To what extent has the role and status of women changed over the past 150 years?

Women and gender: Analyze the political and economic fight for women’s equality. To what extent has the role and status of women changed over the past 150 years? What have been landmark victories for women’s rights? Why have various political factions opposed women’s and feminist groups? Is there work left to be done?
I’m challenging you to come up with your own interpretation of, or your own take on, these questions. This means that I want to see a cogent (i.e., clear, logical, convincing) thesis, a host of evidence to back up your argument, and a decent command of grammar and writing conventions.
Your paper should be 5 to 10 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font, with 1-inch margins, your name, and a relevant title. You should support your argument with sunbstantial evidence from reading assignments, web references, and other course materials. Any paraphrasing or direct quotations should be cited using footnotes according to the Chicago Manual of Style ( https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html). You do not need a title page.
Use this as a source: https://www.americanyawp.com/ (chapters 15-20) all the primary sources on women and gender as well as any info in these chapters on women and gender
Discussion posts I have written on the subject: The women’s rights movement took advantage of the fight for equal rights for slaves and tried to turn it around to equal rights for women. They made it seem like they wanted equal rights for all, but in reality they wanted equal rights for white women. In The American Yawp, chapter 15 section IV, it talks about the leader of women’s suffrage, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, using racism in order to promote her cause. She tried to get white men to let women vote simply because they could give them an advantage over the black men who were going to be voting.
Black and White women both went through financial disaster as well as emotional pain due to the war. White women used their time to promote “The Lost Cause,” which tried to basically rewrite history by saying the Civil War was not fought over slavery but instead state’s rights. They used these narratives in schools and funded many confederate monuments to keep their “cause” alive. Black women did the opposite. They promoted memorials for fallen African Americans and to aid their community. Black women also took charge by making their own hours for work. They refused to work anywhere that the pay was not good and they protected their children from white men who wanted to put them into free labor jobs. These women started embracing life and what it means to be a woman while white women were more worried about losing their status in the community.
How did the economic and social changes of this era affect ideas about gender and sexuality?

As the US became urbanized and more people started to immigrate, social norms of gender and sexuality started changing. As more people came in and brought their different cultures and beliefs the people started questioning the old ways. Women started exploring their bodies and having premarital sex. Men and women began to experiment with different sexualities than what was considered “right.” As stated in American Yawp, Chapter 18 section V, “As young women pushed back against social mores through premarital sexual exploration and expression, social welfare experts and moral reformers labeled such girls feeble-minded, believing even that such unfeminine behavior could be symptomatic of clinical insanity rather than free-willed expression.”, we learn that men were becoming threatened by these changes so they labelled women as crazy. During this time, many women started to publish literature voicing their anger with these claims. Examples include “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman which is about a woman who is experiencing post partum depression. In the story, she calls out the men who simply view her as crazy instead of a person who is going through a hard time. She challenges the “rest cure” which was one of the psychological treatments administered only to women. Other writings challenged the “normal” housewife role and women’s virtue. The virtue that women should be modest was challenged in every day life by the evolution of women’s fashion. This passage from American Yawp, chapter 18 section V, “Youths challenged the norms of their parents’ generations by donning new fashions and enjoying the delights of the city. Women’s fashion loosed its physical constraints: corsets relaxed and hemlines rose. The newfound physical freedom enabled by looser dress was also mimicked in the pursuit of other freedoms.”, imdicates that women started dressing more “loosely.” These new changes with how women started viewing themselves and the activism for change started threatening men and their views of their own masculinity. Instead of having to work in the fields all day, men started landing desk jobs. This change made men start losing their “masculine” look because they were no longer building muscle. This is when sports and gyms started being invented/built. Fitness became something that was important so men could continue to look “manly” in the eyes of society.

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