Metoo and Women Suffrage

High school has a lot to do with being pressured to do things. With teenage girls they get pressured the most, with drinking, drugs, sex, etc. The #Metoo Movement and women's suffrage are pretty important by letting people know that they aren't alone or the only ones.

Women have suffered a lot through the decades. Woman suffrage actually began in 1848. For the next 50 years, woman suffrage supporters worked to educate the public about the validity of woman suffrage. Throughout 1890 to 1920, known as the Women's Era because it was in that time that women started to have a greater economic and political opportunities. By 1900 almost 5 million women worked for wages, mainly in domestic service/light manufacturing. Probably the greatest women influence came from membership and leadership in the WCTU (women's christian temperance union). Founded in 1874 and by 1891 it had 150,000 members. Making it the largest female organization in america, at the time. On March 3rd, 1913 was held for the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson. Eventually, law enforcements arrested Paul. while in prison Paul was beat, with doing so it brought people to support the woman suffrage movement. In 1920 the 19th amendment was passed, which is the right for women to vote. But the struggle to keep that right long, with violence and social upheaval. Alice Paul, an american woman suffragist, feminist, pushed forward an equal rights amendment. She and her followers brought forward these problems with parades. Despite all of the progress made in the last 100 years the struggle for gender equality, us women still face discrimination, and violence.

Some businesses don't let some women work for them because they are who they are, a woman. When pregnant, some businesses force women to quit or force one to return to work immediately after having their baby. 78 cents, women only make that much of a man's dollar. Women of color only make 64 or 54 cents of a white man's dollar. For example, women don't get paid the same that men do. Women get taken as a joke in the workplace. According to Google, The percentage difference is highest it's been in decades at a 80.5% gender pay gap. When it comes to education, single-sex education or sex based classes are becoming more common. These gender based classes/ schools are training teachers that girls can only succeed with working cooperatively and if they aren't put under pressure. Boys need a competitive and confrontational learning environment. Teachers should not smile at the boys because it's a sign of weakness. With girls they should not have a time limit on tests because our brains cannot function properly under pressure. I personally call bs on this, sorry mrs oualline for the initials of curse words.

In 1905, more than a century before the #metoo movement, Melvil Dewey, according to Google is an american librarian and educator, inventor of the dewey decimal system of library classification. He had sexually harassed multiple women, many dared to speak against. Because at this time in society women were judged so badly. Eventually a lot of women came forward and he got kicked out of the PMPA (profession's most prestigious association). In the film industry many actresses were assaulted and harassed. Judy Garland, the actress in The Wizard of Oz, while on set on, the young actress was groped and harassed on many occasions by Louis B. Mayer, the co- founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. Judy hasn't been the only actress assaulted and harassed in the film industry. Most are kid stars, but they're too scared to come forward. For obvious reasons, some people won't believe them, them acting is the only way to pay parents bills, and many other reasons. Many women and men have been sexually harassed, assaulted and raped. 91% of victims of rape and sexual assault are women, 9% are men. 81% of women and 35% of men report significant short- and long-term impacts such as ptsd (post traumatic stress disorder). So many people go through this and don't even report it. Between 63% and 91% of people don't even report what has happened. You are not alone, this entire #metoo movement shows that. This is going on right know and it's truly one of the most important movements right now in the world.

Women suffrage inspires the Me Too movement, with having to constantly be fighting to have rights. Sexual harassment/assault aren't anything new. It has been happening since the beginning of time. Alice Paul and Tarana Burke and many more brave women are to thank for the movements of women suffrage and metoo. Women to this day still fight for our rights to vote and to be able to have an education and be able to have the jobs they work hard for.

Even though there are many similarities, there are still differences. With women suffrage, the main point of it was to point out how they (women) didn't have the same rights and pay as men do. Rather with the Me Too movements main point is to come forward about sexual assault/harassed/abuse/violence. Beside the differences, they are still connected with fighting for women's rights, harassment in the workplace, equality in school/getting education.

With doing research about these two topics I never knew how much they were related. Women still suffer, the me too movement is just starting and is not close to ending. The #Metoo Movement and women's suffrage are pretty important by letting people know that they aren't alone or the only ones.

Cite this page