WOMEN´S RIGHTS
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.
In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behavior, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed.
Issues commonly associated with notions of women's rights include, though are not limited to, the right: to bodily integrity and autonomy; to vote (suffrage); to hold public office; to work; to fair wages or equal pay; to own property; to education; to serve in the military or be conscripted; to enter into legal contracts; and to have marital, parental and religious rights.
During the whole 19th century, women had no political rights though there had been some movement in other areas to advance the right of women. In 1839 a law was passed which stated that if a marriage broke down and the parents separated, children less than 7 years old should stay with their mother. In 1857 women could divorce husbands who were cruel to them. In 1870 women were allowed to keep money they had earned. In 1891 women could not be forced to live with husbands unless they wished to. These were very important laws which advanced the rights of women.
The First World War provided the first opportunity for women to take on traditional male jobs so it isn't surprising that in 1918 women over 30 were given the same political rights as men. But this change was not just a result of war - women had been campaigning for decades to be given the right to vote. During the 19th century the right to vote was gradually extended in many countries and women started to campaign for their right to vote. In 1893 New Zealand became the first country to give women the right to vote on a national level.
In the U. K., The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies - the Suffragists - was formed in 1897 and led by Millicent Fawcett. The group was made up of mainly middle-class women and campaigned peacefully. The organization built up supporters in Parliament, but private members' bills to give women the vote all failed.
The Women's Social and Political Union - the Suffragettes - was formed in 1903 and led by Emmeline Pankhurst. Although this group was also middle class, it heckled politicians, held marches; members chained themselves to railings, attacked policemen, broke windows, slashed paintings, set fire to buildings, threw bombs and went on hunger strike when they were sent to prison. One suffragette, Emily Davison, ran out in front of the king's horse during the Derby of 1913 and was killed.
The East London Federation of Suffragettes - formed in 1914 by Sylvia Pankhurst - was made up of working-class women. This group concentrated on social reform, and rejected the violence of the WSPU.
Women were not given the vote before the war. At the end of the war, in 1918, however, the Representation of the People Act gave women over 30 the vote, and in 1928 this was extended to all women over the age of 21.
The arguments for and against women's suffrage
For | Against |
Women are equal before God. | A woman's place is in the home; going out into the rough world of politics will change her caring nature. |
Women already have the vote in local elections. | Many women do not want the vote, and would not use it if they got it. |
Women pay taxes. | Women do not fight in wars. |
Some women (eg doctors and mayors) are far better than some men (eg convicts and lunatics) who have the vote. | The vast mass of women is too ignorant of politics to be able to use their vote properly. |
Other countries have given women the vote. | If women are given the vote, it will not be the gentle intelligent women who will stand for Parliament, but the violent Suffragettes. Parliament will be ruined. |
Why did women get the vote?
The Suffragettes
At the time, the Suffragettes caused a lot of anger and it has been argued that they lost support for the cause. Certainly, women had not been given the vote by 1914, even after a lot of Suffragette violence. However, some historians argue that, although they could not be seen to give in to Suffragette violence, politicians could not face a return to Suffragette violence after the war, and that is why they gave women the vote.
The War
During the war, women served the nation and did men's work in many ways. When they were given the vote in 1918, almost every person who supported the motion in Parliament said that they deserved it because of their conduct during the war - they had proved that they could go to war' with the men.
The Suffragists
Some historians argue that the long-term persuasion of the Suffragists won the vote. In 1916, Lloyd George, who supported women's suffrage, replaced Asquith as prime minister, and many pro-suffrage MPs who had been young men before 1914 now held influential places in the government. So the women won by patient persuasion, after all.
During the 19th century some women in the United States and Britain began to challenge laws that denied them the right to their property once they married. Beginning in the 1840s, state legislatures in the United States and the British Parliament began passing statutes that protected women's property from their husbands and their husbands' creditors. These laws were known as the Married Women's Property Acts.
In the subsequent decades women's rights again became an important issue in the English speaking world. By the 1960s the movement was called "feminism" or "women's liberation." Reformers wanted the same pay as men, equal rights in law, and the freedom to plan their families or not have children at all.
The history of the modern western feminist movements is divided into three "waves". Each is described as dealing with different aspects of the same feminist issues. The first wave refers mainly to women's suffrage movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth century (mainly concerned with women's right to vote). The second wave refers to the ideas and actions associated with the women's liberation movement beginning in the 1960s (which campaigned for legal and social equality for women). The third wave refers to a continuation of, and a reaction to, the perceived failures of second-wave feminism, beginning in the 1990s.
WOMEN AND YOUNG PEOPLE AS OBJECTS OF CONSUMERISM
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The United States emerged from World War II as the most powerful country. The economies of Europe and the rest of the world were in ruins and people around the world struggled to recover from the injuries of the war. As a consequence, USA created a plan to help the rebuilding of Europe economies. This was the Marshall Plan. As a result, European countries became the biggest consumers or users of US goods.
As opposed to the Communist system installed in The Soviet Union and China, Americans had a Capitalist multiparty democracy. This meant that people had the opportunity to seek out economic gain for themselves and that all citizens had the rights to elect their representatives. So, Americans were free people in those years and helping others helped the USA and its economy boomed. This condition led to American citizens to the so called CONSUMERISM.
People had enough money to spend in a range of goods beyond the necessities. For instance: televisions, automobiles, homes land and clothes. Advertising industry developed different kinds of publicities to convince people to buy their products. Radio, television and magazines were used for that purpose.
After the WWII, in 1945, soldiers returned from the war eager to get back to normal life, I mean, to buy a house, to start a family and have a regular job. In the whole country, there was a national enthusiasm for a return to normality and that created pressure for people to conform to standards of life, dress and behaviour
CONSUMERISM conducted people to enhance their social status through material possessions. The more you owned, the happier you were and the greater social status you acquired.
Life in the fifties was simple. Citizens trusted the government and believed in politicians. Society was growing economically and families were living the ideal of the American Dream. Those who lived in the suburbs had the opportunity to get a comfortable house with two bedrooms, a toilet, a garage and a small backyard.
FAMILIES
Families in the fifties were very strict and conservative. It was a time where the father was the supreme authority and the role of the woman was as a mother and a housewife. The middle class housewives living in the suburbs stayed at home to rear children clean the house and cook.
In 1950, was the year of the BABY BOOM. That means that families were growing up as well as economy in the country. In 1957, one baby was born every seven second in USA.
For the families in the fifties, premarital sex was not accepted. If a girl was pregnant with no husband, immediately she was sent to live with some relative.
WOMEN
After the WWII, women had to stay into their homes doing the traditional duties that mothers and housewives have. For that reason, women knew what their families needed. They were the primary consumers in supermarkets and shopping centres, because they were the ones who had to buy food, clothes, and different things for the family. Otherwise, women were the primary goals in magazines, television programmes, books and some other media.
As regards LADIES FASHION, for women, the look was neat and polished. They wore dresses or skirts with accessories to give them a soft feminine look. Pearls and jackets were also common.
MAN
In the fifties most men worked in blue collar jobs. They were the main breadwinners in the family. they were considered the head of the family.
As regards MEN FASHION, it was clean and conservative. Men used to wear suits, sweater, cardigan, button down shirts, tie, etc. Men´s hair was kept short and neat.
CHILDREN
Children still obeyed parents. Girls were expected to act as a LADY, and Boys were expected to act like gentlemen.
TEENAGERS
Until 1950 the term TEENAGER was non-existent. Children were known as youth until they reached adulthood. These little boys and girls were treated like small adults in many ways: Teenagers dressed like their parents, went to the same places and listened to the same music. Before that, probably because of new technology and media, things changed and a new generation of young people appeared. These teenagers with money in their pockets from a paid work soon had their own fashions, music, etc. Rising prosperity meant teenagers had more money to spend.
By the mid-1950, teens in US and Europe began to reject the values and conventions of their parents. They liked a new form of music, Rock and Roll and they adopted a new rebellion clothing style.
CONSUMERISM
During 1950 TELEVISION and RADIO were part of everyday life in the families. MUSIC was expanded through the help of these mass media between teenagers. They experienced more independence and freedom that what their parents had as teenagers.
In addition, changes in CLOTHING STYLE and MUSIC BANDS, started to appear in the fifties.
Guys started to wear jeans, leather jackets, cut off shirt, and slicked back hair which allowed them to appeared COOL.
Girls wore ponytails and poodle skirts. For them, skirts were comfortable to dance, because it was loose and free and it means a sign of freedom.
For the first time, clothing was designed especially with teenagers in mind.
New technologies like television, influenced in this change. The ROCK AND ROLL culture was spread. It included music, a style, a philosophy and a set of ideals in that time.
ROCK AND ROLL was not accepted by parents, clergy and conservative people, because they argued that this kind of music was the cause of nation´s social ills and youthful rebellion.
In the fifties if you had a television, you would be the neatest kid on the block. Kids watched six hours of television day which was equal to how long they went to school every day. Television was groovy.
The era of television, everything was black and white. In UK people buy one to watch the Queen´s coronation in 1953.
ANTI CONSUMERISM
The 1950s was also a time of great criticism over the mindless spending of Americans and the rising tide of greed and selfishness. Various social problems resulted from this one trend of consumerism and juvenile delinquents arose from this era due to their disapproval of the blandness and conformity of the 1950s. The television, radio, and other forms of media also contributed to the brain washing of the American population. Mass media turned into a mass culture where false needs, negative values, and escapist fantasies were fostered. Many people became attached to their materialistic possessions and lost sight of their traditional family morals.
TEEN idol ELVIS PRESLEY
Teenagers in the fifties wanted to be different and alike at the same time. They wanted to be cool, but different. This is why Elvis was perfect for them. Rock and Roll was brought into the world at this time and most parents thought it was unsuitable for a family audience. The teenagers loved him though; they thought he was the greatest thing on earth.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
· en.wikipedia.org/wiki/women’s rights
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