Women's Achievements

I really liked Mrs. Kingsbury’s talk, and I thought that the ideas in it were very important. Women often achieve great things, but are not credited for their work. Additionally, when women are credited for their work they have to do more to gain the respect of many people in society. THis was very evident in the recent election. Although Hillary Clinton is an incredibly accomplished politician, many people did not see all of the work she had done, or even credited it to her husband. Clinton was a senator for New York for many years and the secretary of state after that, but her accomplishments in these roles were not recognized while she was running for president. Women often have to do double the amount of work that men do to get the same amount of recognition. Overall the standards are higher for women to get credit for their work. This is prevalent throughout society, even at govs. At the Lip Sync battle many of the women were booed for not doing a ‘good enough’ job, but when the guys went they did not get booed even though their performances weren’t as well rehearsed. Furthermore, women’s accomplishments are not focused on. While on the red carpet, many women are asked about their dresses and makeup, whereas men are asked about their jobs. This difference is reflected throughout popular culture. In commercials, women are often used as sexual objects rather than people who have accomplishments. In our culture, women are seen far more as objects than as people with personalities, ideas and accomplishments.

I was assigned to research Elizabeth Magie, who invented a board game very similar to Monopoly. Eventually when her patent on the game expired it was used to make Monopoly. I had known about the inventor of Monopoly even before I had to research Magie, but I had no idea who Magie was. Similarly, I didn’t know any of the other women that Mrs. Kingsbury mentioned, but I did know men who had accomplished similar things. Men’s accomplishments are more valued and heard about in today’s society, which leads women’s accomplishments not to be heard about. This problem will continue unless society makes a serious effort to recognize women and all of the work that they do.