Sheahan-1 Sheahan Lily

Mr. Jones

English Language Arts 1-2 H

21 October 2013

Hear Our Voice The year was 1869 when the first US womens suffrage law was set into place (wearewoman.us). It is now 2013 and females are still experiencing forms of oppression. Women have been oppressed by way of career disadvantages, lack of political representation and unrealistic standards of beauty.

Today, when little girls dream of what they want to be when they grow up, they want to be doctors, lawyers, artists, pilots or even astronauts. Thanks to the feminist movement of the 1960s these career choices are possible for women. Work opportunities for women used to be limited to mundane clerical tasks. (Feminism,12) The womens liberation movement promoted equality for women in the workplace. The antidiscrimination laws made it possible to create work opportunities for women outside the home. Despite the career opportunities, even now, women are not compensated equally. Even when women are given the opportunity to succeed, most women do not earn equal pay as men do in the same positions. As recently as 1997, women earned $.51 for every dollar earned by a man. (Feminism, 12) Women are also limited in opportunities for advancement and in training programs which lead to top positions (aw.com). According to the article, Are Women Discriminated Against at Wal-Mart?, women

Sheahan-2 earned 25% less pay compared to a males salary for doing the exact same job at Walmart. This website also described how less than 10% of Walmarts managers are female (aw.com). New York state conducted a study to explore salary differences between male and female workers from 1999 to 2008. The results were horrendous. On average, women received about $16,000 less than their male coworkers (buildingc3.com). In 1963, there was legislation called the Equal Pay Act. It required both men and women to be paid an equal salary for the same work (EEOC.gov). All of this information is useful in presenting the injustice towards women in the area of career disadvantages. These unfair aspects of the workplace are setting women up to fail because of the limited chances given. The future holds the chance of having careers be equitable.

On the other hand, there are numerous strong and accomplished women in politics, but not nearly as many as there are male politicians. Women are making progress in political representation. Women currently hold 98 of 535 seats in congress or just over 18% of the congress (cawp.rutgers.eduf). This compared to 7.4 % in 1975 (Feminism, 12). However women make up more than half of the electorate, and there has not been a single woman president since the start of this nations history. If women make up half of the population, why do they not make up half of the political representatives? Having women in government allows a balance between major issues. When more men hold the power in government, womens issues get put aside. For example, education and child protection are generally not priorities to men, but women care an abundant amount about these topics. The war in Iraq has cost about $2 trillion and is expected to cost up to a whopping $6 trillion, while funding for education and social programs for families continue to drop. (usc.edu). The men are spending the U.S government money on issues that they care about while women do not get to vote for more spending on other

Sheahan-3 issues that they think will benefit America. With women in government, the vote becomes more equal because women get a say in what they care about.

Magazines, movies, billboards, television and social media are all drenched in the image of beauty. Every woman wants to be beautiful, of course, but what about inner beauty? society expects women to meet unrealistic standards of beauty, according to the book Feminism (62). Women and mens appearance are not judged equally. Women are judged more based on their appearance rather than their inner qualities. At a very early age, unrealistic expectations are taught about beauty to girls. For instance, Barbie has put an improbable image of attractiveness into the young minds of adolescents. Tall, skinny, blonde and busty, Barbie is known for her looks rather than for her brains or talents. If Barbie were scaled up to human size, Barbie dolls would have unrealistic measurements of 36-18-33, compared with the typical 19year-old girl's 32-31-33,(dailymail.co.uk). Being brainwashed at an early age can impact womens self-image and mens expectations about beauty.

As has been noted, women have come a long way, but there is still work to be done. Career disadvantages, political rights and unrealistic standards of beauty have oppressed women in many ways over centuries. The year is now 2013 and it is time for change.

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Works Cited

Hurley, Jennifer A. Feminism Opposing Viewpoints. United States; Greenhaven Press. 2001. Print. The History of Womens Right in the United States. We Are Women.Website.2011.

Are Women Discriminated Against at Wal-Mart?. Pearson. Website. 2010.

Fact Sheet: Equal Pay for Women of Color. California Construction. Website.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Equal Pay Act of 1963. Website.

CAWP Fact Sheet. Women in the U.S, Congress. CAWP. Website. March, 2013.

US Education Vs. The World. USC. Website. 2013.

Revealed: What Barbie would look like as a real woman (the results might surprise you). Daily Mail. Website.