Discussion: Feminist Freedom

Yesterday a friend of mine and I were discussing the trials of generations that came before (mainly during the Black Death because that's what I'm studying in Art History) and she said to me, "Wow, we think our trials are hard."

And it struck me, in a moment of epiphany, exactly how good we have it. So, lets stop for a moment and think about how much better women have it then they used to.

We can vote, we can own property, we can control the rearing of our own children, we can have any job we want, we can go to any school we want.

Why can we do all this? Because someone who came before us fought tooth and nail to give us that right.

So how do we use it?

In the Revolution the soldiers fought for our rights as Americans to be free and today we use that right to make our own decisions. It honors them for us to act upon their sacrifice.

In the Feminist Movement... and during the Suffrage time thing.... women suffered for our rights to have the freedoms we have. So how do we honor them? I know lots of women who stay at home and argue that they need to be treated equally... (Hi, I'm Cannwin--and I'm totally guilty of this), but then lack the true desire to actually go and do.

I mean, come on... lets just be honest with each other right now ladies... how hard is it to change a diaper? Especially compared to some of the things women before us had to sacrifice.

Anyway... I digress... the point of this is to discuss:

Is it possible that, as women of our time, we are standing on the battle field of our feminist ancestors and shouting, "Bring it on! We rock!!" When in reality... the battle has already been fought and we just don't know what to do now that we've won?

And! What are you doing to maintain the rights of feminist freedom that you were given?

Comments

heather said…
I do believe the battle has been won. I think I tried to make that point earlier when we were discussing the 50s housewife.
mandi said…
It's not hard to change a diaper. What's hard is choosing to stay home and really be a mother [and being happy while doing it] when there is so much pressure to go out there and be something more important or worthwhile. Really? Is there anything more important than being a good mother? I think it's great that we can own property and we can vote and we can do all of those things, but I think it's really, really sad that all of a sudden we think we're in a contest to beat our husbands out of their jobs. Is it possible that women are less respected now than they were, say 100 years ago [right to vote not being the measure of respect]. I think it's more than possible.

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