The feminist movement in the United States and abroad was a social and political movement that sought to establish equality for women. The movement transformed the lives of many individual women and exerted a profound effect upon American society throughout the twentieth century. While the first-wave feminism of the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on women’s legal rights, especially the right to vote, the second-wave feminism of the women’s rights movement touched on every area of women’s experience; including politics, work, the family, and sexuality.

The triangle shirtwaist factory was highly known to be a sweatshop. Approximately 500 people worked there and long hours with low wages and unsafe working conditions were heavily involved. Immigrant women were seen most in the factory, working forcibly through the unsanitary environment. Furthermore, on March 25, 1911, one of the most known tragedies in history occurred. A fire began and due to the factory not having any sprinklers installed, it spread within just minutes. Many workers were desperate for their safety, finding any way to escape including jumping to their death. Even though firefighters arrived at the scene, their fire hoses and ladders could only reach the seventh floor, leaving workers completely helpless. Many of them continued choosing their fate by jumping out the windows instead of dying from the flames. This fire quickly became very effective as some workers inside were left to burn to death or died from too much smoke inhalation. By the devastation, a total of 146 people were pronounced dead. This tragedy surfaced every single day, and according to the video I watched, was considered the deadliest workplace disaster in NYC history. This ignited and sparked many new regulations and served a prime example for our future workplaces to be more cautious. This tragic event was key in allowing progress toward safe working conditions. The Sullivan-Hoey prevention law was passed which mandatorily requires all factories have sprinklers installed. 

Equal rights, regardless of sex, has always been an extremely important and active topic across the United States. The Equal Rights Amendment took a lot of time to gain real momentum and widespread support. After women earned the right to vote in 1920, the National Woman’s party worked heavily in the direction of taking further steps. According to Jessica Neuwirth, once they got the right to vote, they wanted to get all the other rights they should have. Many attempts and protests were done yet the Equal Rights Amendment of 1972 failed due to major consequences. Furthermore, Phyllis Schlafly was extremely controversial and defended the idea of women being able to freely be in the home as a wife and mother. She discussed the ERA eventually leading to women being drafted into the military and she made many think twice about this decision. Many debate if this would affect women to this day and affect violence against women, others believe it may have more of an impact and Coberly states “passing a constitutional amendment does not automatically invalidate anything.” Overall, this is still a current topic and reoccurring issue around different areas, and equal rights as well as the protection of women has become more and more important.

Women’s suffrage rights has always been a deep rooted history across the world over many years. So many women paved the way and became trailblazers for many rights that women have today. Women such as Susan B Anthony produced change during her time and created a vast impact. Women equality has been a known struggle in society since centuries ago, and it took a lot of hard work and time for women to finally start being treated nearly as equally as men. The significance of women equality is so important to acknowledge, as it has changed over time drastically and this was their chance of receiving the same opportunities. 

The article I read is very evident in this topic because it proves how long women’s suffrage has been going on and how it has developed over time. This idea had become very normalized in our society and throughout many years because men were always thought to be superior and stronger than women. Women have always been seen incapable of being on the same level and receiving the same, if not, bigger opportunities. Another woman who had the courage of speaking up in the early stages of women’s suffrage is Sarah Grimke. She was an abolitionist and advocate for women’s rights but unfortunately, was later silenced by male abolitionists. An extremely important trademark in the history of women empowerment may also be known as when Harriet Tubman escaped slavery and helped many other slaves escape as well. This moment will always be recognized as groundbreaking and she has been remembered for many decades. Eventually, protests broke out and women began allowing their voices to be rightfully heard in their long fight. Amendments became introduced and after an extremely difficult journey, it wasn’t until 1923 where a National Women’s Party proposed the equal rights amendment to eliminate discrimination of gender. 

As the video plays, I can expand my knowledge on this topic by learning about the brave woman named Ida B. Wells. The impact and incredible force she helped create took great strength and bravery and she embodied what women’s rights was about. She didn’t let anything discourage her from fighting for the equality of women, despite any hardships she experienced throughout her life. She was a hero to many and her courageous tactics live on to be remembered. Although there are several controversial figures in the women’s suffrage movement like the video states, they all helped pave a big change for the things women can finally encounter today. Each made a staggering statement during their time and continue to be heavily acknowledged and taught in many class lessons such as now. Many women would even travel across countries to participate in marches to show their dedication. The video also shows the struggle of women of color during this period. Ida would always stand up for herself and what she believed was right and stood front and center whenever the marches began. She established many women organizations and was very outspoken in her opinions.

Activism, as we know it, is taking charge to make a revolutionary change. Promoting any development towards any topic such as political, cultural, social, environmental and more. These ongoing courageous efforts may occur in a variety of forms. Spreading a hashtag online, marching around streets, hosting listening events, starting a book club, or putting up flyers. Furthermore, participating in any type of activism against a condescending issue has been a continuous phenomenon, constantly watching history repeat itself to this day. 

In our day to day lives, it’s very rare to look around and recognize how everything we have was fought for. We have more than what anyone else had back then, the freedom, liberty, privacy, security, knowledge and the list goes on. As the article noted, these movements pioneered and motivated new levels of protesting and encouraged strategies in our society. The way we value freedom, equality, authorization was fought for us many years ago. Activism has always been one of the most effective ways to lead a point, as it continues to be happening in places with distinct methods. There is a plethora of young generations who could use other alternatives to spread their voices to large platforms. Change will quickly broaden before we even know it.

Over the years, women have proven and acknowledged their talents in several different fields. As they continue to be undermined, women have continued to fight off gender discrimination, violence, and more. There is nothing a woman can’t do when influencing others, if she is determined in her own skin. As the video progresses, each of the young women go on to show great will-power and motivate the people around them to change their lives as well. Gender inequality is something extremely normalized all around the world, as men are constantly being seen as the superior, “stronger” gender who are more capable of handling male dominated jobs and working areas. Women have continued to defend themselves against this issue and elaborate hope for young girls to show they are able to do anything men can. This topic has sparked a lot of attention throughout the media and people always share their opinions on it, however women experiencing doubt in misogynistic environments continues to be common. 

Patriarchy is a social system where power is held by men, through cultural norms and customs that favor men and withhold opportunity from women. Patriarchy refers to the male domination in society, it’s about the male privilege that men have over women in which men are seen above women like being paid more, being taken seriously and most of all getting much more respect. Patriarchy leads to both inequality and gender-based violence. It causes some women to perceive self-care as selfish or expressing their honest voice, one that stands up for what they really think, as aggressive. Patriarchy leads to reinforcing stereotypes that people might disagree with

Patriarchy vaguely plays its role in society, throughout various different behaviors of men. However, looking more in depth would allow us to view the bigger context, asking how people’s lives play in relation to this issue. We may assume an angry man’s thoughts from afar on why he may beat or harass a woman, though we shall not question where his sexual motive was created in that matter. What thoughts would run through a man’s head to believe sexual violence would be a solution to his problem? Patriarchy in this day and age is incredibly normalized and overlooked, subconsciously or not, women may participate in it as well. One may wonder how a woman would participate in her own oppression, but in some cases it has happened, most in a different form than what men showcase. Male domination has become the new “norm” of society, leading them to form their opinions on being the superior gender and believing women cannot do what they can. Even throughout television shows and movies, men are always seen as the strong character who saves everyone else from tragedies & leads the rest of his pack. This is simply an example of patriarchy happening within itself subtly on screen. More examples vary on any day to day situation, however, the system encourages this behavior without even realizing it.

The fight to equality continues as not only women being defined as inferior to men, but also, one who may live as an African American, faces difficulties being assimilated often. The world was taught one way and the system proceeds to embolden that manner — women being brought up and openly taught to love a man, men dominating over women, discrimination towards being a different skin color, and so many more topics in which we lack empathy in change and understanding. Being different is categorized as wrong and the biased judgement in one’s mind may easily be quick to form an opinion on a woman who is also of color, lesbian and a feminist. These are areas in which everyone is opinionated and often hate is shunned upon these very different groups of people. No one should have to diminish who they are, to fit in, or to earn more for their own future, realistically speaking, a man would have it done effortlessly his way. One type of oppression leads to the other and so on.

White Privilege is very much real in our society, although it isn’t racist it still exists and is a problem in this world. White people seem to always get defensive or awkward over the topic, when all that’s needed is for it to be recognized. They have the advantage of not being called any racist slurs, not being judged just based on their appearance, not being murdered by police or even fear of getting shot anytime they walk out the house. The reality is that a white person’s whiteness has come and continues to come with an array of benefits, yes white people do have their own problems as well in society but the question is — is it because of the color of their skin? That doesn’t mean a white person does not work hard or that they haven’t suffered, but simply that they receive help, often unacknowledged assistance, because they’re white. 

In the essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, Peggy McIntosh helps readers recognize white privilege. For many, white privilege was an invisible force that white people needed to recognize. It was being able to walk into a store and find that the main displays of shampoo and foundation were in favor toward their hair type and skin tone. It was being able to turn on the tv and see people of their race mostly being shown. It was being able to move through life without being racially profiled or unfairly stereotyped. “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege. So I have begun in an untutored way to ask what it is like to have white privilege. I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was “meant” to remain oblivious.”  Peggy made it known that white people are basically taught to act like their privilege is non-existent, they choose to take white privilege as an insult rather than just a fact and belief that everyone should get behind because of it’s bias towards skin tone. 

In the reading “Oppression” by Marilyn Frye, the author describes oppression as when a group is systematically trapped between two barriers which reduces their chances of growing or being free to choose their own path, these barriers are not accidental works to immobilize a group. She uses a bird in a cage as an example of women that are oppressed, “A woman can become caught in a bind where, no matter what she chooses to think, say or do, a bar puts difficulties in her path”. Frye let’s the readers know that everything is much more difficult for a woman to succeed because of their oppression whereas men have it more easy as she described in depth into the reading much like Peggy did, explaining the unrecognized privilege men have over women. No matter how much men uplift women and their success they’ll never lessen their power, which is both oppression against women and privilege as well.