APUSH Journal #6: Women Are Slowly Taking Over

“Women live longer than men. They do better in this economy. More of ‘em graduate from college. They go into space and do everything men do, and sometimes they do it a whole lot better. I mean, hell, get out of the way- these females are going to leave us males in the dust.”-Ericsson from “The End of Men”

To me it is unfathomable how women were not given equal rights and social equality from the beginning. After learning about how deeply rooted racism was in our country, I found it extremely shocking how African American males got voting rights 50 years before white women did, and also how outlawing sex discrimination was only added to the civil rights bill to stop it from making race discrimination illegal! With that said, it is amazing how far we’ve come, yet also amazing how much further we have to go before truly reaching equality. After this unit, I was left feeling unsure; should I pity myself for being a girl because of the way the media portrays us and the expectations society holds us to? Or should I be proud because, it least economically, we are beginning to race ahead? I started out pessimistic, but now I see there really are things to be hopeful about.

People are predicting now that women are starting to catch up with men, and will soon control the economy. Things are changing; “thinking and communication have come to eclipse physical strength and stamina”, so women are no longer biologically handicapped- in fact, women tend to be better at that kind of stuff! We are more social, flexible, focused, and considerate, and now we are the final ingredient: empowered. Although still present, the wage gap is slowly closing, and more and more women are going into previously male-dominated careers. Women were not hit nearly as hard by the recession, and for the first time women hold the majority of jobs in the US, which reading about gave me great pride. The fact that a country’s economic success seems to be so closely tied to women’s involvement in the work force and government shows our power, and should give more incentive for true equality to be met! There may be more women in college now, but there still needs to be more women in politics; we’re moving in the right direction, but we are definitely not there yet.

Before we delved into how brainwashing and horrible the media is towards and about girls, I felt like we had basically reached equality. My whole life I have felt that I have had the same opportunities as boys; I don’t fear not getting a job or not getting into college because I’m a girl, I could technically try out for wrestling if I chose to, I don’t feel pressure to take my husband’s name if and when I get married, etc., etc. I obviously notice the slight inequalities and the very prevalent gender stereotypes, but I don’t feel that those are really holding me back at all. This was not so true for my mom’s generation. In high school she did sports like cheer leading and synchronized swimming because most sports were not available to girls. Now I play soccer and lacrosse (although our uniforms still consist of skirts and we are not allowed to check people like in boys lacrosse), and although I do not exercise it, I do have the right to try out for boys-only teams like football. Also, when my mom was in high school, all girls were required to take home economics while boys were required to take wood working and metal shop- classes we don’t even have at Sharon High School! My grandma, who never went to college and was “actually incredibly subservient now that [my mom thought] about it” wanted my mom to become a real-estate agent or an art teacher- but she wanted to follow her father and go into business. Now I really don’t think there are anymore guidelines for what females can be- in fact I think there are far greater barriers for males! I feel like it is far weirder for a guy to want to be a nurse, or a dancer, or a stay-at-home dad, than it is for a girl to want to be a doctor, or an engineer, or a police officer. When I read the quote “What’s college? That’s where girls who are above cooking and sewing go to meet a man so they can spend their lives cooking and sewing” in a Digital History reading I realized that that was sort of what my mom did! I mean, she didn’t mind becoming a stay-at-home mom, but I feel like all those years of college and graduate school were wasted because she just chose to fold laundry and cook for the rest of her life! Maybe I’m just against it because that is not something I would ever want for myself, but the fact that it’s not just expected that I become a housewife is something to be proud of I guess.

As more women start to compete- and win against men, I believe these gender stereotypes we are so accustomed to will begin to fade away. Everything should be “equal opportunity”, and being a feminist I would like to focus on all the ways we have not yet reached that, but I’m happy to say that I actually believe we are inching closer.