Women's Issues in America: History, Law, and Identity

Introduction and Overview of Feminism

When the term feminism was first used in the United States of America, it referred largely to the pursuit of women's right to vote. Later, it became synonymous with attempts by women to be recognized as equals of men in all aspects of life, from wages to family responsibilities to legal rights. In today's society, other issues such as reproductive rights and the freedom to make autonomous decisions about matters like abortion, along with efforts to hold men responsible for their families through child support and divorce law, have come to the forefront of feminism and the women's movement. While all of these issues are important to feminism overall, certain elements remain the most definitive aspects of the women's movement and are absolutely necessary in securing equal status for women in American society and culture.

When people speak about the feminist movement, they often give the impression that the experience of being a woman in America is universal. This is not the case. While women in America have certainly faced the same types of legal discrimination, that discrimination has had different impacts on women from different backgrounds. Women from privileged backgrounds, generally wealthy white women, have sometimes been able to obtain benefits that they could not have accessed legally. For example, when abortion was illegal, wealthy white women often traveled abroad for abortions—an option poor women simply could not afford. However, the differences in female experience do not negate the fact that some experiences are universal. For instance, domestic and sexual violence know no race, class, or religious boundaries, and women in all groups have been pressured to keep this violence secret.

To determine which elements remain most important or debated in American society and culture, I conducted an analysis of two scholarly articles, several feminist and women's rights films, an interview with a close family friend, and my own observations. For the interview, I spoke with a 94-year-old woman who grew up in West Texas and spent most of her life in El Paso. She is a white woman of some privilege. Though she spent her early childhood in a less affluent home, her mother remarried when she was 12, and she entered a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. When she married her husband at age 19, she became a member of the upper-middle class. She attended two years of college before marriage but never held a job nor had financial necessity to work. Upon her husband's death, she became responsible for her finances for the first time, a task she delegated to her son-in-law. From an external perspective, she had a comfortable life. However, because I am familiar with her family, I am aware that two of her daughters were in abusive marriages—one ending in divorce, the other in suicide. I am also aware that one of her granddaughters is a lesbian. These factors have shaped her view of the women's movement and feminist issues, giving her far greater awareness of those issues than one might expect of a woman of her age and social class.

The Women's Movement and Social Change

The women's movement has had different importance for women in different historical periods. The women's movement refers to the fight to establish equal rights for women in the United States and around the world in all areas of life and society. There are both surface-level indicators of women's unequal status in the United States and more serious, dangerous elements that continue to make women second-class citizens and practically subservient to men. For example, "women pay more for haircuts, dry cleaning, and cars. More seriously, we also earn less, are less well represented in our political institutions, do more than our fair share of household work, enjoy less personal security on city streets, and have less leisure time than do our male counterparts" (Brennan, 2009, p. 142). One continued discrepancy in American culture is the expectation that women will do the bulk of household chores and child rearing, regardless of their employment status. However, the lack of complete change should not be discouraging. "New social orders are established gradually" (Hooks, 2000, p. 161). While revolution may evoke images of violent upheaval, the reality is that cultural revolutions require more time to accomplish.

The interviewee's perspective on the women's movement is interesting because she grew up in an era before the women's movement became a guiding force in society. She did not participate in marches or women's rights organizations. However, this does not mean she is ignorant of women's issues or that women's rights fail to inform her decisions. According to her, women's issues influence how she votes and she donates money to women's causes. Her emphasis on women's rights reflects a woman of her time period. To her, the most important women's rights are the right to work and the right to own property, "because, without them any other freedom is meaningless. A woman needs to be able to support herself, or else she is dependent on a man. Dependency equals vulnerability." However, she seemed unwilling to consider the role she may have played in perpetuating a sexist system. According to Bell Hooks, "women must begin the work of feminist reorganization with the understanding that we have all (irrespective of our race, sex, or class) acted in complicity with the existing oppressive systems. We all need to make a conscious break with the system" (Hooks, 2000, p. 164). The interviewee, however, seemed to believe that the feminist movement did not apply to women like her, who happened to marry husbands that would keep them secure. Yet examining the losses she suffered as a result of gender bias makes clear that this was not true.

My own experience with the women's movement has been limited, not only because of my gender, but also because I have grown up in a time that many consider post-feminist. However, I do not believe the women's movement is actually finished. In my opinion, women are expected to work while also being the same mothers and wives expected in 1950s America. This is impossible. In many ways, the women's movement, feminism, and the establishment of equal rights have created a more difficult situation for women, who are now expected to fulfill both the traditional male role as breadwinner (or at least contributor) and the traditional female role of wife and primary caregiver to children and aging parents.

Gender Bias in Education

While the interviewee showed remarkable willingness to discuss some women's issues, she seemed almost unaware of others. She acknowledges that there was probably gender bias in schools when she was a student. However, she did not seem to connect gender bias in education with a broader pattern of sex-based discrimination. Instead, she seemed almost disinterested in the idea of gender bias in education.

Furthermore, in my own personal experience, I have not encountered any type of gender-based bias throughout my education, nor have I witnessed it occurring with others. However, scholarly readings on gender bias make me question those assumptions. Evidence suggests that gender bias in education can be damaging even when subtle, and that casual observers are unlikely to notice it. The fact that gender bias may persist in education does not prevent women from achieving in certain fields. For example, girls not being encouraged to pursue mathematics and science as rigorously as boys does not mean women are unable to do so. Much encouragement may need to come from the home, but this does not necessarily make it an issue that should be at the forefront of the women's movement. In fact, according to Brennan (2009), "moral philosophers and social activists should give priority to ending evil, rather than to eliminating inequality" (p. 145). Gender bias in education represents an inequality rather than an evil. In my opinion, this is not necessarily a question of women lacking equal legal rights, but rather an issue of changing societal attitudes.

Sexual and Reproductive Freedom

Abortion has been a contentious topic in feminist and political discourse for decades. In the film "If These Walls Could Talk," the stories of three women are presented over a forty-year period. Each woman must deal with an unexpected pregnancy in a different way. The first confronts the reality of illegal abortion, which is one reason I believe abortion should remain legal. The film "Lake of Fire," despite its anti-abortion theme, includes an image of Gerri Santoro, who has become iconic for her 1964 attempt to have her lover perform an illegal abortion to hide her pregnancy from her abusive husband and four children. She died, and the photographs have become a symbol for what can happen when women are denied the right to choose their reproductive future. It is clear from such events, which were not uncommon, that women are at serious risk if abortions are illegal.

Regarding how reproductive choice fits within the women's movement and feminism, "the move towards a sexually egalitarian society requires women's control of their reproductive lives" (Markowitz, 1990, p. 2). For women to truly be equal, they must be able to make autonomous decisions that are not regulated or approved and denied by the legal system. It is the only way for women to take ownership of their own bodies and their right to control that body. For example, "the autonomy defense incorporates a gender-neutral right, one that belongs to every citizen; there's nothing special about being a woman—except, of course, for the inescapable fact that only women find themselves pregnant against their wills" (Markowitz, 1990, p. 3). In some cases, abortion has been a dividing factor in the women's movement, because it encompasses more than simply the fight for autonomous choice. It is autonomous choice, however, that represents my own position on abortion and feminism.

The most telling part of the interview came when I asked the interviewee about sexual and reproductive freedom. She had an abortion when it was illegal and knows that this was only possible because of her social class. However, she distinguished between reproductive freedom and sexual freedom. She said that "Women will never have sexual freedom, and neither will men, because part of how you judge someone is based on their sexual behavior. Freedom from pregnancy or childbirth is only one aspect of it." At first glance, this remark seems almost naive, but perhaps it is true. Throughout history, the most respected people have been those who commit to another person and to their children. While there are certainly exceptions, it remained scandalous when President Clinton had sex outside his marriage. That same behavior would almost certainly destroy a woman's political career, indicating that a sexual double standard persists. However, the existence of this double standard does nothing to lessen the validity of her observation that people are judged, in part, on their sexual behavior.

Law and Personal Identity

What the interviewee made clear is that law can impact a person's identity, even if the law does not explicitly describe that identity. She self-identifies primarily as a mother, yet one of her children committed suicide. She believes that law has had a tremendous impact on her family. According to her, "Domestic violence laws have impacted my life. When my girls were getting beaten by their husbands, the police would not even help them. Later, a granddaughter had an abusive boyfriend and got help right away. I look back and wonder if those laws had been in effect if my youngest child would still be alive."

Furthermore, even when laws exist to protect women, life circumstances often prevent them from seeking legal help. In the film "North Country," the main character, Josey, is discriminated against in her position as a miner. She is subjected to a pregnancy test before being hired—something that was illegal and unnecessary. Additionally, she experiences sexual harassment, and in the male-dominated company, her objections are dismissed and ridiculed. Women like Josey can seek legal remedies, but how do they feed their families and pay their bills while waiting for justice? Laws are only meaningful if they are respected and rapidly enforced.

Discrimination and Economic Inequality

The interviewee is a white person with money, so she does not feel she has been a victim of non-gender-based discrimination. In fact, even when she was poor, which coincided with the Great Depression, she does not report feeling discriminated against because of it. What is interesting is that her privilege has not prevented her from being aware of the reality of discrimination. She stated, "Honestly, I've probably unintentionally perpetuated more racism or class prejudice than I've ever experienced." It would be valuable to explore further how her attitudes towards discrimination have changed as overall societal attitudes have shifted.

One of the least discussed forms of discrimination is class discrimination, largely because people think of class as fluid. However, women and children are tremendously overrepresented among the impoverished. When men get divorced, their standard of living generally increases, while women and children experience a decrease. Compounding this problem is the stigma attached to receiving public assistance, whether in the form of financial aid or child support enforcement. The film "It Was a Wonderful Life" demonstrates what can happen to women when they are not given adequate support from the justice system when child support is not a priority for law enforcement and courts. Instead of turning to welfare because of the stigma attached to it, women are often forced to live in extreme poverty and at the mercy of their divorced husbands or fathers who may or may not contribute to their children's financial needs.

Domestic Violence and Legal Protection

Domestic violence is an issue very close to the interviewee's heart. Two of her daughters were abused, and one actually committed suicide to escape her abuser. The interviewee believes that stigma still surrounds domestic violence. However, her greater concern is about the law. She thinks that child visitation laws give batterers a way to continue abusing their victims long after the victim has left. According to her, she and her husband spent hundreds of thousands of dollars helping her daughter retain custody of her children after divorce. Of course, most domestic violence victims do not have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars, leaving women and children vulnerable.

The issue of violence pervades feminism because women have not been subjected to merely economic and social dominance, but also to physical dominance. Violence is pervasive and deeply embedded in gender relations. Women are at greatest risk in their homes, and this risk appears to be the same regardless of culture. There is no place in the world where women are safe from violence. There is no country where domestic violence is treated as a serious crime and eradicated in the same manner as other crimes. In America, women from different cultures face even greater barriers than American citizens because of their cultural traditions and because of ethnocentric assumptions in law enforcement and domestic violence shelters. Of course, women are victimized not only in their homes, but can also be victims of sexual violence by strangers or acquaintances. What this makes clear to me is that being a woman means being constantly vulnerable to the threat of violence. The stress and strain of always facing possible victimization must be unbearable. What is also clear is that the victimization of women is frequently accompanied by either direct or ancillary victimization of children.

What is interesting is that the feminist movement seems to understand the role that violence plays in women's rights. "Women throughout the world are organizing on their own behalf, and in the last 25 years a transnational feminist movement has developed which has insisted that women's rights are human rights. Women throughout the world are working to end violence against women, which is condoned by patriarchal cultures in many parts of the world" (Kesselman et al., 2000, p. 537). This quote makes me think about the Taliban and how it fostered a terrorist network. I have vague memories of women I know protesting the Taliban's treatment of women long before 9-11 brought the organization into national attention. However, because women were being abused, no major governmental organization from any nation became involved to help end the Taliban. Its existence directly contributed to the worst terrorist attack in American history. What I wish people understood is that violence against women is violence against humanity.

Conclusion: The Path Forward

The interviewee has lived a much longer time than I have and has seen the women's movement result in real change for women, even if it has not directly impacted her life because of choices she made. Furthermore, she has witnessed gaps where better laws and changing societal attitudes could have made a pivotal difference in someone's life. My own view of the current state of the women's movement and feminism is that it has focused too much on changing laws and not enough on changing attitudes. Until every man's view of what a woman is changes, and the shift of responsibility in household chores and raising children is altered, women will remain second-class citizens in American society. This idea is repeated by Bell Hooks: "feminist focus on reforms to improve the social status of women within the existing social structure allowed women and men to lose sight of the need for total transformation of society" (Hooks, 2000, p. 160). However, that does not mean I am hopeless that America will ever be a truly egalitarian society. The feminist movement, like the Civil Rights Movement, is relatively young when compared to America's history, and tremendous changes in law and attitudes have occurred over the last century.