The first video “The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire”, is about New York City Early Twentieth Century the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, one of the wealthiest neighbors. The video focuses on the estimation of 500 workers, most were teen, young women. Working 11-12 hours shifts, without any beaks, lock inside a crowded room, producing blouses, men’s shirts. By the first section of the video I already saw some changes in society, women were allowed to work, some negative to it was the place they were working was small, working long shifts, working in horrible conditions, without any breaks. Today most people are not allowed to work more than 8 hours a day, they must have at least a 15-30 minutes break from their shift, a workplace must have both stairs or elevator, or just stairs that opens both ways, and also people are not allowed to take the elevator when there is an emergency, such as a fire, the pace must have multiple exits the workplace cannot be too crowded, doors that can unlock on the inside, instead of outside to protect people in case of an emergency. The first video mainly focuses on the incident that happened on March 25, 1911, when a fire started in a bin of cotton scraps, the factory floor didn’t have a sprinkler which lead to the fire spreading quickly,  some people jumped to their deaths, some were crushed, other workers burned to death or died from smoke inhalation, a total of 146 death happened from the fire. This accident made history happen, which changed society for the better. Some of these laws are still in effect in today’s society such as sprinklers must be in every workplace, fire detectors. 

The article “Virginia Just Became the 38th State to Pass the EqualRights Amendment. Here’s What to Know About the History of the ERA” focuses on how the U.S is lack equal right, regardless of sex and their Amendments. In the early 20s, when the Fire happened some women were fighting for equal rights, some were fighting for the protection of women and a better working place, which brought more attention to protection than equal rights. As women keep fighting for equal rights other movements and protests were happening which made it difficult for the women fighting for their rights to be hard because the U.S main focus always has been men. Even now that Virginia became the 38th state to vote to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, it will take years for them to gain equality based on the fact “that three-quarters of the states must approve an Amendment in order to add it to the U.S. Constitution”. I think it’s unfair that this is happening because women deserve just as many rights and equality as men, if it was a man in that situation it wouldn’t take that long for the law to be passed. 

The incidents at the sweatshops mentioned in both videos are about as unsurprising as they are gruesome. It’s hard to imagine a more pressing and immediate need for feminism and women in America than the need for better working conditions for everyone in the country. The more workers that are unionized in this country and the better the conditions are to allow for people to form those unions without inhuman backlash from their employers the better it will be for women. Disasters like the sweatshop fires discussed in the youtube videos are very terrible, but it is due to their very visible nature that we hear about them in the first place. There have been and continue to be sweatshops all over the country, as well as outsourced work in even worse conditions brought on by the very same companies in places all over the world. These sweatshops either remain hidden, or are torturing distant people of distant ethnicities uninteresting to the general public american eye and therefore ignored, or simply known of and been fought against but have had little to no repercussions to those responsible. And even for those that aren’t working in sweatshops, so many are still being taken advantage of for their labor, overworked and underpaid, straining their mental and physical health in order to make next month’s payment again and again, often with increasing fees and unexpected payments and accidents. Money is necessary for survival in the imposed capitalist systems in our current world, and the countless ways that it is kept from people most in need of it in order to further gain mind-boggling levels of wealth and power is standing very firmly in the way of women’s rights and equality. 

It’s very crazy to think about how long the fight for the ratification of the ERA has been going on. The protests that you can see in a lot of people’s latest snapshots as well as the image from the article span a pretty big chunk of time. Although it was still fairly recently that it was written, it’s insane how slowly very popular and important amendments and laws can move through the government system in contrast to how fast they can move when leaders really want, as we’ve seen from many a republican governor. When things like this are delayed and ignored from government, it’s difficult to see them successfully creating and passing very time-sensitive environmental laws. Every day people are disenfranchised and put into more challenging situations as the days get warmer and the natural disasters become more common and more intense. Hopefully people will continue to fight for these things that are essential for us to continue and function, and hopefully governors will listen and take action on these matters much quicker than they have been.