IMANE CHAABA

DISCUSSION 8

Suffrage, labor rights, and equal rights exist to fight for women’s rights in society. For years women were treated poorly by their environment, society, and people who run their workplace. Women at that time did not have the right to vote and have zero insurance. After decades of the lengthy, road of struggle and protest, the 19th amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920. This purpose was very hard to achieve and the campaign for woman suffrage was very dramatic because, after ratification, many women were couldn’t vote because of the discriminatory state voting laws. The courage and resilience that these women had were unbelievable. Women deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship as men do. We must normalize equality and freedom. Women in society need to have more power, influence, and work opportunities. After all, women still face issues in the workplace. Years ago, there was no such thing as protecting the workplace. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire tragedy was a great example of that. Hundreds of women were working very hard with no protection plan. They were taken advantage of and mistreated by the building owners. It was one of the deadliest in U.S history and the country had to do something about it. After losing hundreds of hard worker women, we finally came up with a plan such as the Sullivan-Hoey Fire Prevention law which required factory owners to install sprinkler systems. The fire helped the growth of the International ladies garment Workers’Union which was made to create better working conditions for sweatshop workers.

The proposed amendment ERA could be such a game-changer for women in society but it is still not ratified in most states. Women created this example of rights to stop discrimination and gender preferences. They were fighting for equality in divorce, employment, education, and property. Society still needs adjustment because after the achievements women did, there are still issues with gender equality in the workplace. As was stated by Tara Law in her article: Virginia Just Became the 38th State to Pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Here’s What to Know About the History of the ERA”:

“I think there’s been a more widespread understanding among both women and men
that we have not truly established equality in our culture,” she says, “and the laws that
we have enacted are not sufficient to protect against sex discrimination in all avenues.” We still need to fight for women’s rights because we haven’t become a hundred percent equal society yet.