<Author>Michael</Author>
<Topic>The Prejudice Against Women</Topic>
<Source></Source>
<Nationality>USA</Nationality>
Thomas Jefferson's world famous "Declaration of Independence" argued that "all men are created equal!" Did this statement exclude women of his time? In the nineteenth century, during the Women's Convention in 1948 in Seneca Falls, New York, the assembled women wrote a document, "The Declaration of Sentiments" calling for the full equality of women with men. However, in the US, women still did not obtain the vote until 1920, several years after other countries had fully enfranchised their own women. During World War II, many American women went into the factories to build war related items because so many of the men were in military service. America welcomed this important contribution of the women for the common victory. After the war was over, the surviving men returned and expected to take over their old jobs. They thanked the women, and tried to send them back into their homes to be housewives and mother. Many families then in America, as sometimes still happens today in China and other developing countries, made great efforts to give their sons the best possible education. At the same time, they felt that it was useless to give their daughters such an education as they would only become housewives and mothers.
There have been forty-three US presidents, but so far no women president. In 1984, the US Democratic Party was the first to nominate a woman as its vice presidential candidate. The number of women congresswomen, senators, CEOs (corporate executive officers) of major companies, and presidents of universities remains very low relative to the population of women in the US. Many women in America have experienced "the glass ceiling," in their work, meaning that they could advance only so far and then the top levels of management for them is "glass" and unobtainable.
Virginia Slim cigarettes advertised a long time ago, "You've come along way, baby," indicating that now women could now have their own cigarette and were entitled to smoke with as much pleasure as men did. This, in fact, was a cynical ploy by the cigarette companies as tobacco usage is highly dangerous for both men and women in terms of good health. During the 1960's parallel with the civil rights movement, and latter with the anti Vietnam protests, books like The Second Sex encouraged the women's liberation movement. At first, the appeal appeared to be an anti male and anti family effort. In the 1970's, the proposed "Equal rights Movement" assuring all women in America equal opportunities with men, failed because not enough states were willing to support or actually withdrew their support. Today, in the United Sates, a more balance view seems to have developed. Women now represent slightly more than 50% in many universities in the US, and are entering university majors and careers that were previously seen only as available to men. Prejudice in the US continues against women, but it is much less than even a decade ago. This is important progress. Perhaps as the sense of equality continues to develop, one of my granddaughters will be a CEO, a congresswoman, a senator, or a university president, I shall look forward to that day.
