Thursday, October 10, 2013

Rights

Over the years, the roles of women have significantly changed. On June 4th of 1920, women were given the right to vote in the United States. Throughout history, men have had more rights than women. In the Handmaid's Tale, women have very specific roles in society. They have very few rights in this futuristic society. Rights are a main reason that people immigrate to our country. We often take our rights for granted. We all have gained rights in our country over the years. How have the roles of women changed over the years? What has caused these changes? Do we take these rights for granted? Do you think that citizen's of other countries enjoy the rights that we do? How do you predict that our rights will change in the future of our country?

10 comments:

  1. The roles of women have changed dramatically over the past one hundred years. These rights that we now enjoy have been fought for by the generations before us. I do believe that we take the rights that now enjoy for granted, we see them as something given and not earned. The future of women is really hard to predict, especially when considering the amount that we have changed as a gender. However, I think it would be hard to subdue the modern women into the role they have historically held. The freedoms they have fought to earn would not be that easy to crush. They have had a taste of the independence of women and like being that person.

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    1. We were given our rights from birth, but we still shouldn't take them as granted. The history of our nation is owed the people that fought for the right to start their own country. They earned the rights. Women earned rights many years later through protests and movements, and African Americans earned equality through similar tactics. People now forget the people that earned right for us, but we shouldn't.

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    2. I absolutely agree with you that it would be a battle to take women's rights away now that they have been in our society for such a long time. Not just women, but also men, have become accustomed to the rights that women have. The disappearance of women's rights would have negative effects on our society, culture, and economy. It would take a historical event to make the views we hold in America to drastically change. I think that women have become independent enough to fight for there rights and I think that it would not just be women fighting for our rights, but men too.

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    3. Erin, I agree. Women are proud to be women! As women, we have accomplished great leaps over the centuries. We strive to prove that we are equal to man and that we are just as capable as they are. Women have earned many rights over the past 200 years, which we do take for granted. I have never thought twice about my ability to vote when I turn 18. I subconsciously think to myself that of course I can vote; I am an American citizen just like everyone else, man or woman.

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  2. Women have been viewed as the primary caretakers of children and homes for centuries. Women were deemed too weak to provide for themselves, and therefore cared for children while the man of the house worked, hunted, and generally put food on the table. But as time and society has progressed, and with the advent of supermarkets, anyone can go to the store and pick up dinner, as long as the money is there. In most cases now, both man and woman work to provide for their family and to have extra money. We take our rights for granted almost every day. Not everywhere in the world can someone walk down the street dressed how they want. Some can't even walk down the street without the worry of a bomb going off. Our rights have gone uninfringed for over 200 years. With recent developments in leaked news from government agencies spying on us and lying to us, it is hard to say exactly where our rights are going to be in the future. We do not have as free of speech as we think, with many government agencies cracking down on groups that say the "wrong things."

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    1. I like how you pointed out that we aren't as free as we think. I agree that the roles of women, both at home and in the community, has changed drastically. Our rights, as Americans are extremely different also. We have many freedoms that are not granted to others in different countries. The future is unpredictable, we can think what we like, but each event changes the possible futures. Therefore, the future is never concrete or definite. It changes constantly and is effect by all of the choices made.

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  3. Men in society are perceived naturally as the hunters and gatherers of the world. Women are viewed as the caretakers. Over the years, this distinct line between the role of a man and woman have been blurred somewhat; however, there is still a very common, basic, and original theme to the different roles of men and women. I think that, in the future, the roles of women and men will not truly change much. Women may gradually be given more and more rights, yet there will always be a line. In today's society, women have obtained many roles that only men used to be given. There are many single moms living in the world today that are not only the caretakers, but are also who provides food and money to the family. Margaret Atwood chose for The Handmaid's Tale to be set in the future perhaps to demonstrate that women have always had a disadvantage to men and that in the future, women will still never really have all of the rights that men do.

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  4. Women are now a force in our society. Women have jobs in the government, military, and medical field. These fields used to be reserved for only men. The United States is far ahead of most other countries on the equal rights for both sexes. I do think that both men and women take these rights for granted and do not appreciate the hard work of those before us that got us to this place in our history. Women in other countries are still being suppressed and unnoticed for there abilities to better society. I do not think that most people in America realize how fortunate we are to have the rights that we do. It is an eye opener to see the cultures of other countries. I think that we have had our rights for such a long time that it would be too difficult for them to be taken away. It would take a monumental event for women's rights to change. Women are so independent now that they can fight for there rights since we know what it is like to have them.

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    1. It is so simple to take rights for granted. We, as Americans, have been born and raised with many rights other countries are not entitled to. We know nothing different, so it does not occur to us that our livelihood is only a dream to some. Even today, other countries struggle to see women morally. Women can be oppressed and unable to show individualism because they are only property of their men and nobody else. Other women are viewed only as sex objects to be tossed around treated almost similar to cattle because they are not seen as an equal human being. As Americans, we are so fortunate to have decades of work and effort from citizens before us that have made it past the struggles it took to be where we are now. We never had to suffer, and we never had to work for our privileges, they were just granted to us at birth.

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  5. For centuries, women simply played the role as house-maker. They bore children, took care of the home, cooked, and cleaned. That was their life and that was their part in society. It was not a bad job, it was not looked down upon to be a "stay-at-home-mom" that was just the way of life. As society advanced, women started having the desire to become a part of the man's world. It is a peculiar thought to ponder what could have started this change. It was not as though they saw other women gaining rights, they all were still held at the same standard as the other. I believe that they simply wanted more responsibility. As women, they had a need to be kept busy and on their toes through multi-tasking. When they got the hang of house work, they wanted more and they wanted to be able to go out and adventure just like their husbands were able to. Once women started emerging from their homes more and into the world, they began to see the culture they could have for themselves alongside the men. They demanded rights and fought for equality. Women have worked their way up to becoming what they are in society today. They are treated like equals instead of only a prize of marriage. They can be a part of the job force and, as a result being a "stay-at-home-mom" has even become looked down upon because that means she is not helping provide financial needs for her family. The views of society have completely reversed and morphed into seeing women as people who must be a part of society, and not so much their homes. This is an incredible example of how times change lives.

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