Introduction to Women's Rights Movement

The struggle for women's rights extends beyond the right to own property or vote. It is the fight for woman to be considered a individual in her own right, defined on her own terms, by her own intellect and accomplishments, afforded the same opportunities as her male peers. While not by any means an exhaustive or exclusive definition of the movement for women's rights, it encompasses the victories secured by two centuries of activism: the recognition of women as legal and political entities separate of their fathers or husbands; the rights to own property in their own name, to secure an education, to vote and hold office, to enter the workforce, and to plan their families and control their reproductive lives.

More than just the procurement of a bundle of rights, the women's movement also pushed for a rethinking of gender roles. Feminists asserted that housework was not intrinsically womanly, rather social norms had constructed what was considered "woman's work." Furthermore, many claimed that society did not value "women's work" as much as it did men's. Traditional housekeeping and childrearing are largely accomplished in the confines of the house. The work is unpaid, and women are dependent on a breadwinner, typically their husband. This social structure is especially difficult for widowed or divorced women. Advocating "partnership marriages" and cooperative parenting duties changed the family structure for men as much as for women.

The women's movement transformed society as well as the home. Most of the major feminist issues of the past 40 years were sparked by tensions created as women ventured further from the traditional roles in the home. Working women demanded equal pay and promotion opportunities. Women pressed for the right to control their reproductive lives, to use birth control or obtain a legal abortion, whether married or single. Articles on the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade focus on this still-controversial issue.

Criticism of feminism and the effects of the women's movement also appear in this chapter.

Finally, the women's movement strives for social acceptance of a variety personal and professional choices that women make. An ideal goal is the death of social stigmas for female sexuality, for women who choose not to marry or have children, and for women who work outside the home as well as those who choose to be stay-at-home mothers.