Preview

Elizabeth Cady Argumentative Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1078 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Elizabeth Cady Argumentative Essay
The Webster's New Explorer Dictionary defines feminism as an organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests (“Feminism”). Over the past 200 years, women have fought for these rights in an effort to receive equal pay, voting rights, and marriage equality; however, these are only some of the things that feminists have fought for. In addition, average women are not the only ones fighting for their rights. Along with them are celebrities, human activists, political, and historical figures that also strive to see a day where a woman's rights are equal to the typical white man's rights. As Susan B. Anthony, a woman’s rights activist once said, “The day may be approaching when the whole world will recognize woman as the equal of man”. …show more content…
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a woman with limitless energy. (Mcgill “Elizabeth Cady Stanton”). Elizabeth Cady Stanton started one of the best known feminist movements at the Seneca Falls conference. She was willing to defy many people’s beliefs about women, boldly asserting that women should have the right to vote during a time when this was not considered acceptable (Mcgill “Elizabeth Cady Stanton”). Another women's rights activist would be Sojourner Truth. Sojourner not only fought for the abolishment of slavery, but she also fought for women’s rights alongside it. She gave her most famous speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?” at a woman’s rights conference in Akron, Ohio, in 1851, where all of the other speakers were men. In her speech, she attacked the idea of women being the “weaker sex” said that men should not be afraid of women having equal rights to them. It became a classic women’s rights speech (Sojourner Truth (1797-1883). Women were encouraged to get back into the workforce during World War II following Rosie the Riveters propaganda breakthrough. Between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the home. “Rosie the Riveter,” star of a government campaign aimed at recruiting female workers for the munitions industry, became perhaps the most iconic image of working women during the war (History Staff “Rosie the Riveter”). Rosie has been a feminist icon to women for years. Not only are women feminist activists, but men also fought for it too. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King campaigned alongside mainly for black feminism. She was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as well as joining groups such as the Young Progressives and the Civil Liberties Committee at Antioch College in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sojourner Truth became the strongest symbol of African American women during an era where both sexism and racism were prominent issues. Her life was not easy. She was sold into slavery several times. Her family and friends were constantly taken away from her and sold into slavery. Sojourner Truth’s use of appeals, repetition, and rhetorical questions in her speech “Aren’t I a Women?” illuminates her women’s rights argument.…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    4. Nellie McClung – the suffragist who gathers together with other women, campaigned for women’s rights.…

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    While most American men were off fighting for their country during World War II, it was the women who brought home the bacon every night. Since males weren’t around to support their families, females had to step up. House-wives and many other females started working for the first time, and all because of the media and propaganda that the government used to persuade them. Rosie the Riveter, one piece of propaganda during World War II, was a major reason behind women joining the work force and proving, for a short time, what they were capable of.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    African American abolitionists and women's rights activist, Sojourner Truth expresses in her speech, Ain’t I A Woman (1851), that women should have rights given unto them, no matter what race. She first supports her claim by recognizing that men say women should be helped through their daily lives, yet she has never been helped in any way. She continues by telling of the hardships she faces daily. Although she is facing more than what most white men face, she is not classified as a women based on rights in society. Truth establishes an optimistic view on the subject of women’s rights for her audience, while forming a straightforward, hopeful tone.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sojourner Truth makes several striking points regarding women's rights in her argumentative speech, "Aren't I a Woman?" She boldly expresses her opinion on the way society judges the status of women, and she explains that she too is a woman, so why does she not receive the same treatment as other women do? Throughout her daring speech, Sojourner responds audaciously to the implied arguments made by other members present at the women's rights convention. She proposes questions such as "where did your Christ come from?" (756), replying to the argument that women bear fewer rights than men because "Christ wasn't a woman" (756). Sojourner Truth refutes members of the convention who spoke before her through her effective use of the repetitive question, "Aren't I a woman?" (755).…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rosie The Riveter Thesis

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In 1941 the United States was pulled into World War 2. For the economy, it was exactly needed after the depression. Men were sent off to help with the war leaving women to help bring up contributions to the war. Many work opportunities were open to women, even pushed by propaganda to support the war so that it may end soon. Barriers were broken about women doing a man’s job. Racial discrimination came almost to a near halt as people of different ethnicity and backgrounds came to help work in the factories. One of the propagandas used was Rosie the Riveter. A woman who was a symbol of the strong work ethic women had brought to the forefront.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I A Woman?”(1851), she argues that the inequalities faced by both women and African Americans during this time period in America should be abolished because the rights of an individual should not be determined by race or gender. Using rhetorical techniques such as powerful tone and diction, rhetorical questions, and argument, Truth portrays her claim of the importance of equal rights and the prejudice of men being the only people who have rights. The purpose for this speech is to build understanding on the oppression of women and blacks in order to view it from the perspective of one who has experienced it. Truth targets an audience of women and blacks while using a sympathetic but serious tone.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Sojourner Truth’s speech, “Ain’t I A Woman,” she focused on how rights were very unjust, not only as a woman but also as an African American. In 1851 at the Woman’s Rights Convention located in Akron, Ohio, men were depreciating woman’s standards. Sojourner did not agree with what the men were saying and she stood up for the rights of all women. At the convention, one man had said that women needed to be helped into carriages and lifted over mud puddles. She is taken aback by the man’s comment and said, “Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place!…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    With the depletion of men from home and with industries urging for more work force, in order to attract young women into factories, propaganda embellished women by depicting them as unconcerned of vile working conditions and capable of doing strenuous work. Moreover, the government propaganda stressed that the women would get high pay, which was important to a woman supporting a family. As a result, Women responded vigorously to the propaganda into the Selective Services. They constituted more than 30% of the industrial workforce in Canada, and an unprecedented fifty thousand women served in the armed forces during World War Two. This clearly proves that the use of propaganda was vital in pushing women to work, and consequently gave them the opportunity to testify that women could be just as competent as men. Furthermore, during the war, the government, for propaganda purposes, created individual heroines such as Rosie the Riveter – powerful and determined - who originated from the U.S. and later became a symbolic representation of working women in Canada. It was very important in the sense that it broke the stereotypes held against women, moving them into positions well outside of traditional roles. As a result of their involvement in the war and the need of the government to further attract women into the war industry, the women’s…

    • 1278 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Posters encouraging women to join the workforce were established all throughout the United States. The “Rosie the Riveter” campaign was the most prominent. Images proclaiming “We Can Do It!” were everywhere. Rosie was a fictional character created by wartime agencies to encourage women. She was a symbol of female ingenuity, urging women to “leave the kitchen” and do the men’s work (Partners in Winning the War: American Women in WWII).…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The image of ‘Rosie The Riveter’ with her red bandana and her “We Can Do It!” motto inspired many women to get into the workplace and do their bit for their country. However, after the War had ended and the men returned home, the women of America lost some of the social and economic gains they had achieved in the decade following the war. When the men returned many women lost their jobs and were expected by their husband and society to give up work and return to be a housewife. Some of the women who could maintain employment were given lower standard jobs and paid lower wages compared to what the men were paid, even though they had been doing that job for years while the men were at war.…

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of We Can Do It !

    • 1859 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Before War, women were treated as a baby producing machine and a caretaker, because women were only “allowed” to do jobs such as cooking, cleaning, feeding and taking care of the kids. During WWII, when country really needed workers, women were portrayed as cooperative, confident and tough as they took the role of a men and eventually help to win the war. In the image shown in the propaganda “We Can Do It!,” it shows that women are capable of being strong and have the ability to work like men. By looking at the Rosie the Riveter (which was made…

    • 1859 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Aside from becoming part of the military, many women were also entering the workforce. These strong, independent women were becoming employed after many openings were left because of men leaving to join the military, Between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent and the number of women working rose from 11,970,000 in 1940 to 18,610,000 in 1945 alone. These working women were inspired by posters and campaigns aiming to recruit female workers. ‘Rosie the Riveter’ was one of the most iconic images. It featured a women with rolled up sleeves and the words “We can do it.” The image of strong working women became very common in the media. By the end of the war one in every four wives…

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    One social movement that has significantly affected public opinion of gender issues but tends to be overlooked occurred when America entered World War II. History classes often focus on the political and military aspects of World War II, and therefore disregard the efforts made by women in the United States during this time (Anderson, 1988). In 1942, the federal government created a fictional character, known as "Rosie the Riveter" to encourage women to take part in the war effort by joining the labor force and taking jobs that were usually held by men (Henry, 2005). By the end of the war, six million women had entered the work force for the first time (Ivy & Backlund, 2008). Women could be found doing anything from clerical jobs in war-related industries to factory jobs as welders, riveters, assemblers, or inspectors. Therefore, the number of occupations open to women and minorities significantly increased when there were not enough white males around to fill these positions. Another positive effect of women joining these occupations is that as discrimination in the work place went down, women 's wages rose substantially (Kaufman, 2002). According to Anderson (1988), as this movement took women from their homes and placed them in the work force, it "dramatically altered the roles of status of women, placing…

    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is feminism? The definition of feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. In other words, it is the belief that women should be treated as equals to men as well as promoting gender equality in all areas of our everyday lives. Although feminism has come a long way in the past decades, from desegregation in work places, to voting rights, there is still more work to do as the fight for gender equality is far from over.…

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics