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#1: Women's Battles: Then and Now

The Bill of Rights in 1791 promised that all citizens be granted the legal right to speak, write, and publish (Tedford and Herbeck, 26), but did it really include all citizens? Legally, it seemed, that women were able to speak as freely as men, yet they were denied access to voting, education, and careers (Tedford and Herbeck, 26). Though women are significantly more educated now, have the right to vote, and are being heard more, professionally, they still make less money than men do. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Equal Pay Act of 1963 "requires that men and women be given equal pay for equal work in the same establishment." (EEOC). So why did a report released by the Senate Joint Economic Committee Democratic Staff last April show women making 79 cents to every dollar a man earns (Business Insider)? In both of these examples, women are supposed to receive equal rights according to the law, so why don't they?

This makes me question how much value our laws have if the actions of society don't reflect what they say. The phrase "actions speak louder than words" rings true here. I believe that laws are necessary for keeping peace and administering rights, but they just take an extensive amount of time to be seen in everyday life. Oberlin College broke U.S. tradition in 1833 by allowing women to attend college (Tedford and Herbeck, 26), but that was still 42 years after the Bill of Rights supposedly gave all people the same rights. Similar to today, the Equal Pay Act was enacted in 1963, but 54 years later there is still a substantial difference in pay between sexes. The Institute for Women's Research estimates that the gap will not be completely expunged until 2059 (Business Insider), nearly a century after the act was put in place. Though there is always progress being made for equality, it takes time to change the way a country acts.


Sources

Gould, Sonam Sheth, and Skye. “5 Charts Show How Much More Men Make than Women.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 8 Mar. 2017, www.businessinsider.com/gender-wage-pay-gap-charts-2017-3.

Tedford, Thomas L., and Dale A. Herbeck. Freedom of Speech in the United States. 8th ed. Strata Publishing, INC., 2017.

United States, Congress, “U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.” U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/fs-epa.cfm.

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2017 at 1:26 PM

    In class, we discussed how in Athens an individual was considered a “citizen” based on their wealth, sex (male), race (white), and their religion. It was definitions like this that dictated whether someone had a voice in society. Although we are no longer in ancient Greece, it is still important to know their political customs because American democracy was heavily based off their political practices. We also discussed in class the significance of the phrase “We the people”. The phrase is suppose to make everyone feel included, but it seems that most of the time it does not. By definition, “people” should mean “citizens”, but again who decides what makes someone a citizen?
    This idea of all citizens having an equal voice seems like a no brainier, however when our policies are made by the same “group” of people, it is hard for our laws to include everyone. For instance, after the creation of the Constitution and the passing of the Bill of Rights, women were included in the idea of what it meant to be an American. However, they were denied many of the rights awarded to those who were deemed “citizens”. The example of women in colonial America shows how governments dictate who is a “citizen” and how it takes time to end repeated policies made by the same “group” of people. Therefore, the more we encourage diversity within our government, the more everyone will have equal access to laws, such as freedom of speech.

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