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Gender Inequality In The 1800s

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America is the land of many opportunities, just not for all. Immigrants travel from all over the world to America in hopes of achieving better living conditions, jobs, and education. In the United States today there are over 42.2 million immigrants currently living, working, and raising their families, in hopes that their future generations will have a more extensive spectrum of opportunities. America has always encompassed a large amount of societal issues dating back to the 1800’s when slavery was in full swing to current day where racism, sexism, and discrimination is dealt with on a daily basis. These issues stand in the way of equal opportunity and it is difficult to determine when and if they will ever be resolved. Opportunity should …show more content…

However, when looking at history the inequality started a lot sooner than the media portrays. Something as simple as defining the gender one identifies with can change rights and opportunities drastically. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, thirty-three of the famous lists of grievances presented to the Estates General expressed female demands. This all started the movement later referred to as “feminism”, although it was just a movement for equality between the genders (Pugh 1997). The known culture in Provincial America taught that servant women were used as sex objects and their bodies were used to bare children. The average woman gave birth every two years, until she physically was not able to anymore. (Brinkley pg). Ironically enough, in 1840 during an anti-slavery convention female delegates were forbidden from taking their seats. Even at a time where equality was the main topic of discussion gender separated a society. Advancing to today, women still face unequal treatment in the work place, especially when it comes to pay. In 2015, female full-time workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent. (Costello 2016) Physical and emotional characteristics should not be what determines ones’ opportunity, but instead ones’ work ethic and ability to accomplish a given …show more content…

The phrase “money can’t buy happiness” can be deemed true in many situations, but unfortunately today it seems to get ignored. The better the economic status one possesses determines a lot about the education received. Prestigious schools across the country cost a large fortune in tuition, but a degree from one is a golden ticket to the front of the line when it comes to the hire line at many jobs. Even when looking at something much more detrimental such as healthcare it is hard to ignore the factor money plays. Lower class individuals or families do not have the luxury of affording the healthcare that the upper classes do. (Stroud 2001) This becomes a problem with many private insurance companies that only accept those of a higher social class, leaving the middle and lower class to settle for less benefits if even that. It’s hard to get out of the mindset of “treating everyone equal” when in the real world big corporations and companies hardly ever do. They are out to make a profit, and if that means appealing only to the upper classes, they will do

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