civil rights paper 3

examine reasons for rise of feminism

Thesis: While women being pushed out of the workforce and positions of power as well increased recognition of the systematic oppression they faced did not lead to direct legislation change, both helped cause a rise in the femininst movement by pushing women towards participation in movements and foster feminist thinking

• pushed out of jobs and cult of domesticity:

  • coming out of wwii, once the men came back from work, women were pushed out of the workforce

  • those women who had to work to provide for their families were often only given “women’s work” like clerical work

  • there was a shift back towards an importance in family life, and there was a prominent baby boom in the americas

    • in canada, the population was increased by 8.2 mil babies, while in the US is was 76mil babies

  • Gloria Steinem wrote about how women who did remain in the workforce often felt apologetic and claimed that they worked to provide for families as they were ashamed of stating that they did it for themselves

    • this places plays a role into the rise of feminism by emphasizing how women wanted to be free of the shame and obligation that came w their gender

    • she also quotes Sojourner Truth, who said that if she has ploughed and planted and “ain’t I a woman?”

• recognition of the how they were measured in relation to men

  • during this period, the media pushed out the image of a happy housewise who was content with child-bearing and serving their husband

  • they portrayed women in pieces of media as having no ambition other than having children after finding a husband

  • Betty Freidan published the “Feminine Mystique” which exposed these ideals as being false or overly generalized

    • this inspired the younger generation of people and they formed the National Organization for Women in response to the Civil Rights Act in 1964 to speak demand the elimiantion of gender discrimnation in employment

    • betty became president of NOW

  • Ms. Magazine, an outlet to covey feminist theory and contervsial topics at the time like birth control led to women becoming more aware of the systematic opression of women and join parties like NOW

    • led to march on WA DC as a strike for equality

perspectives for feminism

• Dothy Decoster who was apart of CORE had felt angry in the 60s, as even though she was apart of radical poli parties w her friends, they had to hope a man would answer their qiestions and share literature - otherwise they were silened/stopped from sharing their own thoughts

• Van Bronkhurts who participated in numerous protests againist war in the Seattle area and on the UW campus was angry due to women not being taking seriously at protests - often reduced to girlfriends to parade as objects or cooks to feed bfs during protests

evaluate achievements for feminist movement

Thesis: Although feminist movements in the Americas were able to enable growth, American legislation benefitting women being passedwere met with cultural backlash, whereas Canadian programs adressing and aiding the struggles women faced did not result in concrete change, both causing a stagnation in the impact of achievements the feminist movements had

• in the US

  • Roe v Wade in 1973: ruling legalized women;s right to an abortion in the US under 4,5 and 14thA and allowed abortions in 1st trimester w no restriction

  • UN delacred 1975 as int women year - US was a signatory so they organized a conference for women delegates to discuss issues w men

    • led to creation of national agenda across various areas of life

  • While there was this growth, the 80s saw a shift away from this as the media began to portay feminism as a threat to society

    • President Reagan made sure to appoint govern officials who would halt feminist movements

• in Canada

  • govern set up Royal Commision of Status on Women to study women’s rights and made 167 recomendations for equality of women after 3 years of investigation

    • while this is a step in the right direction towards liberation of women from opression, there was no concrete change made

  • towards the end of the century, the North American Free Trade Agreement bought Canadian women together to work in agriculture and food processing to deal w conseuqces of globalizaition for working women

    • while this did give women oppurtunities in the workforce, it did not combat primariy problems in Canda like the wealth gap

    • in 71, they earned 60% of men and in 93 just before NAFTA, that had only gotten up to 66.7%

indigenous rights

• The Indigeous civil rights movement in america was caused by the lower rates tied to quality of life and poor treatment and responded through civil disoviencde and movemnts focused on specific areas to protest, though were not always able to achieve concrete success

• reasons for: lower rates tied to quality of life compared to other groups in america and poor treatment

  • unemployment for them was 10 times national avg

  • life expectancy was 20 less than other americans

  • suicide rate in youth was 100 times white

  • murder rate for women in 10 times other ethnicites

  • compared to causasian women: they have 3 times muder ate and 2 times raped rate

  • many fail to identity correct enthicies for indigenous ppl when they go missing

• characteristics of movement

  • fish ins: in WA state they performed fish in to protest police restricting treaty rights that gauranteed unresistricted use of natural resources > ppl weere arreseted despite the Medicine Creek Treaty

    • after a decade of protests, fed district judge decided in favor of tribal fishing rights

  • civil disobidience: AIM created in Minnesota to confront injustice against Indigenous

    • model after Black Panther movement’s police ahrrasment

    • occupied Mt Rushmore to protest employment discrimination

  • NCAI focused on reservation and tribal issues

    • helped push acts thru persistent work such as Health Care Improvement Act, Religious Freedom Act, and self determinationa and edu assistance act

indigenous perspective

While strangers responded happily on social media following Prudence Jones finding her daughter Dani after 2 years of her being missing, she felt lost due to the lack of support she had after finding her daughter with fresh scars and emotional toll of the time seperated

Latinx CR

Thesis: In response to the continuation of the poor treatment they faced in the United States over time, the Latinx community used different tactics of civil disobedience in attempts to cause change, resulting in positive, yet temporary change for the movement

• reasons for: poor treatment (Bracero progam and low pay w temp jobs/bad treatment)

  • Bracero program: recruited Mexican labourers to take the place of drafted men during wwii temporarily

    • tho prior to this during the great depression, many mexicans - abt more than half who were citizens - were deported

  • Under Fair Standards Labor Act, agriculture workers - many whom were latinx - were not covered

• characteristics/methods

• boycotts and walkouts

  • The Latinx community enabled by Dolores Huerta and others main figures formed NFWA which joined Filipino strike

    • growers combatted them thry physical intimijdation and sprying them w pesticides

  • The United Farmer Works Organizing Commitee promoted a nationwide boycott of table grapes which lasted 3 years due to lack of result from strikes

    • Cali enacted legislation to protect agricul unions as time passed, gains within contracts expired

  • Walkout:

    • daily walkouts from schools became known as “The Blowout”

    • LA school districts published demands: teaching impact of the Chicano community, students rights and facility imrobements

    • walkouts led to meeting some demands but went back on them quickly

  • Civil disobience:

    • The Young Lords Organzarion, which used to be a PR gang in Chicago to portect ghetto communities of PR ppl grew into a civil rights org after member Jimenz reflected in jail but injustice they faced and blamed poli structure

    • YLO/P used civil disobidence like piling up garbage and setting it on fire, occupying churchs to get govern attention

      • Daley, a mayor of Chicago targetted the members thru the police intelligence and had the FBI infiltrate > led to discord and weakened