Fighting Back: The Rise of Feminism Jonathan Kim and Lauren Kang

Rights of Women in the Past Women were considered as a separate class in the past. A husband and wife were legally one person - him (Chafetz and Dworkin 1986) Women were unable to vote, take on leadership roles, and take part as a major factor in society. Men held onto more power, privileges, and used social institution in order to keep their social statues “Politics is too public, too wearing, and too unfitted to the nature of women” - Jeannette Gilder Were viewed as the main source of temptation for example from the Greek mythologies. "Woman is the gate of the devil, the path of wickedness, the sting of the serpent, in a word a perilous object." Thomas Aquinas Different religions also discriminated women such as Hinduism. “A women’s place is a home”

Rights of Women in the Past Feminism : the view that biology is not destiny and that stratification by gender is wrong and should be resisted.

1700s During the Colonial times, all household members were responsible for contributing to the economic survival of the family. Tasks of Women: Sewing, Gardening, and Taking care of the Children 1775: George Washington sponsored a bill to create a hospital for the army. The women were paid 25 cents a day. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was passed in 1792 in order to educate women and to pass their education to children.

1800s During the early to mid-1800s, the hoop skirt represented the traditional dress worn by women. Activists preferred women to have constricting shorter skirt in order to maintain modesty The women had to surrender property rights when they were married until the mid-1800s. In 1869, the National Women Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed by Susan B. Anthony in order to fight for women suffrage and to oppose the fifteenth amendment. 1848: the Married Women’s Property Act was passed in New York city, allowing women to hold property even though they are married.

1800s 1839: a law was passed which stated that if a marriage broke down and the parents separated, children under seven years of age should stay with their mother. 1857: women could divorce husbands who were cruel to them or husbands who had left them. 1870: women were allowed to keep money they had earned. 1891: women could not be forced to live with husbands unless they wished to

1900s Women were mostly unable to vote during the 1900s. On March 3, 1913, women picketed for women’s right in front of the White House The National Women’s Party was formed in 1916 to fight for women’s right. In 1923, the Equal Rights Amendment was passed in order to grant equal rights on women.

Conclusion Women were mostly unable to vote in historical times until The more industrialized the country (United States) became, women lost more and more rights in society.

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