My thoughts on this week’s reading. There is a lot in today’s world that there are issues with females. The fight for suffrage continues for many groups in place around the world. Back in 2018, there were still people fighting for women’s rights. Taking a look at the reading’s title it says, “Virginia just became the 38th state to pass the Amendment of the equal right, …” There is a lot to be done in today’s world because we’re still dealing with how we women are being taken for privileges. At the end of the reading, it says, “I think there’s been 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.“ Here is something that I also see the laws that we have now are not sufficient to protect us against sex discrimination. Like in my opinion there should be more women who should be getting done that have not been resolved yet.

This week we learned about suffrage, ERA, and labor rights. I remember learning about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire a few years ago. It’s incredibly disturbing, especially knowing how preventable it was. Honestly, it reminds me of a lot of other instances where there were disasters, in which the deaths were preventable. One consistency I’ve noticed between a lot of these events is one thing; the disregard for human life. It’s awful that things like this have to happen for change to occur, but unfortunately, it makes sense. It’s difficult to fight against oppression, and sometimes, horrible things need to happen before people fight for their basic human rights. However, even with a lot of the changes in the last century, a lot of these problems are still present, practically worldwide. I feel like there needs to be a new movement, something that can impact people’s rights and general well-being on an international level.

In this weeks article “Virginia Just Became the 38th State to Pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Here’s What to Know About the History of the ERA” by Tara Law, I have never obtained so much information about the ERA until now. I knew that the ERA had something to do with gaining equality between sexes and obtaining liberation for women’s rights. I just want to know, what took so long? Why did it take us so long to have the rights we deserve and just be equal. Even now, the ERA still won’t be added to the Constitution due to the fact it would be a long and hard fight in order to make that happen. But in reality, it shouldn’t take so long because these are the kinds of topics that need to be advocated and fought for by millions of people in order to get some kind of recognition or voice heard. I didn’t know how short the ERA actually was and at this point it isn’t even surprising because what else do we expect from a country that doesn’t care for equality between genders. Women have been fighting since before 1972 to make our voices heard and fight for what’s right which has always been equality. Law goes on to say “Coberly notes that many people don’t even know that the U.S. hasn’t ratified the amendment yet”. I’m sure many people aren’t educated on the topic of the ERA or even the ratification of things. We need to bring more awareness to this topic because it is very important to understand what is happening in our country.

When reading “Virginia Just Became the 38th State to Pass the Equal Rights Amendment.” There was brief history talking about the first woman name Alice Paul was the founder of the national woman’s party. After the national woman’s party was a success she joins the demonstration for the British suffragist movement in Britain during the early 1900s. When reading her history, she has accomplished many goals for woman’s rights and equality. In 1972 the equal right amendment failed, the reason why it failed is because of anti-feminism and the opponent Phyllis Schlafly. Surprisingly, she was a woman who was going to opposed liberal feminism, gay rights, and abortion, and successfully campaigned against the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This is a common thing that happens, woman can disagree with what woman are fighting for and prefers woman to be in control by the government and people. It’s hard for them to realize that anything women try to fight for and a woman disagrees with them, they’re going to regret their decision in the future. It’s sad to see people who go against their own kind not knowing that they’re just the same. According to the reading, Schlafly stated, “A woman should have the right to be in the home as a wife and mother.” I have been hearing this from the older generation especially, through the parents that a woman’s job should be a house and a mother. Women should reunite together for their amendment for the right to equality.

I had no clue about the triangle shirtwaist factory fire and how it assisted in making many changes in factories for a safer work environment. Watching the video on YouTube was very shocking to me. Women jumping from windows to their death and others burning to death no one held accountable!! The only reason it probably got all the attention it did is because people protested and made it clear it was not acceptable (which shows the power we hold as a society) So many outrageous actions I cannot even focus on a specific one. Given I am aware there are and were sweatshops and etc. around the world I honestly did not know all those women died in 1911 in a garment factory. What was more shocking was the second video the 2010 fire in the Bangladesh Factory was heartbreaking to watch and listening to them explain about locking the doors as to avoid theft rather than caring for their employees is outrageous. The first unfortunate event happened in 1911 and for the fire in 2010 to be so reminiscent of it is alarming. The employees are making clothes for billion dollar companies the companies should be ensuring the people making their garments are safe and paid sufficiently not only making pennies on a dollar for the labor even though that was an old video I cant imagine it being any better today then it was in 2010 something surely needs to be done to provide a progressive movement for the sweat shop workers overseas it is not right or fair to them !!

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory is one of the biggest moments in history because it promoted much needed and necessary change for not just women but all genders. Both videos focusing on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that happened on March 25th, 1911 described in detail about the horrific events that occurred, why they happened, and what change happened because of this horrible tragedy afterwards. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a man made disaster that could have been prevented with the right precautions, rules, and regulations. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a sweatshop in Manhattan, New York that was a densely packed place, where young immigrant women worked over eleven hours a day every day with extremely low wages and unsafe working conditions for all. Over five hundred young women worked there where they sat at a long table and sewed blouses for women. This horrific fire started in a bin of cotton scraps that may have been started from a cigarette bud; when the fire began to spread quickly women tried to rush out the building through the emergency exit however, the space wasn’t big enough and it collapsed. After the emergency exit/fire escape collapsed the young women tried to get out the building using the elevator however, the elevator then broke before everyone could get out safely therefore, many women jumped to their deaths from the Asch building instead of the scorching and unbearable flames. It was also stated that these young women fell to their deaths in order for their families to be able to ID them and bury them properly. The fire lasted a total of eighteen minutes and one hundred and forty six women died making it the deadliest workplace disaster in New York City history. Days later after the horrific fire, a massive funeral protest march took place where more than three hundred and fifty thousand people were in attendance for the one hundred and forty six souls that passed over a tragedy that could have been prevented. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire helped redefine the American industrial workplace because it was a key movement in the growth of labor unions particularly  the international ladies garment workers union. This fire prompted more rules and regulations to be a necessity in place for workers including the Sullivan home fire prevention law which required sprinkler systems to be installed in all factories; this served as a model for state and national workplace safety codes. As I was re-learning everything I was taught about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire throughout these two videos I realized that I did not know the extent to which change happened and the fact that citizens prompted this change just by protests and marches. Just by people coming together and fighting for these women that tragically died from this fire they were able to create more stricter laws, rules, and regulations to protect workers and above all ensure their safety as they work each and every day. Although such a tragic fire occurred for this change to happen I feel as though it woke people up and lit a fire under them that they couldn’t just ignore. To me, the most important information you can take away from these videos is that you don’t need people of high status or power to enforce much needed and necessary change for citizens in general, all you need is a bunch of people like you, who wants the same end goal for all not just specific people that it would benefit from. Many social movements begin with a bunch of regular people who aren’t rich or known but share the same drive, goal, and message that they want to promote and in the end cause change for the world in ways it may not know it needs it.

This week’s material had me so upset!

Did anyone else cry?

America is really a piece of work!

How can we go from caring about the exploitation of Americans to exploiting the people in third world countries. The fact that Companies refuse to pay a working wage boils my blood. That Walmart and the gap refuse to pay 35 cents an hour is beyond me!!!! People are fighting for a living wage around the world! We are the “lucky” ones fighting for 20 an hour now. We need to protect !!! We can’t let globalization sacrifice the lives of workers in the developing world! when will we care about our neighbors and human life? I was bawling my eyes out for people that I do not even know because knowing that they are suffering and there is not anything I can do to help them.  

The assigned reading “Virginia just became the 38th state” was in some ways still surprising on how long women have been fighting in this struggle. Women got the right to vote in 1920 and 102 years later we are just now getting the majority vote to get something passed. That’s just crazy to me and even the things that are in place to “help women are still few and far in between. This was not done by mistake it was done intentionally in the article it states “It was an intentional exclusion of women from the constitution, because they were basically not considered full citizens who should have the right to vote,” Neuwirth said these words and it landed for me as we were considered property, belonging to someone one else. It was completely frustrating to read this article and know that although we have made progress in some ways and women are liberating themselves each day. That in a lot of ways we are still like the women in the 1920s telling folks we are people and deserve equal rights as everyone else. Even if ERA were to be passed we still don’t know if it will change things in the article it also states “Passing a constitutional amendment does not automatically invalidate anything,”

Coberly says. “It would provide a basis, potentially, for a lawsuit, and courts will need

to decide whether any particular law — whether it’s on abortion or something else —

constitutes discrimination on the basis of sex and is invalid under any equal rights

Amendment.” meaning that after it is in place we still may not see quick changes in state laws

Reading the week’s article, “Virginia Just Became The 38th State To Pass The Equal Right Amendment. Here’s What To Know About The History of the ERA”, I learned that the ERA movement has been in progress for at least a century. Virginia is the 38th to back up the Equal rights movement is excellent and all, but it shouldn’t take this long to have equal rights regardless of sex. The women’s suffrage movement, the ERA, and now the mee too movement’s should be more than enough to allow congress to see and move forward the right to protect women in the United States. In the video, sweatshop warriors, we listened to the exploitation of young women labor worldwide. These were as young as 13 that had a day’s worth of work. The United States’ thriving economy is, but they will pay as little as possible to see more profit fit in their pockets. Unhealthy work conditions were seen in the documentary. There have been unsafe environments that ultimately led to the death of over 20 women because a fire broke out, and there were no available safety measures, just like the triangle shirtwaist factory fire. Around 500 people were working in this factory. There were long hours of labor and unsafe conditions. Typically who employed these sweatshop jobs were immigrant women. These are the only people that need jobs no matter what to support themselves. My mother, who came to New York City around the ’80s, still experienced sweatshop labor. They could only use the restroom once a day, so she chose wisely. The way this country exploits immigrant women is atrocious. I believe there are still underground sweatshops in the United States; we hear so much about it because the news doesn’t care for it to be known.

I think one thing that struck me in the videos and readings of this week is the ways in which we seem to continuously hand off our problems or assuage ourselves by relying on some tenuous good faith assurance that everything will be ok. In the case of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, yes we worked to ensure these things wouldn’t happen in America for the most part, but our solution was to merely pass this problem on to other countries, countries that our colonialist endeavors had already ravaged. Our solution wasn’t to say this must never happen again, it was to say we will never happen again here.
With the ERA there’s somehow also this similar feeling of passing the buck. Yes, we have made strides in women’s equality, some of that passing into law whether on state or federal level, but we still fail by not simply passing the ERA. We’ve passed the problem on in some way, put a band-aid on it and told ourselves that it’s good enough. But without passing something universal we allow all these protections we’ve built to be chipped away at. And if we were to pass the ERA, it would likely help change a lot of policy because it would be grounds to challenge a lot of discriminatory practice and law that currently goes unchecked.
I guess my point is that in some way they both seem like issues we’ve addressed on some but can’t do away with altogether because someone doesn’t want that. Our capitalist society doesn’t want to find a way to subsist without cheap labor, and our patriarchal society doesn’t want to give women firm strong ground to build their rights. I think what’s evident is that these problems always come back when they aren’t fully addressed.