At this point, it’s practically expected for those who don’t believe in gender equality to tell feminists to get back in their place and stop causing such a ruckus over equal rights and gender equality. And we’ve fought back every single time.
Women getting the right to vote, 1915
The “Nebraska Association Opposed to Women Suffrage” put out this pamphlet explaining why the great majority of women shouldn’t be able to vote. After all, women are just delicate flowers! Our fragile female sensibilities can’t handle this political excitement! *faints*
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The suffragettes came right back at them, with a pamphlet parodying how ridiculous they sounded:
BOOM. Roasted. Their perseverance worked – American women finally received the right to vote in 1920, after 70+ years of fighting for equal say in government.
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Women rejecting social messages after World War II
In the 1940’s, women began to enter the workforce to fill the shoes of the men who were off to war. (Rosie the Riveter, anyone?) But once the men came back, women were shooed out of the workplace, told to get back in their place, and to leave the real work to the men and head back to the kitchen. Feminists didn’t accept this sexist way of life, and flew to the workforce in droves.
Women advancing in the workplace in the 1970s
Awesome feminists like Gloria Steinem took center stage in the push for women to play an equal role in the workforce, but met a ton of resistance from men. One even said, “For a woman to succeed, there must be a man in her life who believed it’s the right thing to do.” UGH.
Of course, gender equality activists waved these comments aside and focused on dismantling workplace inequality through anti-discrimination laws, breaking down stereotypes about women, and creating organizations dedicated to making sure women had the same rights both inside and out of the workplace as men did. By the end of the 1970’s, women had taken huge strides towards achieving equality – despite all those who tried to send them back to the kitchen.
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