Black Angels Book Club Project
By Luke, Jenelle, Assunta, Kathryn, and Will
OUR PROBLEM
THE PROBLEM IN THE PAST
For thousands of years women have always been treated differently from men. Slave women were only trusted to clean and cook at the slave owners house. Most owners didn’t even let the slaves eat the food they cooked until they had eaten almost all of it. Eventually slavery was abolished after the Civil War ended but the way women were treated no matter their race stayed the same. Even white women weren’t allowed to do much, for a long time men were the only ones who could get and education and get a job to support their family. Women could only cook and clean, and cook and clean. Then the World Wars hit America. In World War I women got their chance to prove they were equal to men. They worked in factories and worked the same jobs men had worked before they left for the War. By the second world war women were even fighting in the war next to fellow men fighting for their freedom.
This problem had gone all the way back to the Columbus times when women only took care of the family on a long voyage because women weren’t thought of being able to do a man’s job. To an extent, this is true. Men were created stronger and tougher than women, this is common knowledge but if a woman is willing to do a man’s job, who shouldn’t let her? The rights and respect of women has come a very long way. For example, from 1848 to 1920 the fight for women’s suffrage continued and in 1920 women received the right to vote in the 19th Amendment. This gave woman a feeling of equality and fair treatment and it solved gender inequality. With an ongoing problem there must be a solution right, but nothing can be done. The solution to this issue is people must be more open-minded to discrimination like this.
THE PROBLEM CONTINUES TO EXIST TODAY
Women are supposed to have equal rights… But do they? Women are being treated unfairly. Even in today’s society, women are objectified and discriminated against.
One common example of this is the gender pay gap. What is the gender pay gap? The gender pay gap is the gap between amounts of pay for men and women. They have sometimes gotten paid 78% of what a male has made for equal work. Example of Gender Pay Gap: Asian-American women only make 90% of the pay men get, making Asian-American women the most successful women with the smallest gap. However, not all women are so lucky. Hispanic women suffer the largest gap, receiving only 54% of regular pay. Age is also a common factor to decide payment. After hitting the age of 35, most women’s pay decreases.
SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
What can we do about this? The internet has a great power, when you look up the “Like a Girl” commercial by “Always” you see an emotional commercial about the stereotypes based on females. On social media, women are posting their opinions on this subject, and how they feel they should truly be treated. They ARE helping, but it isn’t enough. Not everyone possesses the ability to be able to easily understand how women feel. Women won’t always have the confidence to speak out. We need to encourage women to stay strong by fighting and supporting equality.
Pop culture is a big thing in our society, and a strong way to promote equality by the communication of song lyrics or television shows.
Women can learn strategies to better negotiate for fair pay. Improved negotiation skills can help close the pay gap. If women AND men work together, we can solve many problems in our society. Let’s teach our children kindness, tolerance and how to stand up against injustice. We can also all set our goals higher, and see human beings as humans and not as a gender or a stereotype.SOURCES
http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/WIC/Historical-Essays/No-Lady/Womens-Rights/ This site was useful by providing dates
http://www.nwhp.org/resources/womens-rights-movement/history-of-the-womens-rights-movement/ This website was useful by providing valuable insight
http://realtruth.org/articles/100210-003-analysis.html This website was useful because it informed me that the same problems that are in the U.S are in other places in the world.
http://caitlinclercsweebly.weebly.com/solutions.html Different solutions on how to help end sexism.
http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/ Explaining the gender pay gap and giving ideas on what do to about it.
http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2013/08/08/how-fight-sexism Ways people can become active and help end sexism.
http://sexismmatters.org/how-you-can-help/ How our generation can help reduce the amount of sexism in our society.