The “Fighting for the Vote” video showcased the long and grueling seventy-two-year long fight for women’s suffrage. It all began with the Seneca Falls Convention lead by Elizabeth Cady Stanton which is where they discussed the Declaration of Sentiments that listed all of the grievance’s women had to endure and how to resolve them. They came to the notion about the right to vote and many people thought that it was too radicle, but they proceeded with it. They also talked about how before the Civil War the fight for rights was fought hand in hand with women and African Americans. After the Civil War, the suffrage movement took a very long time to come back into action. I found it very interesting how it took so long for the women to get the right to vote due to all of the obstacles the government was facing with the 13th– 15th amendments. I thought that it was very smart and unique of the women to tag along to public events with their own parades because it really got the word out and eventually got them the 19th amendment, granting women the right to vote. The only disappointing thing about this victory is that the women who made it possible thought that there was going to be a huge change for women in America, but there was not and the battle for equality is still ongoing.
The ongoing battle for equality can be seen in the article “Would Women Lead Differently?” by Victoria Schein. This article discusses the fact that women are less likely to be in leadership positions compared to men, even though it has been proven that performance wise women and men are identical. The biggest problem that holds women back in leadership positions is the fact that they are expected to be the homemakers and raise the children. This is why women are seen to lead differently, due to the fact that they will create more of an interface between working and raising a family. I think that it is very hard to hold women to the standard of the past when more and more families have two working parents. I found that the conclusion of this article was very interesting because women do lead differently than men, but their differences arguably make them better. Women are said to be more gender blind in promotional decisions, and they are more devoted to enhancing the work and family interface. Although that is true, the fact that sex is still being considered as a factor when considering who will be a good leader and who will not is absurd to me.
I agree that – along with any kind of movement striving for change – individuals need to raise awareness of the issue in order to achieve any modification. To me, this is the reason why the women’s suffrage movement did not become successful until public events and parades took place.
This is a great point. The article also mentions how women won’t rise to the top in executive positions in proportion to men until the system is structured differently. As of now it is structured to have one spouse, specifically a man, devote increasing amounts of time to the job and expects the other one to stay at home. This often forces women to choose between being a full time mom and having a career. Can’t women do both if they want to? Why should they have to choose one?
I completely agree with you. I think it’s interesting that people always talk about women having to choose between having a career and raising children, but men are parents too and are never expected to make these choices.
I agree with your point in that it’s very hard to hold women to that same standards that women were held to 70 years ago because women today are in positions that were unimaginable to women back then, such as working in the workforce and fighting for workplace equality.
I really liked the example Schein gave of Norway. With a much higher percentage of women high-ranking political offices, the structure of their workdays and culture has changed to allow for more provisions for childcare and understanding of domestic responsibilities. They show that with the proper adaptations both men and women benefit and more women are able to hold leadership positions.