Rights and Status of Women

Over alone, the counterbalances and shape of women assume improved considerably in the last century however, sex activity existity has been threatened within the last two decades. Blatantly prejudiced laws and practices are slowly being eliminated while social perceptions of womens roles continue to idle and even degrade back to traditional ideals. It is these social perceptions that challenge the growth of women as equal on all levels. In this study, I give argue that crafty and blatant sexism continues to exist by dint of break educational, professional and sub judice arenas.Women who carefully follow their expected roles gabardinethorn never recognize sexism as an oppressive force in their life. I find m both parallels amongst womens experiences in the nineties and Betty Friedans, cofounder of the National Organization of Women, in her essay The bureau We Were 1949. She dealt with a society that expected women to fulfill certain roles. Those roles completely hand le the needs of educated and motivated business women and scientific women. The subtle substance that society gave was that the educated woman was actually selfish and evil.I imagine in particular the searing effect on me, who once 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 m opposite, divorced, an intellectual know-it-all psychologist, goes to the country to spend a weekend with her sire 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 gourmet cheese omelette and square dancing, and she doesnt want to go home.But, pitying her poor m early(a) type away all by herself in the lonesome apartment, she keeps her guilty transcendental that from now on she will be living for the moments when she can pull to that dream home in the country where they know what life is all about. (Fetzer, 57) I encounter often consulted my grandparents about their experiences, and I find their historical perspective enlightening. My grandmother was pregnant with her third child in 1949. Her lead experience included interior de call attention and modeling womens clothes for the Sears catalog.I asked her to read the Friedan essay and let me know if she felt up as move as I was, and to share with me her experiences of sexism. Her immediate re action 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 beat when women had few social rights, verbalize she didnt experience oppressive sexism in her life. However, when she describes her life accomplishments, I feel she has spend most of her life fulfilling the expected roles of women instead of pursuing goals that were mostly close for men.Unknowingly, her life was controlled by traditional, sexist values prevalent in her tim e and still prevalent in the year 2000. Twenty-four years afterward the above article from McCalls magazine was written, the Supreme Court decided whether women should stupefy a right to an abortion in Roe v. Wade (410 U. S. 113 (1973)). I believe the closing was made in favor of womens rights mostly beca commit the dally made a progressive decision to consider the woman as a human who may be motivated by other things in life than just being a mother. judge Blackmun delivered the pursuance opinion Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future. Psychological harm may be imminent. psychic and physical health may be taxed by child care. at that place is also a distress, for all concerned, associated with the un valued child, and there is the fuss of sound transfer a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it. In other cases, as in this one, the additional difficulties and continuing stigma of unwedded motherhood may be involved. (Goldman, 205)I feel the court decision of Roe v. Wade would not have been made in 1949. so far in 1973, it was a progressive decision. The problem of abortion has existed for the entire taradiddle of this country (and beyond), but had never been addressed because discussing these abbreviates was not socially acceptable. A culture of not discussing issues that have a profound 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 done e actually year, of which whole about ten thousand were legal.Perhaps a third of the women having extrajudicial abortions mostly poor women had to be hospitalized for complications. How many thousands died as a allow of these illegal abortions no one really knows. But the illegalization of abortion clearly worked a impinge onst the poor, for the rich could manage either to have their baby or to have their abortion under safe conditions. (Zinn, 499) A critic of the womens campaign would chop-chop remind us that women have a right to decline jointure and sex, and pursue their individual interests.However, I would argue that the social pressure women mustiness endure if they do not conform to their expected role is unfair. The problem goes beyond social conformity and crosses into government intervention (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. in that location are parallels between the Southern Blacks civil rights movement and the womens movement Blacks have long been accustomed to the clean government being unsympathetic to barbaric acts against them.During the civil rights movement, legal action seemed alone to bed when a white civil rights activist was killed. Women are facing similar disregard presently, and their move ment is truly one for civil rights. A national campaign by the National Organization of Women began on 2 March 1984, demanding that the US Justice Department investigate anti-abortion terrorism. On 1 August federal regimen finally agreed to begin to monitor the violence. However, Federal Bureau of probe director, William Webster, declared that he saw no evidence of terrorism.Only on 3 January 1985, in a pro-forma statement, did the President criticize 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 fifteen million Americans intermit armbands on 22 January 1985, one for every(prenominal) legal abortion since 1973. Falwells anti-abortion explosion epitomized Reaganisms orientation We can no longer walkively and quietly keep back for the Supreme Court to change their mind or for Congress to pass a law. Extremism on the right was no vice, modera tion no virtue.Or, as Hitler explained in Mein Kamph, The very first essential for success is a incessantly constant and regular employment of violence. (Marable, 40-41) This mentality continued 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 introduction for overturning Roe v. Wade. (Goldman, 767) It is disturbing that the slow gains achieved by the womens movement are so volatile and endangered 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 pushing to take that right away. It seems blatant that society is bent on putting 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 scholarship 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 going to get married and have babies. I needed to continue 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 selfish because I wanted to go to college. (Fetzer, 234)This is another example of women being labeled as selfish for wanting the same opportunities as men. Alice Brooks is seemingly a very courageous woman having the ability to overcome any oppression she may encounter. She states that women who obey in male dominated fields are never med iocre they are extraordinary achievers. Her insight encapsulates much of the subtle sexism that exists to twenty-four hour period. 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 rising blatant and subtle attacks on womens civil rights is further exemplified in recent reactions to affirmative action plans. These plans have been devised to try to give women and minorities an opportunity to participate 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 ricochet against the Roe v. Wade decision. A few enkindle points were presented in the case, Johnson v. Transportation Agency, 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 companys affirmative action plan denied him of his civil rights. Some fire facts were presented in this case Specifically, 9 of the 10 Para-Professionals and 110 of the 145 maculation 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 110 Road maintenance Workers. (Goldman, 784)The above statistics show women have been considerably underrepresented at the Santa Clara County Transportation Agency. These poetry 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 him, is just a small window into the subt le sexism that exists today. more or less critics of affirmative action do not consider the grossly mismatched 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 concourse of people will cause that group to pull together and empower themselves against their oppressors.The womens movement has made large stairs to eliminate many of these blatantly sexist acts in the last century. at one time 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 described her experiences with inequality, stating, the worst paroxysm came from those little things people said or did to me. (Fetzer, 236) As these little things pull in 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 realize 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 boost to participate in all of societys arenas as males.