Gender roles are ever changing, but there was a long period of time when women had little to no rights. As society progresses in the 21st Century, the roles of men and women are becoming more equal than they have ever been before. Prior to the 21st Century, women were historically submissive to men and could not hold any important role. A women’s role was to tend to the home and fill the shoes of the saying “a woman’s place is in the home.” (WIC, 1995) The men of the house were to do labor work and the women were to wash clothes and milk the cows. (WIC, 1995) Not only were they expected to complete these tasks but, if married, they were to virtually give up their name and all their property to their husbands. Women in history were treated as property and had no independence in their lives; they didn’t even have the independence to vote on their own government.
After protest and fighting women finally gained the right to vote in 1920. The suffrage movement lasted from 1776 to 1920 in a long battle for women’s rights. During this movement women came together to claim their power and independence and their efforts paid off. This movement was the turning point for women’s rights in America. Following 1920, women began to have more rights and more independence with their lives For example, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibited discrimination against women by a company with 25 or more employees. (WIC, 1995) Progressing into the 21st Century women are coming into power and holding high positions in companies and gaining martial independence. Although women’s rights have come a long way, rights for all genders are still being fought.
Historically gender has been defined as man and woman and those are the only two existing “genders.” The Stonewall riots occurred in New York in 1969, which lead to a formation of the Gay Liberation Front. (Thane, 2010) Prior to the riots there were not many places where people could be openly gay in public. A group of gay men and lesbian at a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn, grew angry by the harassment of police and took a stand, in which a riot broke out. (Civil Rights, 2009) The rights inspired the LGBT community around the country to organize in support of gay rights. Also during this time the idea of a butch lesbian came into light and the fluidity of gender. Females were no longer fitting into “normal” gender roles. Lesbian women were seeing themselves as strong masculine women and no longer as weak feminine women. The idea of a gender binary was being challenged and individuals started asking, “is there really only two genders?” As Stonewall progressed transgenderism came to the forefront to battle the gender binary. Is there just female and male or is there a third gender? The transgender community is broad and they are still fighting for their rights as human beings to be treated equally among all. Stonewall was the beginning of creating change in the societal view of gender roles and gender expression, although today we are still trying to find equality for those who do not fit in to the stereotypical gender roles or expression. The biggest question that I think needs to be asked in regards to gender equality is, are ALL genders treated equally?
And by gender equality do people really mean sex equality? I guess more simply, does society know the difference between gender and sex? Until next time, where I will discuss this, here is an excerpt from a story:
“With my status, a trans man, the UK government, because I have undergone some surgical gender reassignment, acquiesces to my request to be regarded as male (and not a man) for some social purposes, but continues to maintain that for legal purposes, I will be regarded as a woman. They choose not to make my life really difficult by making international travel or a driving check embarrassing, but they refuse to allow me many of the privilege that the law affords other men. At worst, they insist that I am a woman.” (Whittle, 2002)
References
"The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights." The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. 22 June 2009. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://www.civilrights.org/archives/2009/06/449-stonewall.html>.
Thane, Pat, and Liza Filby. "Chapter 6: Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation." Unequal Britain: Equalities in Britain since 1945. London: Continuum, 2010. Print.
Whittle, Stephen. "Chapter 1: Disembodied Law: Trans People's Legal (Outer)Space." Respect and Equality: Transsexual and Transgender Rights. London: Glass House, 2002. 2. Google Books. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.
<http://books.google.com/books/about/Respect_and_equality.html?id=xiAthlo-9t4C>.
"WIC - Women's History in America." Welcome to WIC. Women's International Center, 1995. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm>.
