FREE ESSAY ON WOMEN'S ROLES 2000

WOMEN'S ROLES 2000

Overall, the rights and status of women have improved considerably in the last century;
however, gender equality has been threatened within the last two decades. Blatantly
sexist laws and practices are slowly being eliminated while social perceptions of women's
roles continue to stagnate and even degrade back to traditional ideals. It is these
social perceptions that challenge the evolution of women as equal on all levels. In this
study, I will argue that subtle and blatant sexism continues to exist throughout
educational, professional and legal arenas. 
Women who carefully follow their expected roles may never recognize sexism as an
oppressive force in their life. I find many parallels between women's experiences in the
nineties and Betty Friedan's, cofounder of the National Organization of Women, in her
essay: The Way We Were - 1949. She dealt with a society that expected women to fulfill
certain roles. Those roles completely disregarded the needs of educated and motivated
business women and scientific women. The subtle message that society gave was that the
educated woman was actually selfish and evil. I remember in particular the searing effect
on me, who once intended to be a psychologist, of a story in McCall's in December 1949
called A Weekend with Daddy. A little girl who lives a lonely life with her mother,
divorced, an intellectual know-it-all psychologist, goes to the country to spend a
weekend with her father and his new wife, who is wholesome, happy, and a good cook and
gardener. And there is love and laughter and growing flowers and hot clams and a gourmet
cheese omelet and square dancing, and she doesn't want to go home. But, pitying her poor
mother typing away all by herself in the lonesome apartment, she keeps her guilty secret
that from now on she will be living for the moments when she can escape to that dream
home in the country where they know what life is all about. (Fetzer, 57) 
I have often consulted my grandparents about their experiences, and I find their
historical perspective enlightening. My grandmother was pregnant with her third child in
1949. Her work experience included: interior design and modeling women's clothes for the
Sears catalog. I asked her to read the Friedan essay and let me know if she felt as moved
as I was, and to share with me her experiences of sexism. Her immediate reaction was to
point out that, Betty Friedan was a college educated woman and she had certain goals that
never interested me. My grandmother, though growing up during a time when women had few
social rights, said she didn't experience oppressive sexism in her life. However, when
she describes her life accomplishments, I feel she has spent most of her life fulfilling
the expected roles of women instead of pursuing goals that were mostly reserved for men.
Unknowingly, her life was controlled by traditional, sexist values prevalent in her time
and still prevalent in the year 2000.
Twenty-four years after the above article from McCall's magazine was written, the Supreme
Court decided whether women should have a right to an abortion in Roe v. Wade (410 U.S.
113 (1973)). I believe the decision was made in favor of women's rights mostly because
the court made a progressive decision to consider the woman as a human who may be
motivated by other things in life than just being a mother. Justice Blackmun delivered
the following opinion: 
Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and
future. Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by
child care. There is also a distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted
child, and there is the problem of bringing a child into a family already unable,
psychologically and otherwise, to care for it. In other cases, as in this one, the
additional difficulties and continuing stigma of unwed motherhood may be involved.
(Goldman, 205) 
I feel the court decision of Roe v. Wade would not have been made in 1949. Even in 1973,
it was a progressive decision. The problem of abortion has existed for the entire history
of this country (and beyond), but had never been addressed because discussing these
issues was not socially acceptable. A culture of not discussing issues that have a
profound impact on women is a culture that encourages women to be powerless. The right of
abortion became a major issue. Before 1970, about a million abortions were done every
year, of which only about ten thousand were legal. Perhaps a third of the women having
illegal abortions - mostly poor women - had to be hospitalized for complications. How
many thousands died as a result of these illegal abortions no one really knows. But the
illegalization of abortion clearly worked against the poor, for the rich could manage
either to have their baby or to have their abortion under safe conditions. (Zinn, 499) 
A critic of the women's movement would quickly remind us that women have a right to
decline marriage and sex, and pursue their individual interests. However, I would argue
that the social pressure women must endure if they do not conform to their expected role
is unfair. The problem goes beyond social conformity and crosses into government
intervention (or lack thereof). The 1980's saw the pendulum swing against the women's
movement. Violent acts against women who sought abortions became common and the
government was unsympathetic to the victims. There are parallels between the Southern
Black's civil rights movement and the women's movement: Blacks have long been accustomed
to the white government being unsympathetic to violent acts against them. During the
civil rights movement, legal action seemed only to come when a white civil rights
activist was killed. Women are facing similar disregard presently, and their movement is
truly one for civil rights. 
A national campaign by the National Organization of Women began on 2 March 1984,
demanding that the US Justice Department investigate anti-abortion terrorism. On 1 August
federal authorities finally agreed to begin to monitor the violence. However, Federal
Bureau of Investigation director, William Webster, declared that he saw no evidence of
terrorism. Only on 3 January 1985, in a pro-forma statement, did the President criticize
the series of bombings as violent anarchist acts, but he still refused to term the acts
as terrorism. Reagan deferred to Moral Majoritarian Jerry Falwell's subsequent campaign
to have fifteen million Americans wear armbands on 22 January 1985, one for every legal
abortion since 1973. Falwell's anti-abortion outburst epitomized Reaganism's orientation:
We can no longer passively and quietly wait for the Supreme Court to change their mind or
for Congress to pass a law. Extremism on the right was no vice, moderation no virtue. Or,
as Hitler explained in Mein Kamph, The very first essential for success is a perpetually
constant and regular employment of violence. (Marable, 40-41) 
This mentality continued on through 1989 during the Webster v. Reproductive Health
Services (109 S. Ct. 3040 (1989)) case. The Reagan Administration had urged the Supreme
Court to use this case as the basis for overturning Roe v. Wade. (Goldman, 767) 
It is disturbing that the slow gains achieved by the women's movement are so volatile and
endangered when conservative administrations gain a majority in government. To put the
problem into perspective: a woman's right to have an abortion in this country did not
come until 1973. Less than two decades later, the president of the United States was
pushing to take that right away. It seems blatant that society is bent on putting women
in their places. 
From the above examples, it appears American culture prefers women as non-professional,
non-intellectual, homemakers and mothers. This mentality is not easily resolved, because
it is introduced at a young age. Alice Brooks experienced inequality on the basis of her
race and her sex. In her autobiography, A Dream Deferred, she recalls the reaction of her
father when she brought up the idea of college to him:
I found a scholarship for veterans' children and asked my father to sign and furnish
proof that he was a veteran. He refused and told me that I was only going to get married
and have babies. I needed to stay home and help my mother with her kids. My brother
needed college to support a family. Not only was I not going to get any help, I was also
tagged as selfish because I wanted to go to college. (Fetzer, 234) 
This is another example of women being labeled as selfish for wanting the same
opportunities as men. Alice Brooks is seemingly a very courageous woman; having the
ability to overcome any oppression she may encounter. She states that women who succeed
in male dominated fields are never mediocre - they are extraordinary achievers. Her
insight encapsulates much of the subtle sexism that exists today. I feel that no one can
truly be equal in a society when only the extraordinary achievers are allowed to succeed
out of their expected social role. 
This attitude of rising blatant and subtle attacks on women's civil rights is further
exemplified in recent reactions to affirmative action plans. These plans have been
devised to try to give women and minorities an opportunity to participate in
traditionally white male dominated areas. However, we see the same trends in legal action
for the use of affirmative action plans as we saw in the 1980's backlash against the Roe
v. Wade decision. A few interesting points were presented in the case, Johnson v.
Transportation Agency, Santa Clara (480 U.S. 616 (1987)). Mr. Paul E. Johnson filed suit
against the Santa Clara County Transportation Agency when he was denied a promotion,
feeling the company's affirmative action plan denied him of his civil rights. Some
interesting facts were presented in this case: 
Specifically, 9 of the 10 Para-Professionals and 110 of the 145 Office and Clerical
Workers were women. By contrast, women were only 2 of the 28 Officials and
Administrators, 5 of the 58 Professionals, 12 of the 124 Technicians, none of the Skilled
Crafts Workers, and 1 - who was Joyce - of the 110 Road Maintenance Workers. (Goldman,
784)
The above statistics show women have been considerably underrepresented at the Santa
Clara County Transportation Agency. These numbers are not uncommon and are found
throughout business. It is interesting to note the current popular perception is that
affirmative action precludes white males from finding employment with companies that
implement these plans. The truth is in the numbers, however. The fact that Mr. Johnson
felt he was denied his civil rights because an equally qualified woman was given a
promotion, instead of him, is just a small window into the subtle sexism that exists
today. Most critics of affirmative action do not consider the grossly unequal numbers of
men in management and professional positions. Secondly, it never seems an issue of debate
that a woman may have had no other previous life opportunities in these male dominated
areas. I do not intend to argue that affirmative action is good or bad, but only wish to
point out that the current backlash against these programs is heavily rooted in sexism
and racism. 
Often blatant violence or unfair acts against a group of people will cause that group to
pull together and empower themselves against their oppressors. The women's movement has
made large steps to eliminate many of these blatantly sexist acts in the last century.
Now the real difficulty is upon us: subtle acts of sexism and the degrading social roles
of women in today's conservative culture. Alice Brooks so eloquently described her
experiences with inequality, stating, the worst pain came from those little things people
said or did to me. (Fetzer, 236) As these little things accumulate in the experience of a
young woman, she increasingly finds herself powerless in her relationships, employment,
economics, and society in general. The female child has as many goals as the male child,
but statistically she is unable to realize these goals because of the obstacles that
society sets in front of her. Society and media attempt to create an illusion that women
have every right that men enjoy. However, women will never be equal until the day female
scientists, intellectuals, professionals, military leaders, and politicians are just as
accepted and encouraged to participate in all of society's arenas as males. 
Bibliography
Works Cited:
Fetzer, Philip L. The Ethnic Moment, The Search For Equality In The American Experience.
New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1997.
Goldman, Sheldon. Constitutional Law Cases & Essays, Second Edition.
New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991.
Marable, Manning. Beyond Black & White. New York: Verso, 1995.
Zinn, Howard. A People's History of The United States. New York: HarperCollins
Publishers,
1980.