The Progression of Women through the 20th Century
The Progression of Women through the 20th Century
March 24, 2014
HIS204
There has been so much history and so many changes to our country over the last 100 years. I will focus on the changes that women have fought for and helped in making positive changes in our country.
“If one compares a woman in 1900 with her counterpart in 2000, the gains have been significant. There were the obvious changes, such as the right to vote and other governmental policies supporting women in the 1960s and 1970s. The results were women successfully engaging in certain jobs for the first time. Where women were once a minority, or excluded entirely, by 1980, they accounted for more than half of all undergraduate students”, (Bowles, 2011). Even with all the advancements of women, we should not forget about the challenges that we are still facing today. In the present day work force, women are still discriminated against due to the “glass ceiling”, a term used in describing a perfectly qualified person to be held back in a lower level position because of discrimination. A lot has changed in the last 100 years. Women have taken each step towards equality that they have been allowed. “Looking back over the century, Nancy Woloch stated, "Women of the twenty-first century, thus inherited an unfinished agenda, one initiated by second wave feminists in the 1960’s and 1970’s but incomplete as the century ended”, (Bowles, 2011).
Jane Addams spent nearly 50 years working towards women’s rights and world peace. She founded Hull House which was a home “where women assisted the needy and provided social uplift for those suffering from what she called the ‘wrecked foundations of domesticity’”, (Bowles, 2011). “Addams's life and work can act as one possible study of the personal developing into the political; as Addams matured in years and experience, she became more and more political in her activities”, (Alonso, 2004). Addams was also named Nobel Peace
March 24, 2014
HIS204
There has been so much history and so many changes to our country over the last 100 years. I will focus on the changes that women have fought for and helped in making positive changes in our country.
“If one compares a woman in 1900 with her counterpart in 2000, the gains have been significant. There were the obvious changes, such as the right to vote and other governmental policies supporting women in the 1960s and 1970s. The results were women successfully engaging in certain jobs for the first time. Where women were once a minority, or excluded entirely, by 1980, they accounted for more than half of all undergraduate students”, (Bowles, 2011). Even with all the advancements of women, we should not forget about the challenges that we are still facing today. In the present day work force, women are still discriminated against due to the “glass ceiling”, a term used in describing a perfectly qualified person to be held back in a lower level position because of discrimination. A lot has changed in the last 100 years. Women have taken each step towards equality that they have been allowed. “Looking back over the century, Nancy Woloch stated, "Women of the twenty-first century, thus inherited an unfinished agenda, one initiated by second wave feminists in the 1960’s and 1970’s but incomplete as the century ended”, (Bowles, 2011).
Jane Addams spent nearly 50 years working towards women’s rights and world peace. She founded Hull House which was a home “where women assisted the needy and provided social uplift for those suffering from what she called the ‘wrecked foundations of domesticity’”, (Bowles, 2011). “Addams's life and work can act as one possible study of the personal developing into the political; as Addams matured in years and experience, she became more and more political in her activities”, (Alonso, 2004). Addams was also named Nobel Peace
References: Bowles, M. (2011). American history 1865–present: End of isolation. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Greenwald, M. W. (1989). Working-class feminism and the family wage ideal: The Seattle debate on married women 's right to work, 1914-1920. The Journal of American History, 76(1), 118. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/224935575?accountid=32521 Bliven, B. (1925, Sept. 9). Flapper Jane. Retrieved from http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/1025/flapperjane.pdf Alonso H. (2004). Thinking and Acting Locally and Globally. Journal of Women 's History 16.1 (2004) 148-164