How Feminists Ruined America The definition of feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social and economic equality to men. Should women have the same rights as men? The answer to this question is yes. Should women have more rights than men, or be looked at as a higher gender? The answer to this question is no. “You don't have to be anti-man to be pro-woman”, said Jane Galvin Lewis. So why have so many women taken the feminist movement too far? To answer this question we first have to explore the history and why the feminist movement started, and then explore where some women took the word feminism too far.
The feminist movement started back in the year of 1792 in Great Britain. Mary Wollstonecraft, an English philosopher, wrote two books A Vindication of the Rights of Men(1790) followed by A Vindication of the Rights of Woman(1792). These books have been thought to have started the American feminist philosophy. The actual first feminist movement was at Seneca Falls Convention in July 19-20, 1848. This convention was organized by local Quaker women, who had a woman, Lucretia Mott be the speaker of this convention. There were both men and women who attended the convention. She was famous for her speaking ability. In 1848 no man wanted to sit and listen to a woman, so this characteristic was rare to have. Also, during this convention, the Quaker women urged people to sign a document called the Declaration of Sentiments, which stated of what the feminists wanted changed in America. This Declaration of Sentiments was signed by sixty-eight women and thirty-two men. (Head)
In the early 19th century, there was another big movement in the United States, this being the black civil rights. The ranking in the American social structure in the 19th century went white men, white women, black men, and then black women. Many people, especially the black women of this time, had an enormous issue with both of these movements essentially going on at the same time. The black women had two strikes essentially against them, first being black, and then being a female. A famous feminist named Sojourner Truth said this at her 1851 speech: "I think that 'twixt the Negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon." This quote sounds like she was afraid that both of the movements at the same time would have empowered the white men even more than they already were. She was right. Still, in 1869, groups of black women, one being National Association for Colored Women, had no effect in the women’s rights movement. The cross-country group known as the feminist’s movement was strictly identified as white and upper-class only.
One of the major turning points in the feminist movement was the time period surrounding World War I. Because the war had drafted most of the young men to serve in the United States military, the work place suffered when they had to leave. When the men left, the women had to step up and fill the job positions that only men in that time era held. The overall effect of women taking the “male” jobs was very beneficial to the feminist movement. Because the women had gained so much power in the workforce at this time, the United States government put in place the nineteenth amendment. The nineteenth amendment prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex, ratified August 18, 1920. Suzan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Staton drafted the nineteenth amendment and first introduced it in 1878. Some forty-one years later congress recognized the amendment. From there it took one year to get all of the states to vote and ratify this amendment. Even though the amendment was ratified and passed through Congress, there was still at least one person who went to challenge it. The Supreme Court overruled the claims filed against this amendment essentially making it untouchable. “Resolved, that the women of this