Rights and Responsibilities of American Women - Essay Example

? Evolution of Rights and Responsibilities as Compared Between Native American, African American and European American Women in the United s from 1776 to 2013 Your Name Name of Course Name of Professor Date of Submission Evolution of Rights and Responsibilities as Compared Between Native American, African American and European American Women in the United States from 1776 to 2013 Race and gender as social paradigms of identity have been intrinsically connected in the American society. Perhaps much of the multicultural ethos that the modern day USA is characterized by is shaped numerous feminist struggles for rights by disparate racial groups and a thrust for collective responsibilities and demands in contemporary times. The essay shall seek to compare the history of rights and responsibilities between three major ethnic groups- Native American, African American and European American spanning over three centuries, from the Declaration of Independence to the times in which we dwell, 2013. Tracing the social organization of Native American societies in the 18th century, Theda Perdue observes that these cultures practiced a well delineated division of labor between the sexes. She gives the example of the Wahpeton Dakota community where men and women lived three months of each year apart as the former hunted muskrats while the latter was involved in the production of sugar (Perdue 1999). Such a gendered division of labor, though perhaps not in consonance with modern notions of equity, ensured to Native American women a considerable degree of social autonomy, that which was denied to them during the heyday of the colonial era. Perdue thus refers to Bernard Romans to illustrate the manner which racial and gender intolerance mingled to in the manner in which Native American women were portrayed in the accounts of the early European settlers- “Their strength is great, and they labor hard, carrying very heavy bundles a great distance; they are lascivious, and have no idea of chastity in a girl” (Romans qtd in Perdue 1999). The above description points to the collusion between racial and gender stereotypes whereby Eurocentric prescriptive notions of femininity were superimposed upon Native American women. The most striking shift in power equations could be seen in the case of the Cherokees. Anthropologists observe that Cherokee women had equal ownership of land and property, a practice that changed with the tribe being forced to sell significant portions of their land holdings to the United States government. The colonial government entered into these agreements with the men of community, rendering at once, the traditional parity of gender in these groups awry and creating a distinct hierarchy between the sexes (“Native women are fighting for their rights – and their lives” n.d.). This rupture within the community was deepened by then Voting Rights laws put forth for Native Americans by the American government. Till 1924, tribes were often compelled to abandon their social and cultural affiliations with their respective groups in order to gain the right to vote in American elections. Yet again, the men already rendered more powerful due to superior economic rights had a more pronounce incentive in giving up their tribe affiliations (“Native women are fighting for their rights – and their lives” n.d.). The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was enacted chiefly to acknowledge the contribution of Native American troops in World War I. The act led to the reduction of federal involvement in Native American community life and increased the role of tribal self-governance. Though it was unprecedented in the autonomy that it conferred upon the Native Americans within the USA, the act also consolidated their “outsideness” and hence was not equally well received across Native American communities. Furthermore, the restoration of land to Native Americans yet again accentuated gender inequalities as it did not ensure equitable distribution between the sexes (“Native women are fighting for their rights – and their lives” n.d.). It is interesting to note that before the Dakota War of 1862, many Anglo Americans, including the Indian Agent Joseph R. Brown, were married to Dakota women and there was mutual respect and cooperation between the Anglo Americans and Native Americans. Brown’s successor Thomas Galbraith was however known to be a cultural bigot and this gave birth to irreparable hostility between the two communities which culminated in the 1862 war. Hereon, there was systematic sexual violence and denial off rights inflicted upon Native women (“Perceptions of the Dakota Indians”). Sociologist Sally Roesch Wagner’s book Sisters in Spirit studies the parallels between the white suffragist movement and the traditional social patterns of Native American society. Anglo American women in the 19th century were entirely ideologically subjugated by a masculinist political environment. The claims of First Wave feminism- right to choose political leaders, ownership of property et al. were undeniably influenced by the autonomy exercised by Native women. In Wagner’s words, these women could envision emancipation precisely because they had for examples “liberated women” in the Native American community (Wagner 2001). Quite paradoxically however, this shared understanding of feminism did not necessarily lead to the white feminists putting forth a racially inclusive agenda. Such shared goals took yet another century to materialize. Quite ironically however, though white women began a movement for enfranchisement as individuals who were far less empowered than their Native American counterparts, the suffragist movement soon gained currency across the Western world. Women gained voting rights in 1920 while Native American women faded into social and political oblivion. It is only in the late 20th and early 21st centuries that Native women have, though still in small numbers, gained prominence in American society and politics. Writers such as Leslie Marmon Silko and Sarah Winnemucca and political figures such as Kimberly Tehee who is a senior policy advisor for Native American Affairs in the US Government may be viewed in this regard. The earliest example of Black-Native collaboration for political freedom is seen in the Black Seminole community of Florida and Oklahoma. The community arose from the cohabitation and cooperation between escaped and freed African American slaves and the Indian Seminole tribe. The women of this ethnic group were economically and socially empowered as they worked on agricultural tracts alongside their men and participated actively in the local self-governments of the clan (Mock 2001). In recent times there have been radical groups such as WARN (Women of All Red Nations) which have aimed at exposing the little known aspects of continuing racial and gender discrimination against Native women. They have spoken primarily about forced sterilization of Native women, and the rampant environmental pollution in areas with a significant Native American population due to insufficient urban waste management and industrial pollution which have increased the risk of health hazards for Native American women. The struggle for rights for African American women was began during the era of slavery and extended right up to the 21st century. The earliest Black women to speak for human rights were Phyllis Wheatley, Sojourner Truth, and Anna Julia Cooper. Truth delivered her “Ain’t I a Woman” speech at a Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio. The rhetorical question posed by her speech urged white women to transcend narrow, racially exclusive definitions of feminism and to acknowledge the humanity of their racially different counterparts. An understanding of shared marginality has historically proven to be crucial in destabilizing the status quo. The very first instances of interracial feminist ventures in the USA was perhaps seen in the pre-Civil Rights Abolitionist Era where White clergymen, social activists and writers along with African Americans who had escaped slavery, through their speeches and writings demanded an end to the very institution of slavery. The two key events which fuelled the creation numerous anti-slavery writings and forums were the Dred Scott vs. Sandford case of 1857 and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. While the former denied legal or constitutional rights to African Americans, the latter declared it legal for all African Americans, irrespective of the freedom that they might have obtained from servitude, to be recaptured upon claims (which may or may not be factually substantiated) of being runaways by their white owners. In response to these anti-humanitarian legislations, Harriet Tubman along with others, initiated the Underground Railroad, through which hundreds of slaves were transported from the slaveholding states to the north and Anna Julia Cooper through her many powerful public speeches emphasized the need of education for the African American woman. These issues were also addressed by Quaker abolitionist Lucretia Mott and the Grimke sisters who defied their slaveholding family to support the abolitionist cause. It must be emphasized in the era preceding the abolition of slavery, acquirement of education was considered illegal for African American slaves and they, for constitutional purposes were considered “three fifths” of a person (“Exploring Constitutional Conflicts” n.d.). In the 1920s, when Blacks continued to be considered “separate but equal” vis-a-vis the Plessy vs. Ferguson judgment of 1896, there was a profusion of Black literature during the Harlem Renaissance. It saw the emergence of numerous White “patrons” encouraging Black writers to use art as a political tool for self-determination. Though such patronage was undeniably based on relationships of inequality, despite its many anomalies, it did facilitate Black cultural self-expression and increased cooperation between the races. Zora Neale Hurston, who in many ways is the precursor to contemporary Black literary feminism, was financially aided by Charlotte Osgood Mason in her literary career. Second wave feminism in the 1950s and the 1960s coincided with the Civil Rights movement as well as the anti-Vietnam War movement. The nexus thus seen is crucial to this discussion. While the participants of Second Wave feminism remained largely white, the role of Black women in the Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer and Rosa Parks in the Civil Rights Movement established the fact that women of color no longer shaped their struggles and identities through White aid and were ready to challenge both sexism and racism upon their own strengths. The protest against the American war in Vietnam however witnessed widespread unity among the races, with groups such as Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the women members of militant groups such as the Black Panther Party critiquing the interconnection between patriarchy, racism and the America’s desire for world dominance. Citizenship was conferred upon African American women as late as 1965 with the Voting Rights Act while racial segregation was outlawed by the Brown vs. Topeka Board education judgment of 1954. Since the 1970s, owing to affirmative action programs and ever increasing opportunities to resist human rights violations at all levels, women across ethnic groups have claimed their social, political and cultural rights in the USA. The Combahee River Collective statement issued by a radical Black, lesbian organization of the same name sought to lay bare the lacunae in traditional modes of feminist thought and argued instead in favor of changing the very definition of “femininity” which they viewed as ideologically constituted. Anglo American women were denied voting rights till the latter half of the nineteenth century. The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution did away with gender discrimination in voting rights, allowing white women to vote for the first time in the presidential elections in 1920. As mentioned in the earlier sections of the essay, First Wave and Second Wave feminism focused on the enfranchisement of women and women’s social rights and their rights over their bodies respectively. Though these movements have often rightly been accused of blindness to women of color and narrow in scope, their coincidence with the Abolitionist and the Civil Rights movement made room for some mutual cooperation between the two seemingly disparate struggles for rights. The intersection of gender and race rights was seen also in the Miss America Protest of 1968 which witnessed the coming together of white feminists and civil rights activists. They critiqued the pageant for endorsing a notion of beauty which not only encourages unhealthy lifestyles in young girls but defines “beauty” in a way which is reductive and racially exclusive. There has been a rapid increase in women’s enrolment rate in colleges which stands at 57.4% in 2013. It is reported that despite sharp socio-economic disparities between whites and blacks, 1 in every 10 African American females enrolls in an undergraduate program. For Native Americans the figures continue to be discouraging with only 8 Native women enrolling in undergraduate programs per 274 women (“College Enrolment Statistics” n.d.). From the 1990s onwards, there is an emergence of a diffused and wide ranging school of feminism, which Rebecca Walker terms the “Third Wave.” Defying a definition, the Third Wave stands for all hitherto neglected spheres in feminism- the specific forms of containment experienced by women of color, abortion rights, and rights of women with alternate sexualities and so on. In recent times cases such as the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act (2009) which laid down constitutional safeguards against unequal pay for women and the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act Nevada Department of Human Resources vs. Hibbs judgment (2006) which made provisions for an individual to sue the state on the grounds of gender discrimination have strengthened the democratic fabric of the American society. Significantly, in the years following 1965, all such laws underscore their applicability to all American citizens, irrespective of their racial belonging, unlike the post-1960s era when the definitions of citizenships were decidedly undemocratic. Thus in the 21st century, in all spheres of the law, women across racial groups are perceives as equals (Lawless and Fox 200B). Interracial feminist cooperation has much significance in the American context. Gender and racial disparities in varied forms continue to prevail in the American society and this thus necessitates cooperation between minority groups to being about lasting socio-political changes Women continue to be underrepresented in political offices. The fact that the USA has never had a woman president is perhaps a fact worth consideration. Despite the presence of prominent political leaders such as Sarah Palin, Condoleeza Rice, Hillary Clinton, Susana Martinez and Nikki Haley, the 110th Congress in 2007 had an 84% male membership (Lawless and Fox 2008). Furthermore, women of color continue to be more vulnerable to acts of sexual violence and racial profiling or stereotyping. The Women of Color Network initiative reports that nearly 40% Black women in the country experience sexual violence before the age of 18. This inequality is seen also in the fact that there are a disproportionately large number of African American women in prisons and within the penitentiaries women of color are likelier to face human rights violations. In the case of Native American women, there exists a general lack of trust in the law and order machinery of the state owing to centuries of racial oppression. This leads to several crimes against Native women going unreported, setting in motion a vicious cycle of racial and gender persecution. Since various forms of social discrimination are not mutually exclusive, it is also worth taking cognizance of the violence that minority women face from their men besides various forms of institutionalized sexism and racism. Moreover, though Native Americans have certain rights of self-governance, a non-Native who commits a crime within Native jurisdiction cannot be tried by indigenous laws. This further prolongs justice to Native women in cases of sexual violence. There is thus still a gaping gulf between constitutional rights and ground reality with reference to gender and race in the USA. The shared rights and responsibilities of women of all ethnicities is thus instrumental to any sustainable attempt at bridging such a gap. References “College Enrolment Statistics.” National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics. Accessed 1 Dec 2013. http://www.statisticbrain.com/college-enrollment-statistics/. “Exploring Constitutional Conflicts.” 30 Nov. 2013. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/thirteenthamendment.html. Lawless, Jennifer L. and Richard L. Fox. “Why Are Women Still Not Running for Public Office?” Issues in Governance Studies 16 (May, 2008). Accessed 30 Nov, 2013. http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2008/5/women%20lawless%20fox/05_women_lawless_fox.pdf.Mock, Shirley Boteler. Dreaming with the Ancestors: Black Seminole Women in Texas and Mexico. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 2010. Print. “Native women are fighting for their rights – and their lives.” Native Daughters. 30 Nov., 2013. http://cojmc.unl.edu/nativedaughters/law-givers/native-are-women-fighting-for-their-rights-and-their-lives. Perdue, Theda. Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1998. Print. “Perceptions of the Dakota Indians”. Dissertation on Native American Conditions. 30 Nov. 2013. http://www.csbsju.edu/Documents/libraries/breuthesis.pdf. Wagner, Sally Roesch. Sisters in Spirit: Iroquois Influence on Early Feminists. Summertown, TN: Native Voices, 2001. Print. Women of Color Network. National Advocacy Through Action. 30 Nov. 2013. http://www.nhcadsv.org/uploads/WOC_sexual-violence.pdf. “College Enrolment Statistics.” National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics. Accessed 1 Dec 2013. http://www.statisticbrain.com/college-enrollment-statistics/. Read More