Development and Gender Equality, Research Paper Example

Feminist movement

During the 1960s and towards the1980s, several women’s movements existed in Western countries, such as the United States. These movements were both politically and culturally influential. An example in the United States includes the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The feminist movements also consisted of several caucuses and organizing projects within the unions and government institutions. The feminist movements changed many aspects of women’s lives in Western countries, mostly the United States. This essay argues that feminist movements have had an influence on the Western society.

Participation in professions

The feminist movements opened up many blue-collar jobs and professions for women, including those jobs initially reserved specifically for men. One of the most fundamental impacts of feminist movements is influencing women to come out of their homes and begin working alongside men at the workplace (Domenico and Jones 1-7). Men also started working at home. Women, however, continued to perform their traditional duties, such as childbirth and care, as well as household responsibilities. Still, this was to a smaller extent, as women started looking for Daycare Centers to support in childcare. Indeed, this led to the rise of daycare centers, such as Littleton in Denver, Colorado.

Statistics by Gallup International shows that the number of women working in the United States rose to 60 percent in 1984 from 27 percent in 1955. As a result, the feminist movement led women to get double responsibilities, both at home and at work. In fact, the female-maintained households increased to 44 percent in 1994 from 15 percent in 1960 (Islamic Research Academy 1). Hence, marriage became ephemeral leading to greater cases of divorce. In reality, women had become more financially independent. Still, men’s average yearly income in the U.S. is still greater than that of women by 34 percent. This indicates that although women have greater responsibilities, they are still paid nearly half than men (Islamic Research Academy 1).

Equal treatment by the law

Feminist movements have increased gender equality. In the United States, for instance, several women’s liberation movements advocated for women’s rights, such as equality rights in law and equal pay with men during the 1960s. Although these efforts were met with mixed results, they increased equal treatment, fair wages for women, as well as equal pay, the right for entry into legal contract and the right to own property (National Archives 1).

In the United Kingdom, legal equality for both men and women increased in the 1960s when the legislative process began advancing possibilities of equal pay. Example of such efforts includes the formulation of a Sex Discrimination Board to curtail female sexual abuse and Equal Pay for Equal Work Bill, both of which led to an Equal Pay Act, the British Sex Discrimination Act, and an Equal Opportunities Commission. In the United States, feminist movement led to the creation of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966, which advocated for equal treatment of men and women by the law, leading to promulgation of women’s rights. This further lead to the enacting of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which illegalized paying women and men dissimilar wage rates for equal levels of work requiring equal efforts, skills, and responsibilities. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was enacted. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act illegalized discrimination based on sex.

Better education opportunities

Feminist movements have opened up education opportunities for women. Since the 1960s, there have been extensive efforts across the Western countries to extend education to girls. In fact, statistics indicates that in the entire Western developed nations, the average school years for girls rose to 4.3 in 2000 from 2.6 in 1960. Therefore, female literacy rates have increased leading to the closure of income gender gap. Due to increased education of women, the income has reduced by nearly 5 percent from 1970 to 1998 in the Western nations. It also led to higher gender equity in higher education. More universities also started admitting women, which was comparatively lower during the 18th and early 19th century.

Greater decision-making roles and power

Feminist movements have increased women’s decision-making powers. Initially, women were granted less power to make decisions in the Western societies. They also had less legal rights. In the United States, for instance, women had no voting rights for more than a century ago. In fact, the struggle for women’s suffrage began during the mid-1800s after Susan B. Anthony alongside other women’s rights advocates started struggling for women’s suffrage. They later gained the suffrage rights in 1920. In the Western nations, Finland was among the frontrunners to attain universal suffrage in the 1906 Parliament Act. Women’s decision-making power also increased at homes. In the United States, feminist movements also pressured for reproductive rights, an example being the case law of Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) in the U.S. Supreme Court, which articulated a Constitutional right for women to decide whether to carry a pregnancy. The common law allowed abortion.

Political participation

Feminist movements have led to an increase in women participation in politics, especially holding public office. Their movements have also gained positive media attention (Terkildsen and Schnel 880-882). In some Western countries, such as the United States and United Kingdom, women today hold between 5 and 15 percent of positions in the political office, compared to the 1800s when they did not (Bhalotra 2-3). In Sweden and Finland, the figures are much higher with nearly one-third of the ministerial positions reserved for women. Still, developing nations have much fewer figures of less than 5 percent. Still, women are underrepresented in politics, consisting of only 11 percent in India parliament, 18 percent in the United States Congress and 22 percent in the United Kingdom’s House of Commons (Bhalotra 2-3). The gender inequity is greater in politics than other fields, specifically due to resistance to change. Indeed, the feminist movements have developed into political platforms through which women have sought political influence in both the Western and non-Western countries (Falch 34).

Sexual abuse

Feminist movements have intensified efforts to curtail violence against women. Indeed, they have ensured protection of women from homicides and sexual abuse, hence challenging the traditional norms (Khan 215-217). According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the issue of violence against women only came to the fore as a serious social problem during the first half of 1970 because of the emerging feminist movements. Consequently, several scholars and sociologists started to view violence against women using the lens of feminist ideology (Tjaden and Thoenees 1). Since then, the feminist approach to domestic violence emphasized the need to end woman abuse and to give women a voice (Sokoloff and Dupont 41). At any rate, Western nations like the United States have realized a decline in female violence. For instance, the number of female victims killed by intimate partners decreased to 1,640 from 2,200, in the year 1993 to 2007. During the same period, female homicide rate declined by 43 percent. Rape and sexual assault of women declined by 70 percent (Catalano et al. 6)

Conclusion

Feminist movements have had an influence on the Western society. In particular, the feminist movements opened up many blue-collar jobs and professions for women. Hence, more women are included into the workforce. They have also increased gender equality. In the United States, for instance, several women’s liberation movements advocated for women’s rights, such as equality rights in law and equal pay with men during the 1960s. The feminist movements have also opened up education opportunities for women. Since the 1960s, there have been extensive efforts across the Western countries to extend education to girls. Additionally, women have gained greater decision-making powers. Initially, women were granted less power to make decisions in the Western societies. They have also led to an increase in women participation in politics, especially holding public office. Feminist movements have intensified efforts to curtail violence against women.

As an observation, it is clear that the feminist movement have brought about significant transformations in the lives of many women. Today, they feel more emancipated and liberated.

Works Cited

Bhalotra, Sonia, Irma Clots-Figueras and Lakshmi Iyer. “Path-Breakers: How Does Women’s Political Participation Respond to Electoral Success?” Harvard Business School, 2013. 14 April 2015, <http://www.yale.edu/leitner/resources/papers/BCI_PathBreakers_2013-10-24-full.pdf>

Catalano, Shannan, Erica Smith, Howard Snyder, Ph.D., and Michael Rand. “Female Victims of Violence.” Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009. 14 April 2015, <http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fvv.pdf>

Domenico, Desirae and Jones, Karen. “Career Aspirations of Women in the 20th Century.” Journal of Career and Technical Education 22.2 (2006): 1-7

Falch, Ashild. “Women’s Political Participation and Influence in Post?Conflict Burundi and Nepal.” Peace Research Institute Oslo: Oslo, 2010

Islamic Research Academy. “A Statistical Analysis of the Impact of Feminist Movement in the United States of America.” Islamic Research Institute, n.d. 14 April 2015, <http://www.khalidzaheer.com/essays/others/a_statistical_analysis_of_feminist_movement.html>

Khan, Rahman (2015). A Chronicle of the Global Movement to Combat Violence against Women: The Role of the SecondWave Feminist Movement and the United Nations: The Perspective of Bangladesh. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 162 (2015):  213-238

Mikkola, Anne and Miles, Carrie. “Development and Gender Equality: Consequences, Causes, Challenges and Cures.” Helsinki Center of Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 159, 2005

National Archives. “Teaching With Documents: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.” National Archives Website, nd. 14 April 2015, <http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/>

Sara Motta, Cristina Flesher Fominaya, Catherine Eschle, Laurence Cox. “Feminism, women’s movements and women in movement.” Journal for and About Social Movements 3.2 (2011): 1-32

Sokoloff, Natalie & Dupont, Ida. ” Intersections of Race, Class, And Gender. Domestic Violence at the Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender.” Violence Against Women, 11.1 (2005): 38-64

Terkildsen, Nayda and Schnel, Frauke. “How Media Frames Move Public Opinion: An Analysis of Women’s Movement.” Political Research Quarterly 50.4 (1997): 879-900

Tjaden, Patricia and Thoenees, Nancy. “Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 2000