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Jessica Pacheco
English 201
22 November 2016
Sally Olivas
Research Paper
In the past women have always been looked down upon, and they have not had
much of a say in society, they didnt have the same rights or privileges as men did. As in
the short story of The Friday Everything Changed by Anne Hart, In Miss Ralston's
class the boys have always carried the water bucket. Until one day,
the girls decide it's time to challenge the rule. .. (pg 1). Women should have the same
rights as men do, and not be treated differently because of gender.
As the short story carries along, one brave girl spoke out, "Why can't girls go for
the water, too?" we all turned and looked at Miss Ralston first instead of just bursting out
laughing at Alma right away. (pg 2). In history we also had a variety of women that
spoke out for the equality of men, Susan B. Anthony; an American Campaigner against
slavery and for the promotion of womens and workers rights and right to vote. Margaret
Fuller, An American womens right advocate wrote in her book Women in the
Nineteenth Century, she argued for equality and women being more self-dependent
and less dependent on men. These are just some of the many women that have left a
legacy, a privilege for women to be treated equally.
A movement for womens right started in 1848-1920, called Womens suffrage
also known as womens right to vote. This movement consisted of the right of women to

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vote in elections, change in employment and pay because of discrimination, but on

August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally endorsed, which
meant that all women for the first time, like men, had all the rights and responsibilities of
citizenship. In 1923, the National Women's Party proposed an amendment to the
Constitution that prohibited all discrimination on the basis of sex. The Equal Rights
Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution
designed to guarantee equal rights for women.
Even though throughout our countries history there has been multiple
movements, and protests for women to have equal rights, today, it still doesnt seem as
if women get treated equally as men do. For example, some women deal with the fact
that some may be discriminated in the work field, with a difference in pay, sports,
education, even in society. Women are half the work force but they arent equal.
Women are paid less than men for performing the same jobs. They are more likely to be
turned over for a promotion and their raises are smaller.
As one grows older, some girls are more likely to be discouraged from
participating in sports, but on the other hand are more likely to participate or volunteer in
after school activities, or social programs. Gender lines are drawn early, and
exclusions for women continue throughout adulthood. These constant messages may
lead to a false belief that women do not belong in the high-powered corporate world.
(Wolfe). Studies show that Women now outnumber men in global university
attendance and graduation rates. (Chaime). Forty-five percent of women are enrolled in
college and only thirty-eight percent of men are enrolled in college. Even though women
make up a higher percentage rate in educational levels, this shows that women are

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more educated than men but are still paid less. Women, on average, earn less than
men in virtually every single occupation for which there is.
If there were more sponsorship and media coverage, towards women sports,
then womens sports would be more popular. Media outlets and sponsors respond that if
womens sports attracted more interest in the first place then they would invest more
time and money in it. Big corporations, and media agree on what it takes to make a
sport successful is: a balance of consumer, media and commercial appeal. Sponsors
are unwilling to finance individuals and teams that dont get good exposure
It seems as if more women are starting their own businesses than men, which
means more women are in the workforce than men. Since some women today are
starting their own businesses this can have an impact on how women are being
portrayed in society or even how women are seen in society. High- achieving women
attract more public attention than high-achieving men do. Some may even lead to a
womans appearance and judge them based on how they are appear. Advertisement
writers try to tell women how to live their lives. Any type of source of advertisement that
is related to health, beauty, fitness tells how women should eat, and be seen. If women
do as theyre told, such as taking the tips on beauty, how to eat right or the meals they
should be eating if they want to lose weight, have a clearer complexion, anything they
are just being told who to be, which shouldnt be that way, women should chose to live
In society it can also be very challenging because women are sexually assaulted
more commonly than men are. It is said one in five women are sexually assaulted in
college. Per the one percent of women being surveyed of had been raped, 1.3 million of

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American women disproportionately. This means that one-third of women had been
victims of rape, beating, stalking, and other assaults (Rabin).
The role of women in society has been greatly overseen in the last few decades
but now women are taken more into consideration than how it was before. In the early
days women were seen as wives who were intended to cook, clean, and take care of
the kids. They were not allowed to vote or have an equal say in their opinion while men
took care of having jobs and paying any bills that had to be paid. But now both male and
female take roles equally, either male or female have the opportunity to cook, take care
of the kids, both can have a job and not designate a major role on each by gender.
Women are now entitled with more education, they are able voice out
their point of views now and they can also be improving their life choices without being
told to do so by the media, which makes women more confident in who they are. Things
have changed over a couple of centuries.

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Works Cited

The status of women and girls IWPR. 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.
Wolfe, Lahle. Workplace discrimination against women starts young. The

Balance. The Balance, 19 Oct. 2016. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.

Chamie, Joseph. Women more educated than men but still paid less. 6 Mar.

2014. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.

HistoryNet. Womens suffrage movement. HistoryNet, 2016. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.
The Friday Everything Changed by Anne Hart
Rabin, Roni Caryn. "Nearly 1 in 5 Women in U.S. Survey Say They Have Been
Sexually

Assaulted." The New York Times. The New York Times, 14 Dec.

2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.