Why Do Women Take Their Husband's Last Names

I find it interesting that young women took their husband's last names. "While young women freely referred to themselves as Ms, they said they were more likely to take their husband's names after they married than their older sisters had been (Collins 331). " This is totally unfair why do men still get superiority. Women and men should both have equal opportunity to use their last names. Women were treated unequally in everything from the workplace, sports, and school. Women can be just as successfulas males therefore it doesn't make sense how they are always held above women. The central issue of the Women's movement was the family divide. "You second-guess yourself at work, you second- guess yourself at home and you second-guess yourself in terms of your own personal time" (Collins 334). Women as welk as males were busy and working hard to provide for their families. It was often difficult to be with your kids a lot. Many kids were expressing their opinions to their parents of how they spend more time at work than at home. Some kids said that they would never have the jobs their parents have when they are older. This statement hurt really bad for a lot of parents. It was very
challenging to balance both work and spending time with your family. The Women's movement had many achievements but this was a major flaw. I am suprised that in 1970's early child-care programs for American families who needed them was not offered.
" In 1996, under pressure from many of the same forces, it decided the government should not help support poor single mothers so they could stay home with their children " (Collins 335). Due to the fact that women should only work in the home caused many people to be poor. Whether you are rich, middle class or poor you should still be given the same opportunity to work. Many people in the nation would aid the poor women with no husbands and with children. "Nine million families, virtually all of them composed of single woman and their children, left the welfare rolls (Collins 337) . Many women would go to work but few people's income could get them out of
poverty. I was reminded of the sexual harassment in the workplace. " Women who worked were always aware of the problem, but if the broader public thought about it at all, it was only in the classic terms of a boss threatening to a fire a female employee unless she had sex with them" (Collins 341). Men using women for sex is still an issue today but was more common in the 1960's. Women are better for many reasons besides sex such as cooking, cleaning, workers, leaders and many other things. Sexual harassment was rising during this era but charges were not often even investigated. When women would threaten to report it the behavior kept getting worse and men would call women liars. The judges and people in general would always tend to side with the males. I realized that women had limited roles during the war. "The military had traditionally welcomed women's participation only in times of crisis, and even then in very limited roles. Women can fight and be just as successful on battle fields. "Women after World War II became permanently part of the armed forces" (Collins 343). Women were still not given the opportunities males did during war. Also If women got pregnant, had an abortion, and or got married then they were removed from the army. After the Vietnam War the country realized the significance of women in the armed forces. " The military's prestige was low, its leadership was in disarray, and the new volunteer Army was finding it impossible to fill its ranks" (Collins 343). Due to the lack of leadership and the other things mentioned many more women were willing to sign up for the draft. " Women who were willing to sign up had more education and tended to be better motivated than male volunteers" (Collins 344