Women's Role in Society in the 21st Century

Throughout history women have usually been seen as lower than

men. When women grow up they are expected to have children, raise them and take care of a household chores. This way of viewing women is common in many countries and since many people feel that there is nothing wrong with these views, they continue. About a hundred years ago, only a few women in society were recognizable and most were not acknowledged at all whatever their contribution may have been. Times are slowly changing and as our society continues to grow and gain a more liberal mindset, the roles of women begin to change. There’s a difference from the 21^st century and the previous ones, which is that this generation feels strongly about gender equality. Women now don’t want to be known for their role of being homemakers, they are now joining men in the work field. Some of these women are also mothers who are able to juggle and multi-task their work and household duties. They are having more privileges than before. Women are now able to go to school to get a proper education, they can vote, they are free to give out their opinions and suggestions without the authority of men questioning them and they can be found working in almost all jobs where men mostly worked at and in places where women weren’t usually accepted in.

Work Life

Female Fortune 500 CEOs

While women have beat the label of "housewife" in the 20th century, there are still tensions held between men and women in the workplace. Josette S. Shiner, an editor of the "Washington Times," stated in a public address that because women feel that they have to compete with men in the workforce they start also behaving like them. Still other women, Shiner said, gave up having a family altogether so they could focus more on work. In religious institutions, the men are still cast as the leaders, only they can hold clergy positions in some faiths. It has been reported that in 2014 for the first time in history, women are close to making it to a majority of the national workforce. The economic downturn has hit men harder. During what is now being called the "mancession", women were more able to retain their jobs as opposed to men. The New York Times recently reported that some of the highly educated, high powered women who "opted out" of corporations starting in the 90s to raise children and take care of ailing elders have now returned to the work.
Future 

Soon we may have a female president and powerful woman are beginning to dominate our society. Although women have a hard time getting out of the role that the 20^th century gave them, they keep trying to change their roles and reach to higher expectations. As a society, we need to continue to encourage people to go beyond stereotypes and recognize the contributions that each individual, male or female, can make to the workplace. Also we need to see that there shouldn’t be roles put on women because they can achieve much more then what their role limits them too. 

Works Cited

Frimpong, Yaw. "THE WOMAN IN THE 21ST CENTURY AND HER EFFECT ON THE SOCIETY." Modernghana.com. N.p., 19 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 May 2014. 

"Gender Inequality and Women in the Workplace." Harvard Summer School, n.d. Web. 29 May 2014.

Lovrine, Michelle. "Women's Roles Vs. Male's Roles in the 21st Century." EHow. Demand Media, 22 June 2011. Web. 29 May 2014. 

Rampell, Catherine. "The Mancession." Economix The Mancession Comments. N.p., 10 Aug. 2009. Web. 29 May 2014.

 

The Modern Woman

The right to work and gain economic independence was one of the major battles for feminists in the 20th century. The feminist movement in the United States and abroad was a social and political movement that wanted to establish equality for women. The movement transformed the lives of many individual women and had a profound effect upon American society throughout the twentieth century. 
Fighting for Legislation

 
During the first two decades of the century, women's groups in the United States worked together to win women's suffrage, culminating in the ratification of a constitutional amendment in 1920 that guaranteed women the right the vote. During the later twentieth century, women's groups would again band together, this time to formulate and advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Though this proposed constitutional amendment eventually failed to gain approval in the late 1970s, it became a rallying point for various women's groups and drew national attention to the feminist cause. The period between 1917 and the early 1960s was marked by two world wars and a subsequent economic boom that brought many American women into the workplace, initially to provide labor during the war, and then to help achieve and maintain a new higher standard of living enjoyed by many middle-class families. However, as women joined the workforce they became increasingly aware of their unequal economic and social status. Women who were homemakers, many with college educations, began to articulate their lack of personal fulfillment—what Betty Friedan in her enormously influential The Feminine Mystique (1963) called "the problem that has no name."

Challenges Remain
Women still had challenges to face such as wage gap and gender expectations.  Some people argue that wage gap between men and a woman doesn’t exist. The statistic at the core of the debate is the estimate of how much women earn compared to men in the workplace. The Census Bureau says that, on average, a woman working full time takes home 77 cents for every dollar a man working full time takes home. Statistics from the Time Record News shows that democrats and republic also have their own views on how the wage gap works today. Democrats, who believe the 77 percent figure represents a true salary disparity, that women really are paid less than men overall. This is especially galling in an era where women dominate the education system and make up half of the workforce. They argue that the problem is so severe it needs a law to fix it. Most of the Republicans, who see the wage gap statistic as an oversimplification or an exaggeration. They argue that there are reasons for the gap that have little to do with discrimination, including personal choices of occupation, education and total hours worked. When those factors are controlled for, they say, a wage gap barely exists. The 77 percent number used by the Census Bureau is the difference between full-time wages of men and women nationally. As should be expected, the gap has gotten smaller over time due to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and increased roles for women in the workforce.

Moving Forward
Throughout the years laws have been passed that aren’t meant to support the women. The 1960s and 1970s saw important legislation enacted to address sex discrimination in employment and education and most prominently, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the 1972 Higher Education Act. Hopefully for the years to come women can continue to be treated equally.

Body Blog

Historically, women around the world have tried to end their unplanned pregnancies whether abortion is legal or not, often putting in risk their own safety and health by self-inducing or seeking a dangerous illegal procedure. Estimates of the annual number of illegal abortions in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s range from 200,000 to 1.2 million. Prior to Roe v. Wade, as many as 5,000 American women died annually as a direct result of unsafe abortions. Today, abortion is one of the most commonly performed clinical procedures in the United States, and the death rate from abortion is extremely low: 0.6 per 100,000 procedures. 

Abortion Laws In The 1800s

In the mid-to-late 1800s states began passing laws that made abortion illegal. The motivations for anti-abortion laws were different from state to state. One of the reasons included fears that the population would be dominated by the children of newly arriving immigrants, whose birth rates were higher than those of "native" Anglo-Saxon women. All medical practices during the 1800s were extremely risky, all surgical procedures, including abortion, Hospitals were not common during these times and antiseptics were unknown, and even the most respected known doctors had only some medical educations. Without today's current technology, maternal and infant mortality rates during childbirth were extraordinarily high. The dangers from abortion were similar to the dangers from other surgeries that were not outlawed. 

Legalization in the Late 1960s  

Between 1967 and 1973 one-third of the state’s liberalized or repealed their criminal abortion laws. However, the right to have an abortion in all states was only made available to American women in 1973 when the Supreme Court struck down the remaining restrictive state laws with its ruling in Roe v. Wade. The 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade made it possible for women to get safe, legal abortions from well-trained medical practitioners. This led to dramatic decreases in pregnancy-related injury and death. Roe v. Wade ruled unconstitutional a state law that banned abortions except to save the life of the mother. The Court ruled that the states were forbidden from outlawing or regulating any aspect of abortion performed during the first trimester of pregnancy, could only pass abortion regulations reasonably related to maternal health in the second and third trimesters, and could pass abortion laws protecting the life of the fetus only in the third trimester. Even then an exception had to be made to protect the life of the mother. Controversial from the moment it was released Roe v. Wade politically divided the nation more than any other recent case and continues to inspire heated debates, politics, and even violence today. Though by no means the Supreme Court's most important decision, Roe v. Wade remains it’s most recognized.

Today

Studies from June 2013 show that out of the fifty states there are still nineteen states where abortion is completely illegal. All this is interesting to me because I see how people have felt about abortion throughout the years and how some things have changed. I feel that every woman should have the choice about what they should do about their own pregnancy. No one should have the right to tell a woman she has to have a kid because they are not the ones who are going to birth the baby or raise the child. This issue intersects with my own body because I want to know that I have to choice to have an abortion if that was what I felt was necessary. 

Works Cited
"Abortion Laws Worldwide." Women on Waves. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2014. 
Krishnan, Shweta. "The Hegemony Of The Male Doctor." The ASAP Blog. N.p., 7 May 2013. Web. 02 May 2014. 
Press, Kevin Mcgill Associated. "Court Hears Arguments on Mississippi Abortion Law." ABC News. ABC News Network, 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 02 May 2014. 
"Roe v. Wade (1973)." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Sullivan, Sean. "Where All 50 States Stand on Abortion, in Two Charts." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 07 Mar. 2013. Web. 02 May 2014.

Woman's Image Evolution over the Last 130 Years

Women's Dressing Patterns at the Turn of the Century

The image of the ideal woman

Before the 1920s, in particular around 1880 and 1910, women would dress and present themselves in a way that resembled the letter “S”.  Their waist was tighten with corsets measuring less the 20 inches. The upper torso was thrust toward and their hips were pointed backwards slightly up resembling the “S”. They all wore long dresses covering their entire bodies, if they even showed their ankles it would be considered racy. The younger women would put pads in their chest and hips to seem older and shapelier. Before the 1920s women tried their best to look older and mature. Although throughout the years to come the “S” shape began to soften. 
Evolution of Ideas in the 1920s 

Flapper

The 1920s were important to women because the way they dressed and their body expectations started to change. In a dramatic turn women started showing off their chest, and hips. This is when the Flappers started, the flapper represented an idea of women that was far more casual than the formal, corseted women. They usually had little regard for uptight behavioral norms and were reckless about the things they did. The flappers usually wore loose skirts and dresses that would show off their legs. Showing their ankles, knees and legs was very common in their wardrobe. The ideal of thinness and an enhanced appearance often drove women of the 1920s to diet and exercise in order to achieve this look, as well as buying cosmetics. Blush, dark eye makeup and large lips were in style, also having a healthy appearance was prized.
The 1950s till 1980s  

Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly

The body image around the 1950s was that women should have a full figure, very busty, with an hour glass shape. Models such as Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly were examples of how the perfect body should be. At this time women were also expected to always look their best and take advantage of beauty products. They were also expected to have flawless skin. Body image continued to change in the 1960s and 1970s, it was no longer about having full curvy figures. It was now about having skinny thin bodies, this had a huge impact on women health and diets habits. Women started using diet pills to lose weight and look like famous celebrities such as the singer Karen Carpenter who was known who starve as her method of dieting. Anorexia also began to happen throughout the 1970s. “American women’s BMI remained relatively steady at 24.9, making it difficult to match the body types of celebrities like Morgan Fairchild (18) or Joni Mitchell (20.5).” In the 1980s, the focus was more on fitness and being tone instead of just being thin and skinny.  Women were now exercising to get the perfect bodies that they wanted and not using diet pills as often.
Today's Woman and Going Forward
Today physical appearance has become the number one way we are valued in today's culture. Women want to look like the models or celebrities they see on television. The media gives women the pressure to look good and keep up with the trends. Women now feel the need to keep up with the new fashions, new hair and makeup trends. Today we find fit bodies and well taken care of faces to be beautiful.  Women should care more about how they feel and being more comfortable instead of worrying about what everyone expects them to look like.  

Works Cited
"1920s Women's Fashion." 1920s Fashion for Women. Just The Swing, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. 
Toole, Lucinda. "Buying into Body Image | The Oxford Student." The Oxford Student. N.p., 06 Apr. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
"Women's Body Image and BMI: 100 Years in the US." Rehabs.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

The Domestic Sphere

The 1840s and 1850s
In the 1840s and 50s women were expected to stay at home and take care of the housework. One of popular publications of the time was the Godey's Lady Book in which editor Sarah Josepha Hale talked about how men had to engage in necessary and often unethical, business practices and public affairs and women had to act as moral keepers of their home and family. She often portrayed Queen Victoria as a role model of femininity, morality and intellect. 

There was a variety of women’s literature at the time which preached that women must do everything possible to preserve the proper way of spouses and children in particular, as well as of American citizens in general. Women were believed to be domestic creatures. There were even schools that trained women to work as teachers before marriage and to serve as homemakers afterwards. 

Changes In Attitudes 

Women have come a long way from this early bias. There is no longer a general thinking that women shouldn’t be in the workplace because they have to be at home with the kids. Today women no longer have to be stay at home moms. Their only priorities do not fully consist of making sure the housework is done and that their husbands or children are taken care of. There are now many women in the work force and having successful careers. Jonathan House writes about how women are recovering jobs more quickly than men from the latest recession:

A record 67.5 million women are working today, up from the prior peak of 67.4 million in early 2008, according to the Labor Department's latest tally of payrolls that captured the full rebound for the first time. By comparison, 69 million men currently have jobs, below their high of 70.9 million in June 2007.

http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/

Men lost more than six million jobs in the recession and its aftermath. Women lost 2.7 million jobs. Women are now taking jobs in education, health and hospitality and retail, they’re able to expand their career choices and their opportunity in life. 

Taking The Next Step

Women are finally taking more prominent positions in our society. Hillary Clinton recently served as the Secretary of State and is a likely front runner for the next presidential election. This is after Sarah Palin was a recent nominee for the Republican Vice President. Back in the 1830s this would not have been something women could imagine to be possible. Although women have came a long way they still have some struggles to overcome such as gender bias in the work place and income inequality. In some work places women get paid 77 cents for every dollar that their co workers make. Many business places are more in favor of men working for them than women. In the years to come hopefully women will be acknowledged for their work abilities and be treated equally with men.

Works Cited

Catalyst. Quick Take: Statistical Overview of Women in the Workplace. New York: Catalyst, 

     March 3, 2014.

 

"Godey’s Lady’s Book." Accessible Archives Inc., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

House, Jonathan. "Women Reach a Milestone in Job Market." The Wall Street Journal. 

     Dow Jones & Company, 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

Waber, Ben. "What Data Analytics Says About Gender Inequality in the Workplace."  

     Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.