Eleanor Roosevelt’s Effect on the Feminist Movement, Research Paper Example

The history of the world is the biography of great men and women: and the world has seen few of such people. They comprise of society’s select handful who overcome overwhelming challenges to accomplish heroic deeds. Their legacies are permanent imprints in society that shaped the destiny of mankind.

Nonetheless, the odds become evermore intimidating when the person at the forefront for social change is a woman. Long established male chauvinism, patriarchy, political dominance and a conservative society present the greatest obstacles to their efforts. Since the emergency of human societies, dominant traditions in all cultures relegated women to subordinate roles both in the public and domestic fronts. For centuries, they were humbled under the shadows of men, right from within the family institution where the husband was the head and decisive voice in domestic affairs. In the public domain, they succumbed to masculine egoism in politics, commerce and the labor market.

Regardless, prominent women figures, especially those who ascended to positions of power through royal marriages, became critics of the status quo and fought for the rights of the female fraternity. As from early as the 11^th Century in medieval Europe, queens used the kings’ palaces as forums for advancing causes sympathetic to the blight of women. In England and France, for instance, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine emerged as one of the first women to challenge patriarchy. She defied tradition when she divorced her first husband, King Charles VII of France and before the dust she had raised settled, became the queen of England through her marriage to King Henry II. In both marriages, she refused to be influenced by her husbands and opposed society’s discrimination of women. Consequently, she controlled vast tracks of land, immense wealth, started the love courts and during the Third Crusade in the Holy land, accompanied her husband to the Muslim world. Besides her independence, she worked out of her second marriage when King Henry II started philandering with a lady named Rosimandu Clifford. It was a strong statement that foreshadowed the course of future marriage relationships. More than ever before, women become important partners in a marriage, marking the beginning of gender equality in other social institutions.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt of America is a scion of this 11^th Century feminism. Born in October 11 1884, she grew as an orphan from the age of ten. Her life took a turning point in March 1905, when she married Franklin D. Roosevelt, a distant cousin. In her early marriage, she was concerned with the responsibilities of parenthood and as such, her life was restricted to domestic chores. For ten years, she was “always just getting over having a baby or about to have another one,” she later lamented, “so my occupations were considerably restricted” (About.com).

In 1918, she learnt of a love affair between her husband and Lucy Mercer, but a compromise crafted by her mother in-law, Sara Roosevelt, saved their marriage. Despite the agreement, however, her life was confronted with the harsh realities of being a woman. “The bottom dropped out of my own particular world,” she later said. “I faced myself, my surroundings, my world, honestly for the first time.” This event alone forced her to stand for herself, becoming independent of her husband. Her worldview expanded outside confines of marriage, her desire beyond the needs and wants of one man.

With a sense of new independence, she channeled her efforts to various reformist groups, joining a cliché of feminist leaders committed to ending child labor, establishing a minimum wage and legal protection of female workers. It was then that she discovered her public speaking and organizational skills that she employed in agitating for social justice. At the time when Roosevelt worked as a deputy secretary in the American navy during WWI, she engaged herself in charitable missions with the Red Cross, visiting wounded soldiers in the Naval Hospital. But later on, upon relocating to New York in 1920, she participated in movements advocating for equal rights in the labor market, and for improved working conditions for female workers.

Like other women before her who became champions the women’s movements, Eleanor Roosevelt first confronted the obstacles women faced in the course of her work with other female leaders on other gender injustice issues. Her involvement in the women’s movements began soon after WWI, while working with the International Congress of Working Women (ICWW) and the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom (WILPF), both of which aimed to address the causes of war and poverty.

However, it was her role as the First Lady of America that impacted significantly on the progress of feminist movements. Franklin Roosevelt’s election as president catapulted her to a national platform through which she championed her concerns. Traditionally, the role of the First Lady had been confined to the White House, but she shattered this trend by reshaping and redefining it around her dedication to social reform. She voiced the blight of the marginalized and downtrodden members of society, especially women and children. She was the first female ever to address a national convention, earn as lecturer, write syndicated magazine column and hold press conferences.

In her press conferences, she spoke only to female reporters mainly on issues that affected women: in a veiled vengeance directed at male chauvinists, she believed that her conferences should address those not deemed as deserving to hear from man. She focused on feminist issues relevant to the American women, such as poverty, unemployment, rural life, education and women’s place in society. This forum afforded women the opportunity to think in a broader perspective, outside their restricted domestic lives. She attacked the dominant institutions that failed in providing equal opportunities for women. By the time she became the US First Lady, most women were condemned to domestic lifestyles in their homes: with only a paltry twenty five percent working in salaried employment. The remaining majority, over seventy five percent, were unemployed housewives. Using her influence in the media, Eleanor reached these masses of marginalized homemakers and rallied them to demand their rightful place in society. She was against the tendency to judge women, “when it comes to appointing them or electing them, purely because they are women.” She wanted to see the country “get away from considering a man or woman from the point of view of religion, color or sex.” (Skimmer, 114). In the more than three hundred press conferences she held as first lady, she cleverly manipulated most news agencies to hire their first ever female journalists by shutting out male reporters. She knew that they will respond accordingly in order to gain access to vital information.

In her public speeches and magazine columns, Eleanor strongly campaigned for the recruitment of female workers in the factories following an increased demand for labor after the war. Cautioning young women not to marry before having a chance to increase their opportunities, she challenged them to learn useful skills offered in the factories. And when they were indefinitely sacked after the war, she fought to have them reinstated. She observed that whoever wanted to work and had the ability was at liberty to do so and be productive. She challenged women workers to courageously and vocally demand for their rights.

When she started writing the column “My Day” in 1935, she brought into the fore political, social and economic challenges of the time which greatly disadvantaged women. It advocated for a change in the in the household structure as a way of addressing these social inequalities. The column also chronicled the First Lady’s daily schedule, and sort of became newsletter for women politicians. By 1939, her column had started to address political issues aimed at bringing women into active roles in society. She called upon them to be active in media communication as a means of interacting, breaking the barriers of their domestic lifestyles and broadening their spectrum. The utilization of the media in promoting the welfare of women is witnessed today through TV programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and Tyra Banks. Though not explicitly presented, the programs are clearly feminist forums.

Eleanor made major contributions to most of the 20^th Century movements for social reform, such as the New Deal, the Progressive Movement, the Women’s Movement and The Struggle for Racial Justice. In addition, she developed a personal liberal ideology to empower women in society: in fact ever since she voluntarily started working in the Rivington Street Settlement in 1903, she was against child labor, fought for a limit in the hours women worked and for an end for women exploitation in the workplace. While working with other women activists, she supported the full inclusion of women in labor unions, higher living wages and birth control. When displaced male workers blamed women workers for intruding into the job market during the depression, it was Eleanor who defended them in her articles, public speeches and press conferences.

In 1924, the Democratic National Committee had asked her to lead its committee on women’s issues. She used this opportunity to work with women’s movements to consolidate their political muscle. When the male filled committee ignored their recommendations, she ganged up with other women leaders and prevailed upon the convention to allow women appoint female delegates, marking the beginning of women involvement in active politics. Nevertheless, she saw the convention’s exclusion of female members from its high profile meetings as an insult to women in general. She later recalled that for the first time, she saw “where the women stood when it came to a national convention. I shortly discovered that they were of little importance. They stood outside the door of all important meetings and waited” (Eleanor Papers). In the Redbook magazine, she challenged women to play the political games like men, advocating for the appointment of women leaders in politics.

When the New Deal was formed, she took the campaign for gender equality into the White House, where she fought for women to be appointed in administrative positions. After assembling a list of women with academic qualifications and expertise to hold executive positions, she confronted the government to hire them. When she felt that justice had not been done in the appointments, she always took her grievances to the president. Meanwhile, she kept the women population informed and urged them to use their voting powers to participate in politics and policy formulation. In a book she published, It’s up To the Women, she challenged them to pursue the dreams and ambitions of their lives. When the state started rearming in anticipation for WWII, she rallied women to seek employment in the industries, the military and other defense assignments, including armed field combat. She went a step further when she supported a legislation to establish day care facilities for women defense workers with children. Even after her days in the White House, she compelled President Kennedy to include more women in his administration, leading to the creation of a Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, to which she was appointed the chairperson (Eleanor Papers).

Nevertheless, the feminist movement could a child of many centuries of women uprising, resistance against patriarchy and sustained advocacy for gender equality. She the early 11^th Century, prominent female figures have risen to positions of great power, becoming the beacon of hope to the women of their generations. There was Eleanor of Aquitaine who possessed more wealth and ruled empires larger than her two husbands. There was Margaret Paston who with the support of only nineteen servants defended her husband’s estates. Joan of Arc commanded large armies in liberating France from colonial rule, a fete that shocked the Middle Ages. Their lives portrayed the power that women wielded, and their ability to make great achievements like men. Throughout history, therefore, women have emerged in different eras to shape social institutions in favor of women, and accordingly make their token contribution to the feminist movement.

The 20^th century, in this regard, is credited to Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, the 32^nd First Lady of America. From the time she got into the White House, she championed the rights of women in various forums. In her press conferences, public speeches and magazine columns, she confronted the dominant ideologies, political and economic establishments that relegated women to domestic lifestyles.

The present debate about Eleanor is whether she was really a feminist. Critics point out that her stand against the National Women’s Party and the amendment for equal rights rob her of the essence of feminism. Lois Scharf, for instance, argue that Eleanor did not “view social problems through the unique lens of gender, discover and define the discriminatory features of society, examine the underlying causes for female inferiority, and concentrate on their alleviation,” that the answer to this question is “a qualified no.( Scharf 233). However, most other historians like Allida Black and Blanche Cook argue to the contrary. As much as they agree to her initial opposition to equal rights amendment between the twenties and forties, she nonetheless shifted her stand towards the late fifties. Eleanor is a feminist because in the wider sense of feminism, she campaigned for causes of a feminist nature that surpassed a support for the women’s party or the rights amendment. In their view, ‘feminism is broader than supporting the Equal Rights Amendment and dedication to gender-based analysis” (Eleanor Papers).

This notwithstanding, Eleanor’s dedication to feminism is evident from her contributions to the elevation of women in society.  She opposed the exploitation of women in the workplaces. She joined other women leaders to force for the appointment of women delegates in political parties. In her capacity as the First Lady, she pushed her husband’s administration to appoint women into public offices. In the job market, she manipulated the media industry to employ female reporters, thus paving the way for women’s entry into journalism. Even in her late years, she was vocal in forcing the administrations of John Kennedy and Harry Truman to address problems facing women. The story of her life, then, is characterized with fast commitment to feminism. The search for her own identity independent of the shadow of her husband and family, her unwavering struggle to make society accommodative to the socio-economic and political progress of women- her ability to maneuver a male dominated culture to her advantage and women in general- all point an enduring feminist who overcame the social and political challenges of her time to become one of the 20^th Century’s leading voices in advocating for gender equality and social justice. She died on 7, November, 1962, aged 78 years old, most of which were spent in service to society.

Works Cited

Lois, Scharf. “Eleanor Roosevelt and Feminism.” In Lightman Marjorie, Hoff-Wilson Joan (Ed.). 1984,

Skimmer, Marlen. Without Precedent: The Life and Career of Eleanor Roosevelt. Indianapolis: University of Indiana Press, 1992