Response 9

While pondering how I should approach the question "Why do you think it took so long before women decided to organize a concentrated effort to receive equal rights," I had to wonder how we quantify "so long," and in relation to what?

As a born and raised American woman, I understand what some of the hold ups may have been in the equal rights efforts for women. Since the beginning of time there have been separate roles for people, and in many cases, distinctly separate between genders. It is a common belief that women are made to work in the home. In most cultures, women are responsible for the caring and rearing of children, maintaining the home, cooking and taking part in tasks such as cleaning, sewing, weaving, molding of pots, and things of that nature.

As women are actively engaged in fulfilling their duties, it is common for men to be involved in a different realm of tasks. An indisputable reason is the difference in our physical bodies. Men and women are built differently. We have different structures which results in different types of strengths. Men generally have a greater upper body strength in comparison to women, which is helpful in lifting and building things. Women have unique bodies that are litterally made to bear children.

Another factor is the tradition of honoring male intellect and the need for their involvement in politics, business, decision making, theory development, philosophy, etc. This is obviously a controversial and debatable assumption. However, it must be concluded in the thought process of answering this question because it is an influencial element that has also existed since the beginning of time. Since women have had roles that are defined in the home, to complement these roles, men have had roles defined outside of the home. For a home and a family unit to be organized and to function, we need both. The issue should not be about who does what, but rather how it is done. It is still common for this tradition to be upheld in many homes in this country. And it is far more common that this tradition be seen in other countries throughout the world.

The fact that this type of organization of the home still exists all over the world makes me doubt the phrase that this process did take "so long." It is true that the effort to aliven women's rights was far after the effort toward equality in men. However, it is also true that real equality for men is still flawed in this country. We have not perfected equality in many instances even still. And the fact the women's rights was not too slow to follow the genesis of this country negates the opinion that it took "so long."

I cannot agree with this phrase because I know of the gender inequality and disparity that exists throughout the world. We are lucky to have as much freedom as we do. We are fortunate to have the rights that we do. We are a rare case, us American women, to have the endless opportunities availabel to us that are. It is both a blessing and a curse, because we are indeed blessed to be this fortunate, but it also makes us think we deserve so much more. And, we do. We all do. But we need not forget that we are a rare case, that we are a unique sect of the female population having all of this freedom, opportunity and choice available to us. We should not be blinded by the time it took for us to get this way into thinking that undermines the blessings we have. In fact it should instill us with a greater desire to fight for these same rights for all of the other women in this world who have far less opportunity and ability to make choices about their lives.