convention in New York in 1848. The unequivocal demand for the right of suffrage was raised in 1852 by Susan B Anthony. The debate on reconstruction arrangements was centralized around giving the right to ex slaves to vote. This is where women pushed for their right to vote. The proponents of women suffrage brought up several challenges to the court designed to test whether voting was a privilege of US citizens, as underlined by the 14th amendment. Their cal was simple, since the 14th amendment granted all US citizens the right to vote, women should have that right by virtue of being citizens. One such challenge was the case called ‘Minor’ in which a unanimous court rejected the argument that the privileges and immunities clause of the 14th amendment granted women the equal right to vote (McCammon & Campbell, 2001). Following this debacle, supporters of the suffrage movement turned their attention to the states and to the congress. For some time, New Jersey abandoned restrictions against women voting in 1776. There were, however, some clauses which needed to be fulfilled for the person to be eligible to vote. The person must have at least 50 pounds worth of property, be a resident for at least a year and must be at least 21 years of age. There was no difference in clauses for women and men. Furthermore, the US Constitution stipulated that anyone who could vote for state government branches was automatically eligible to vote for federal elections. This enabled women to vote for members of the congress and the president in 1806, however, New Jersey changed its constitution and no woman could vote because New Jersey voters had been the only female voters in the country (Flexner & Fitzpatrick, 1996). The first amendment that sought to bring about equal voting rights to every member of society was introduced in 1878, which proposed that the rights of citizens to vote shall not be abridged by the United States or any of the states on account of sex and gender. This same amendment took a long time before it was accepted. It was introduced in each session of congress for 41 years. The curtain was finally raised from the continuous discrimination in 1919 when the necessary two-thirds majority was formed in congress in favor of women suffrage amendment. The amendment was approved and sent to the states for ratification. By July 1920, several of the southern states were opposed to the amendment, and Tennessee had a decisive role in deciding the fate of the amendment. The Tennessee vote went down to the last person and finally the amendment was ratified (McCammon & Campbell, 2001). This marked a huge day in history as women, for the first time, were given the right to vote across the United States. It opened the doors for subsequent involvement of women in politics, public offices and non domestic work. Women in the military Women have served the US military from the late 18th century. They have played roles of nurses, serving the wounded. Their roles have expanded significantly since then and they now constitute some parts of the higher ranks, while being active in combat. Since 2002, women have aided nearly 170,000 tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pentagon rules dictate that women may not be allocated to ground combat units. That means they are not allowed to serve in the infantry or as special operations commandos. However, women are serving in support units as military police, medics, gunners, helicopter pilots and more (Norris, 2007). It is essential to note that women serving in the military today have significantly different roles than their male counterparts. A much smaller share of women in the military are male and married compared to their male counterparts. Furthermore, women who have been involved in wars post 9/11 are less likely to have contributed directly in combat. However, these same women are considered to have played a significant part in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are the core differences that reside between military men and women. Military women are much similar to men in many aspects. They are given due consideration for the post of officers, they join the military and army for reasons similar to those proposed by men and the post 9/11 warriors, both men and women, have gone through similar struggles and compensations in life. The number of women participants in the US military saw a rise since 1973, when the US military ceased conscription and established volunteer force. This led to a 700 % raise in the share of women among enlisted ranks. Women now constitute 14% of these ranks. This also led to the quadruple of women share in commissioned officer space, with women constituting 16% of the said designations. It is also noteworthy that the Department of Defense bars women from involvement in direct combat. This is more due to the natural and biological differences between the two sexes rather than prejudices. It must be understood, however, that while this policy excludes women from being assigned to special operations commandos, infantry and some other roles, female members of the armed forces may still find themselves in circumstances that require combat action, such as shielding their units if they come under attack (Pattern & Parker, 2010). These developments have led to increased involvement of women in the military. This further establishes the assertion that women are no more mere items of exploitation. Rather they have moved far beyond the domestic front and are now liberated and strong enough to represent the military. women today, constitute of 20 percent of the US army and play a vital role on several fronts. Women and Education: Single-gender education is not a new concept. At the close of the 18th century, most boys in colonial America attended “dame schools,” defined as a school influenced by the English model of home instruction for small groups of children usually led by a woman in her home. These schools in New England prepared boys for town schools. Girls also attended dame schools, but only a small percentage attended town schools or academies. Educational institutions beyond the dame schools and single gender town schools were private, segregated by sex, and exclusive to wealthy families. The establishment of dame schools took place in the kitchens of older women in the community. It was at this juncture that women established themselves as teachers in colonial America. The primary focus of the dame schools was to prepare boys for admission to the town schools which, until the 19thcentury, girls were not allowed to attend. When girls were finally admitted to the town schools, they usually attended at different times of the day than the boys or on days when boys did not attend, such as summertime or holidays. espite the emergence of single-gender colleges for women, by the beginning of the 20th century, most public secondary schools and colleges had become predominantly coeducational. Coeducation, however, did not insure equal opportunity in education. In 1918, the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education made a case for the creation of a two track system: one track steered students, primarily males, toward college preparatory coursework, and the other track provided vocational training. For White, Black, and other minority girls, the vocational track was encouraged. Even girls with strong academic records were required to take domestic science or home economics. Despite the expansion of women’s role in society, through the mid 1960s girls were channeled into occupational choices that were limited to four categories: secretarial, nursing, teaching, or motherhood (Sadker & Sadker, 1995). In 1972, with the passage of Title IX, it became illegal to discriminate in public schools on the basis of sex in school athletics, financial aid, career counseling, admission practices, and the treatment of students. Violators were at risk of losing federal funds. With the passage of the Womens Educational Equity Act (WEEA) in 1974, support was provided to assist schools in the recruitment of girls for math, science, and athletic programs. Teachers were provided with training to increase awareness of gender bias in curriculum and pedagogy. Later developments led to the firm establishment of co-ed schools and increasing importance of women on the education front as well. Many women who has got education through the aforementioned systems went on to make enormous contributions in several scientific fields. Conclusion: The developments mentioned above and the increasing awareness within women about their importance were the reasons why women were able to overcome their traditional, sidelines self concept and establish themselves as equal members of society. Today women are making huge contributions in every field of work and walk toe to toe with men in every walk of life. They are military women, scientists, models, actors, philosophers, astrologers, sportswomen, businesswomen, and have showed their presence everywhere. This is testament to the fact that women have moved far beyond the traditional image and are a crucial part of society today. Bibliography Flexner, & Fitzpatrick. (1996). Century of Struggle: The Woman’s Rights Movement in the United States . McCammon, H. J., & Campbell, K. E. (2001). Winning the Vote in the West: The Political Successes of the Womens Suffrage Movements, 1866-1919. Gender and Society . Norris, M. (2007, 10). Roles for Women in U.S. Army Expand. Retrieved from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14869648 Pattern, E., & Parker, K. (2010). Women in the U.S. Military:Growing Share, Distinctive Profile. PEW Social and Demographic Trends . Sadker, M., & Sadker, D. (1995). Failing at fairness:how our schools cheat girls. New York Touchstone . Read More