Essay, Research Paper: Women's Rights 2

Women s Rights
The Women s Right s Movement Liberation was one of the most important issues of all time. Without equal rights, today s women wouldn t be able to vote, work the same jobs as men, or get an abortion based on their own personal decision and beliefs.
Throughout history, women have had fewer legal rights, and far less job opportunities than men. Women s lib. has reevaluated these traditional views and given women the rights they have deserved. It proved that women are just as good as men in all ways, and that women can do most things equally. Men have had their rights for centuries, and women finally got theirs because of the Women s Rights Movement.
For a very long time, women have been viewed as very creative in terms of human life. However, historically, they have been considered major sources of temptation and evil, and of being intellectually inferior to men. This started mostly because of the views of women in Christian theology.
Women are often thought of as weaker than men, unable to perform work requiring muscular strength, or even intellectual development. Because of this, it was expected that women take care of the children, wash clothes, etc., instead of the heavier jobs like hunting and plowing. The women were thought of as the weak sex, although their duties were quite strenuous.
The stereotype that a women s place is in the home has determined many of the ways that women express themselves. Women are generally expected to stay home and care for the children. With contraception and legalized abortion, women have greater control over the number of children they will bear.
Although these methods have helped to free women for roles other than motherhood, cultural pressures fir women to become wives and mothers prevents many talented women from pursuing careers and going to college.
Education for girls has historically been secondary to that of boys. In colonial America, girls were taught to read and write at dame schools. They were allowed to attend school with boys only when there was room.
By the end of the nineteenth century, the number of women students was rapidly growing. There were more women s colleges than ever, and a bigger number of admissions for women to attend universities and regular colleges. In 1870, there was an estimated 1/5 of resident college and university students that were women. By 1900 it was up to 1/3. In 1985, about 53% of all college students were women, 1/4 of whom were older than twenty-nine.
Since women were traditionally thought of as the weaker sex, the number and status of women in law was affected. For instance, under the Common Law of England, a women could own property, sue or be sued, etc. A married woman was considered property of her husband and therefor, lost these rights.
Equity law was developed in England, which emphasized equal rights over tradition. This law had a liberating effect on/in the United States.
After the Civil Rights Act was passed, there were other kinds of discrimination against women. For example, in most states, abortion was only legal if the life of the mother was in physical danger.
Seneca Falls, NY was the place of the first women s rights convention. It took place in July, 1948. The declaration that came out of the convention was written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and was modeled after the Declaration of Independence. It claimed that all men and women are created equal and that the history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation s on the part of men towards women . There were also resolutions for equitable laws, equal education, and job opportunities, and the right to vote.
Women hoped that their hard work would result in suffrage for women as well as blacks. The only problem was that the fifteenth and sixteenth amendments granted citizenship and suffrage to blacks, but not to women.
Congress finally passed the women s suffrage bill in June 1919, and the Nineteenth Amendment Constitution became a law on August 26, 1920. Now about twenty-five million women had the right to vote. The suffrage victory in 1920 led to a long period of pursuit in the full equality of women.
Around 1967 the women s liberation movement became widespread. Increased birth control and abortions helped women control their own destines for the first time. The feminist era was in full throttle.
All because of this hard struggle, women nowadays are very liberated, and know that we are all created equal, and that women deserve nothing less than a man does.