The Long History of Discrimination against women
Women
in the United States of America had great difficulty in gaining rights to vote
and to participate in political issues for a long period of time. The world of
American women was limited in almost every respect. They were discriminated
against and were legally subject to their husbands. From family life to
workplace they faced great disadvantages.The role of women were only restricted to their role of housewifes who take care of their children and family [1]. In the 70s a variety of movements had
contributed to more awareness concerning this topic. How have women managed to get
more attention and become more and more involved in society and politics? Here
you will get a short overview of some important events that had great impact on
women`s roles in society from the 70s until the end of the 90s in America.
The 1970s feminist movements and their goals
The
women rights movement of the 1970s was to some degree motivated by the civil
rights movement. It mainly consisted of members of the middle class. The
emergence of the movement can also be traced back to the sexual revolution of
the 1960s. In this time, women pointed out there feelings and concerns about
their situation in a society that is still dominated by men. The feminist
movement of the 70s especially focused on inequality on workplace and on the
aim to enable women to get access to better professions and salaries via
antidiscrimination laws. One of the women that had great impact on women’s
rights in the 70s was the feminist Gloria Steinem. She is a writer, lecturer,
editor as well as feminist activist [4]. She is especially concerned with issues of
equality as well as women`s position in Society [7]. As a spokeswomen she also
focuses on topics such as the race caste system, gender roles as well as the
shared origins of sex. Basically Steinem put a lot on the line for the women of
the 70s and future generations. According
to Steinem, for a long period of time women faced the burdens of
discrimination, of being undervalued and of being oppressed in their personal
lives by laws and institutions. In the 1970s Steinem and other important women therefore
co-founded a magazine called “Ms” that deals with all the legal disadvantages
and discrimination women are confronted with in the United States. Ms is an American liberal feminist
Magazine.
The publication began in 1972. Steinem remained one of the editors of the magazine for fifteen years. The motivation to start Ms was to publish a magazine that is only controlled and influenced by women. This can also be read in a statement by Steinem:
I realized as a journalist that there really was nothing for women to read that was controlled by women, and this caused me along with a number of other women to start Ms. Magazine [2].
Especially by the
1970s feminist political organizations arose that turned into a feminist
movement. Examples are the National Women’s Political Caucus that was founded
in 1971 under the leadership of feminists as Bella Abzug, Shirley Chisholm and
Gloria Steinem. Other examples are the Equal Rights Amendment Ratification
Council (1973) as well as the Coalition of Labor Union Women (1973). The woman
right movement in this time had a great influence on the circumstances of women
in the United States. They focused on the major issue of the ratification of
the Equal Rights Amendments (ERA) to the Constitution. But also on reproductive
rights that would guarantee women, for instance, the choice to have an abortion
which was illegal in the United States for a long period of time.
The role of women in 1980s America
In the United States attitudes
towards women and their role in society have changed in the course of time.
This can also be shown by the General Social Survey that was conducted by the
National Opinion Research Centre at the University of Chicago. In this Survey
people were asked what they think about married women that have a job in
business or industry even if they have a husband who is able to support them.
The illustrated results on the diagram below show a change in the attitudes of
people. Whereas in 1972 only 67.2% of those surveyed approved of a married
woman to have a profession if she had a husband able to support her, in 1993 it
was 81.3 percent.
Representation of women in the media
The changing roles of women
have also become evident in magazines and advertisements in the 70s and 80s. In this
time more and more magazines portrayed women working with men in business and
industry. One good example is the magazine Working
mother in which such representations were published. A lot of pictures that
can be seen there not only show women playing a great part in business and industry. The media also seem to begin to sexualise women through film, television and advertising. It can be said that over the years the objectification of female bodies has become more and more apparent in the United States of America [6].
The Third Wave Feminism
The
third wave Feminism has its origin in the mid- 1990s. Third wave feminists have
broadened their aims concerning women’s rights. Despite of the fact that
political and economic equality was granted to women in many parts of America,
members of the third wave feminism intended to change further aspects. The term third wave feminism was coined by Rebecca Walker, an African-American woman, in a 1992 Essay [6]. The topics of this wave elaborated on role expectations towards women, on queer theory and the
overcoming of stereotypes [5]. The second wave feminism came along with a variety
of legal and institutional gains. Nevertheless the third-wave movement called
for more changes concerning women and their role in society. Apart from legal
and institutional rights, they paid attention to the portrayal and image of women
in media which, according to the members of the third wave movement, needed to
be changed as they still represent women as dependent humans that are dominated
by men. In this context, they also points to the language itself that defines
the role of women and, to some extent, causes inequalities.
Their ideas mainly focus on a post-structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality. According to post-structuralists there is no evident relationship or correspondence between words and their meaning in the world. They are convinced that human beings create binaries with certain words or expressions (such as male/female) to empower certain groups and make women, for instance, inferior to men [3]. In this context, proponents of the third wave movement claim that society should enable women to define feminism themselves and develop their own perspective to it. One of the very ideas of this movement is the assumption that feminism can be different from generation to generation. The third-wave feminism mainly focus on issues that oppress and limit women’s rights. Nevertheless it is hard to say what the contents of this movement exactly are and to what extent this movement differs from the second wave movement. In contrast to second wave movement, it offers an intersectional and multiperspectival version of feminism. More information about the third wave feminism you can also find on following link to an essay written by Claire Snyder.
Click here
Their ideas mainly focus on a post-structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality. According to post-structuralists there is no evident relationship or correspondence between words and their meaning in the world. They are convinced that human beings create binaries with certain words or expressions (such as male/female) to empower certain groups and make women, for instance, inferior to men [3]. In this context, proponents of the third wave movement claim that society should enable women to define feminism themselves and develop their own perspective to it. One of the very ideas of this movement is the assumption that feminism can be different from generation to generation. The third-wave feminism mainly focus on issues that oppress and limit women’s rights. Nevertheless it is hard to say what the contents of this movement exactly are and to what extent this movement differs from the second wave movement. In contrast to second wave movement, it offers an intersectional and multiperspectival version of feminism. More information about the third wave feminism you can also find on following link to an essay written by Claire Snyder.
Click here
Bibliography
1. Coontz, Stephanie. A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s. New York: Basic Books, 2011. 42.
2. Gloria: In Her Own Words (2011 documentary, directed by Peter Kunhardt)
3. Hardin, Marie; Whiteside, Erin (2013). "From Second-Wave to Poststructuralist Feminism". The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies: Media Effects/Media Psychology. Blackwell.
4. Jump up to: a b c d "Gloria Steinem". Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Retrieved November 9, 2014
5. Kate Millet:Sexual Politics, Gloria Steinem, Catharine MacKinnon:Pornography and Civil Rights: A New Day for Women's Equality. 1988
6. The Third Wave and the Future of Feminism
7. "The Official Website of Author and Activist Gloria Steinem – Who Is Gloria?". Gloriasteinem.com. Retrieved 2014-03-01.
2. Gloria: In Her Own Words (2011 documentary, directed by Peter Kunhardt)
3. Hardin, Marie; Whiteside, Erin (2013). "From Second-Wave to Poststructuralist Feminism". The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies: Media Effects/Media Psychology. Blackwell.
4. Jump up to: a b c d "Gloria Steinem". Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Retrieved November 9, 2014
5. Kate Millet:Sexual Politics, Gloria Steinem, Catharine MacKinnon:Pornography and Civil Rights: A New Day for Women's Equality. 1988
6. The Third Wave and the Future of Feminism
7. "The Official Website of Author and Activist Gloria Steinem – Who Is Gloria?". Gloriasteinem.com. Retrieved 2014-03-01.