The act of feminism is defined as “Working for change and expansion of women right,” says K.A. Branagan from the Gender and Women Studies department.
Women have been working to gain equal rights since 1848, with the signing of the Declaration of Sentiments, which outlined women’s grievances. The Declaration of Sentiments was the first plateau for feminists and women activists journey of achieving equality. Since then, the fight for women’s right to vote; ability to have a job, to dress and socialize a certain way were all stepping stones toward reaching a distant goal: equality of men.
In the year 2009 women are still being oppressed and silenced; kept in their place looking pretty and filing papers, holding jobs together by the waist bands and keeping their mouths zipped shut.
How far has society progressed since 1848, and who is responsible for talking the talk and walking the walk?
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Mother Teresa
In 1948, Mother Teresa was allowed permission to leave her convent and help those in the slums of Calcutta, also known as, Kolkata, India. Mother Teresa created her own charity, The Missionaries of Charity. The Missionaries of Charity has helped with natural disasters and poverty stricken. Mother Teresa won a Nobel Prize in 1979.
“I idolize Mother Teresa and people who dedicate their lives toward helping others,” says Kristen McCormack a Plattsburgh State student.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Credits: geocities.com
Eleanor Roosevelt aided the Red Cross and volunteered in Navy hospitals during WWI. In WWII Roosevelt went overseas to create stronger ally ties. Roosevelt helped out in the League of Women Voters, joined the Women's Trade Union League, and worked for the Women's Division of the New York State Democratic Committee. Later Roosevelt was appointed by Truman in 1946 to be the United States Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, and Roosevelt was reappointed by JFK in 1961. Roosevelt was also Director of the Human Rights Commission during the drafting of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights.
“I’m really inspired by her [Roosevelt], she used her position (as first lady) to benefit other people. She created the main pieces of legislation and contract of human rights,” says Samantha Stuber a Plattsburgh State student.
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan, regarded by the Encyclopedia of World Biography, is the leader of women’s rights and feminist movement. Friedan was a member of National Organization of Women, the National Abortion Rights Action League and the National Women’s Political Caucus. Friedan also wrote the Feminine Mystique in 1963. The Feminine Mystique explored the idealized image of femininity at the time and critiqued its label.
“It [The Feminine Mystique] was a catalyst for the housewife revolution. She wrote about the unhappiness of being a housewife, how women should be treated and how they should have something in their lives (other than being a housewife),” Stuber says “It was a step toward the way we are now,” says Stuber. Stuber adds that she is scared to think of a life where the Feminine Mystique would not have been published and where she would have no other choice but to live as a housewife.
Margaret Chase Smith and Shirley Chisholm
Credits: voanews.com
This past election was thought to be the closest a woman has ever been at winning a presidential election. Prior to Hillary though were presidential candidates Margaret Chase Smith and Shirley Chisholm.
Margaret Chase Smith had been elected United States Senate in 1948, and then ran for Republican presidential primaries in 1964. Smith was the first woman to have her name on the presidential nomination. Refusing to withdraw Smith came up second place to Republican Senator Barry Goldwater.
Breaking down an additional wall Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman to run for presidential nomination. Chisholm served in New York General Assembly from 1964 to 1968 where she proposed a bill that aided day-care centers and increased the funding for schools based on a per-pupil rate. In 1968 Chisholm ran for New York’s Twelfth Congressional District. She not only won the position but the title of being the first African American elected to Congress. Chisholm elected an all women staff while she was in congress. She spoke out on civil rights, women’s rights, poverty and the Vietnam War.
January 25, 1972 Chisholm’s presented her presidential speech, "I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the United States. I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women's movement of this country, although I am a woman, and I am equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or special interests. I am the candidate of the people."
After the women’s rights movement, life for women wasn’t living in Kansas anymore; there was color, and new opportunities that would’ve never been fathomed. Still till this day, it is not a question that women have a disadvantage in society, and women still climb steeper and steeper stepping-stones. Women can only continue to do just that and hope to see the top of the mountain so they can fly.
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