Cult of Domesticity

I got to OC’s lecture a little late but from what i heard in the end, i really enjoyed her talk. I was in her american studies class so i could remember some of the pictures and things she taught us about then that related to the woman's suffrage movement. OC started by talking about some problems that we still have today, especially with the past election with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. More than half of white woman actually voted for Donald Trump. This is really surprising to me because of some of the things Trump would say were very sexist and portrayed him as a woman hater. OC also talked about the reasons why these republican women voted for him and it was because these women were tasked with raising educated, Christian men who would fulfill their civic responsibilities. This was an old fashioned way of thinking that started all the way back to the Antebellum America. The women became involved in Temperance movement and abolition because they wanted the men to stop drinking because it reflected poorly on their families. If the women could vote then they would vote for abolition and it became a good reason for women to be given the right. Starting with Catherine Beecher, she was apart of the anti-suffrage movement who said if the women unite and ask for something reasonable then it would have been bestowed upon them by the white men in society, American women have a ”lofty and fortunate position”. This moved to the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, where there were 300 people and 40 men, this convention was held for women to ask for full citizenship which included right to vote. There was always some opposition to Women’s Suffrage and it was not always the men. Men and women of the upper class were equally opposed to extending suffrage to women because they are concerned with “societal disruptions”. Women in the upper class were satisfied and they believed any radical change may alter your position there. Along with the upper class being against it, some religions were too for their own reasons. Christianity male and female had their set roles, the mothers would raise the kids and keep the house clean and the fathers make money and deal with politics. Some things men would say in that time were ”A woman is nobody. A wife is everything.” They are saying it is mutually exclusive you can’t vote and be a wife and mother. As other women were trying to develop their rights, the 15th amendment allowed black men to be able to vote along with white men. This was a big problem because this infuriated even more women who wanted the right to vote. When things started to slow down it became the progressive era where the NAACP was founded, Prohibition, and Child labor laws. A lot was making the country better which opened the perfect time for women’s suffrage to make a comeback after everything. After this time, a few more things were being brought up, like the gender pay gap when everything believed that women do not need to be paid as much because they don’t have to take care of their family, unlike the men. This is still a very controversial topic today because the discrimination between men and woman is still happening in many different ways. It wasn’t until 19th Amendment was passed in May 1919. Susan B. Anthony passed the amendment in the house that allowed women to vote. The first election for the women was in 1920 and 75% of men in Chicago voted, but only 46% of women did, 33% of those women said they did not vote because of political indifference, other reasons are anti women’s suffrage or because their husband wouldn’t allow it. This started a whole new chapter to the women which lead to the second wave of feminism. Starting in 1961 Presidential Commision on Women, 1964 Civil Rights Act and Affirmative Action, 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut (birth control was illegal), 1969 Weeks v. Southern Bell (workplace discrimination), 1972 Title IX, and 1973 Roe v. Wade. From this we read a couple articles about current feminism problems in our country. The first one was by a women named Steinem who believes women are economically oppressed and women do the same jobs as men but get paid less. Women are complicit because they have accepted society’s dictation of their place in society and these lead to herr points in her articles that talks about internalized aggression: womans accepted they're second class. One says stop complaining, woman are economically depressed. Steinem’s sex based myths include, women are biologically inferior to men, women are already treated equally in society, american woman hold great economic power, children must have full time mothers, and the women's movement is not serious. “American children seem libbers are radicals who are waging a total assault on the family, on marriage, and on children”. And in the article by Schlafly, “what's wrong with equal rights for women” her points included, the claim that women are unfairly treated is the fraud of the century, women already have the status of special privilege, women will be subject to military draft, women will lose child support and alimony, and women will lose workplace protections. This lecture really opened my eyes on how women have really struggled in the past and have always been a step down below men. I can see that this is still a topic some people feel very strongly about but i know we have come very far and i think it'll continue to get better.