Civil Rights Movement And Women essay
Historically, women were in the oppressed position in the American society because they held the inferior position in the US society. Instead, men held the dominant position. However, since the mid-20th century the position of women has started to change and they have started to gain equal rights and opportunities. At this point, the post-World War II era became the turning point in the development of the feminist movement in the US. However, the oppressed position of women in the US society resulted to the unequal position of women, which persists till today, while women are often under-represented in mass media that leads to the formation of erroneous and biased gender-related stereotypes concerning women in the US society.
In fact, the rise of the feminist movement in the US became particularly significant in the second half of the 20th century. In this respect, World War II had had a considerable impact on the position of women in the US society. Women had t perform functions and do jobs, which were traditionally performed by men because men were recruited to the US army and women had to do their job. After the end of the war, women were supposed to return to household and family life. They returned to their traditional position, but they were already conscious of their ability to perform functions, which were traditionally attributed to men. As a result, women were conscious of their ability to be equal to men.
However, expectations of women did not match their real position. What is meant here is the fact that they were under-represented in the political life as well as in other spheres of socioeconomic life. Instead, women were in the inferior position compared to men. The widening gap between the actual position of women and their expectations contributed to the rise of the feminist movement because many women were eager to close the gap and they attempted to take the position equal to that of men. As a result, the 1950s were marked by the rise of the feminist movement, as many women had started to struggle for equal rights and opportunities compared to men.
The 1950s became a very important period in the development of the feminist movement. The decade laid the foundation for the development of the legal ground for the elimination of gender differences and limitations in the access of women to political life of the country and socioeconomic rights and liberties. What is meant here is the fact that the mass feminist movement of the 1950s contributed to the change of the public opinion. The change of the public opinion was very important because the younger generation grew conscious of the equal position of women compared to men.
As a result, the 1960s were marked by the rebellion of the younger generation, while women had started to ruin traditional stereotypes. In addition, the 1960s were the time of the sexual revolution, when women got an opportunity to take birth control. In such a way, women became more independent of men and they got larger opportunities to struggle for their rights and to take a better position in the society. Therefore, the sexual revolution laid the foundation to the realization of opportunities, which women were eager to realize. In fact, women could focus on their career instead of their families alone or taking care of children.
As women were conscious of their abilities to take equal position compared to men and to perform similar functions and as the sexual revolution granted women with larger opportunities of taking control of their body through birth control, women got the consciousness and opportunity to close the gap between them and men. The 1970s became the time, when women had started to enter new fields, including politics, but they were still under-represented. Such under-representation was the result of the historical inferiority of women. The society and many women were just unprepared to the new role of women as equal to men. Nevertheless, many women were ready to change their roles as they were eager to take a better position in the society and they were unwilling to limit their life to household alone.
The 1980s became the time, when women had managed to start changing the public opinion and entered jobs, which were traditionally male, including such fields as law, politics, health care, and others. In such a way, the 1980s became the time, when the feminist movement had managed to change the public opinion and to show the society that women could be equal to men. In fact, it took almost three decades for women to prove the public that they can do the same jobs as men do and to take the position equal to men, although they did male jobs in the course of World War II.
Finally, the 1990s and the present day feminist movement carries on the struggle for equal opportunities of women and men. In fact, women still remain in worse position compared to men. For instance, glass ceiling persists today. In such a situation, the feminist movement should still meet goals set by the Civil Rights Movement.
