History of Us Women

Personal Politics

Our ancestors and current women have had to fight for our guaranteed rights as United States citizens because they have been restricted due to political constraints on what men think we are capable of doing. We the woman is equal to man, yet we still deal with personal issues due to political views our society holds. The statement started in the late 1960s and early 1970s, yet it is still prevalent in today’s society. We have came a long way in making our personal problems known to the government, to conquer change all due to the formation of a unity of women, under “the personal is political” slogan. We must have the right to vote, the right to get married, the right to receive an equal wage, the right to birth control, the right to a career, and the rights just continue because we are as much human as any man is. The “personal is political” is true because we, as women are to be politically active in issues that affect our lives and make sure that politicians pay attention to us and no longer have laws exclude us.

Women deserve the right to vote. We have the freedom to state our opinion and we are allowed to choose who we want to run our country. We have as much of a say as any man does, yet men think we should remain away from politics. Yet, we women want to get involved and be involved in how our country is operating so that our rights aren’t ignored on a national level. Finally on August 26, 1920, we are granted the vote, yet “women’s struggles for political equality were not yet complete” (Dubois, 491). We are granted this vote later than men are, only because society thinks it isn’t our place or our responsibility because we aren’t capable of such a thing. We are to be cooking and cleaning, as our founding fathers would say; yet women need to have the right to vote. The vote puts us on the map, gives us a voice we use to lack before and allows for our personal problems to no longer be hidden within the walls of our homes. However women of color deal with a double battle, not only because of their sex, but also because of their color. They are limited even more than white women to the vote to right with all the obstacles that stand in front of placing a simple ballot. The thought of them lacking intelligence and being stupid is the notation that fears people that they are unable to making a good decision. However, women shouldn’t have their knowledge determined due to the color of their skin, nor should that diminish their right to vote.

Women deserve the right to birth control. The mentality of society is for women to only have sex to bear children. What if women want to enjoy sex and have the freedom to do so? It was not until Emma Goldman, “who was the first to speak widely on women’s right to contraceptive information and methods, not only so they can avoid unwanted pregnancy but also that they could enjoy sexual intercourse” (Dubois, 482). It’s a personal issue that women dealt with because it is believed that women didn’t desire sex because it is fundamentally for men. Women come together under the same circumstances and make it a political issue known to the government. The government didn’t want women to have the right to birth control because in their eyes of the body of a woman has only one use; which is to reproduce. Not all women want to be pregnant due to multiple circumstances and some just want to be sexually free to have intercourse without any worry of bearing an unwanted child. The body of a women is their personal identity and a women has a the right to carrying a baby or not. The government cannot hold back a women from being free, and binding her to the home to take care of her children. Abortion comes into play here, because it's a personal decision yet it has political conflicts. Any women has the right to decide if she is capable of having a baby, and should be given an option to a legal abortion because self-induced abortions can kill a woman. A woman may be having an abortion because she can’t provide for the child, or maybe due to being a subject of sexualized violence. No one has the right to tell a woman she has to have the baby; she has a choice and it’s her’s to make. No one else can oppress and dominate over her body.