The Feminist Movement Historical Essay Sample

In the United States before World War II, women were expected not to work but stay home and take care of the children. Although the United States saw some women working before World War II, society saw the expectation of women working start to change during this time, women start working as nurses, office workers, or other important careers. As World War II ended, many women who had jobs during World War II lost those jobs after the war, these were important jobs that were predominantly male jobs before the war. This caused a lot of women to be upset because they wanted to continue to work. World War II women started to change the expectations of women, which began a feminist movement that women are still fighting for today. 

The feminist movement between the 1950s until the present day has had a tremendous amount of success in changing the expectations of women. The world now sees women as CEOs, congresswomen, famous athletes, engineers, doctors, vice presidents, and many more influential different jobs. We also now see stay-at-home dads rather than stay-at-home moms. The feminist movement has come so far in the last seven decades, with women now being able to vote and having very important jobs. Although there are still many problems, the movement has had great success. Often when we hear about the feminist movement we hear about the great successes but we never hear about the confusion and harm it may cause to others. Now it makes me wonder if the changes in expectations of women working and not staying home have caused confusion? How lenient should the feminist movement be to people who haven’t realized the new expectations of women? What is and isn’t ok behavior for those who haven’t caught up? What support should the feminist leaders put into action to ensure that those embracing the movement but at a slower pace do not receive negative backlash? 

Many of our elders who were born many decades ago, where expectations of women were very different, have faced confusion when confronted with the new expectations. Our elders have been brought up with beliefs and expectations which contradict the present-day expectations and beliefs. An example of someone I know who has faced confusion about the new social standards is my great uncle. My great uncle who was born in the 1950s in a rural Wisconsin area was brought up with the belief that women shouldn’t work but rather stay home and watch kids and cook. In the 1950s that was a very popular belief for society especially in a small rural town. My uncle continues to live in that small town of approximately 2,500 people as he has for his whole life, he barely leaves his hometown and doesn’t use a great deal of technology. As a result, he hasn’t been brought up to speed to the new social standards, and he still believes women should take care of the cooking and the children. He is in no way disrespectful to women, but the expectation of women cooking and taking care of the children is how it's always been for him and my aunt. My great aunt is also a senior who had grown up in a small town with the same beliefs and expectations, so for their whole marriage, she has always taken care of their children and cooked for my uncle. When my uncle mentions this to others who are aware of the new social standards, many people like my mom are offended and angry which confuses my uncle, these expectations are what he was raised with and are the expectations in his home. My uncle now realizes that there are new expectations and tries to become accustomed, but he can only transition his beliefs so fast, and many are not lenient with him. 

Leniency is something that can only be given out to a certain extent. The question is to what extent? When do feminists reach the extent where they can no longer be lenient? I believe that the feminist movement should show leniency when we are talking about our elders, but only to a certain point. Leniency should be shown in the scenarios when the person of interest is doing their research and is in the transition of reviewing the new expectations, an example is if an individual is doing their best to transition by doing research and integrating their research into their life.  Imagine if you were an elder born in or before the 1950s, where you were raised to believe that women’s jobs were to stay at home and cook, and then all the beliefs you were raised with were suddenly not valid anymore, I believe you would face confusion with your conflicting beliefs. When individuals take no action to gain an understanding of the changes in the expectations of women, then we reach a point in which leniency can no longer be provided. Leniency can also no longer be provided when individuals take an approach to spew hateful words and commit hateful actions.   The biggest point in which leniency is no longer ever allowed is when violence is committed against women and feminists. Sadly, there will always be hateful people who are against the feminist movement, but I believe that there should be leniency with elders to a certain magnitude, as long as the person of interest is respectful and attempting to adapt to the new expectations of women roles. 

As leniency is given out I believe that there needs to be a system in place to ensure that individuals attempting to adapt to the new social standards don’t receive a negative backlash as a result of their slower pace. Many individuals, especially elders face confusion when confronted with the new expectations, and in addition, face negative backlash. This backlash could harm the feminist movement, if the person of interest feel threatened even when they are taking charge and trying to change they may feel angry and decide to turn their back on the movement altogether. Most would say that when they are shown leniency they are more inclined to show support. A system that can be in place is the making of certain movement-funded websites or classes people can go to in order to learn the new expectations. After that system is put into place the individuals trying to better their knowledge can research and slowly transition that knowledge into their life. 

Although I agree with the opposition's idea that adopting the new expectations of women's roles is very important, I believe that feminists need to give more leniency to the individuals adopting these expectations. I believe this because adopting the new expectations may seem easier for younger individuals, it could be proven difficult for older individuals. Many older individuals were taught very different expectations of women, and when you grow up with certain beliefs they tend to stick with you, and the longer those beliefs are believed the harder they are to change. It takes time and research to change beliefs and expectations. 

As I said earlier, throughout history and still today there have been many different expectations of women, and many people have not caught up with the modern-day expectations of women's roles, and those individuals should not be held at fault, as long as they are attempting to adopt the new expectations and are respectful throughout the process. As we provide leniency we need to ask if the changes in expectations of women working and staying home cause confusion? How lenient should the feminist movement be to people who haven’t realized the new expectations of women? What is and isn’t ok behavior for those who haven’t caught up? What support should the feminist leaders put into action to ensure that those embracing the movement but at a slower pace do not receive negative backlash?