Zinn Ch. 6 RR Essays - Gender Studies, Womens Rights, Housewife

Zinn Ch. 6 RR Women, mostly African American women went through so much when they were slaves and because they were women in general. They experienced the worst anybody could go through, such as, sexual abuse and denial of needs and privacy. They were expected to fulfill men's needs and wants just because they were told to. Women were prosecuted, humiliated, and constantly told they were inferior to men and they made sure they knew it. Things got so bad for these women that it got to the point where they had to give birth while being chained to corpses. There were many women who stood up and fought for women rights and equality. A woman named Anne Hutchinson went against the authorities and even though she lost the case, she had many supports follow her and believed in her. Although they were treated differently by many, not all cultures were oppressive to women. For example, the Plains Indian tribes gave them roles to heal and give advice to others. They even learned how to do things only men would know how to do such as, "shoot small bows, and they carried knives," when men would pass away calling them "chieftains." (Zinn, 104) Education was very important, and women knew so. Even though colleges were very hard to get into, they fought till they made it happen. In 1750, men were way more literate than women. But as the years went by, the literacy rate for women was starting to increased dramatically. Harriot Hunt, one of the first female physicians led a difficult way to becoming what she knew she was capable of. After being refused twice to an all male school, she didn't give up her dream in becoming a physician. Her practice in medicine kept going by assisting other women and children. Women were starting to advertise in newspapers to meet and were gaining more power organizing these acts for change in the world. Women fought for change and equality, not only for themselves but for all. "The women's job was to keep the home cheerful, maintain religion, be nurse, cook, cleaner, seamstress, flower arranger." (Zinn, 133) This really stood out to me because even though things have changed from the past, I still feel a lot of men see women as only being capable of doing these things. Many women now are stay at home moms, that cook and clean for their husbands and it resembles a lot to how things used to be. Which is not necessarily a bad thing but it makes men think they are superior to women because they bring home the money when in reality were all equal.