Women Rights

1869: A crowd of women joining the National Woman Suffrage Association, which was led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)


Date Created: 01 Jan 1869


Credit: Getty Images

Mightier than the Sword: Slowing the Momenturm for women's rights Summary.

I had other options for this project like the slavery but what attracted me was the chapter based on the fight for women rights. Being a female, I am aware that a large majority women living in this world still live under suppression and are the denied the basic rights to vote, drive or receive an education. In Mightier than the word, Streitmatter takes us back in history when women in this country were ridiculed constantly, unable to have a career,confined to the four walls of the kitchen and perceived as unequal to men. Being able to vote and have a life separate from having kids was not a given right. And most importantly he highlighted how the American newspapers of the nineteenth century slowed the momentum for women rights through the abuse of power.

The birth of Suffrage press began when a woman's role in society was largely suppressed and shaped by the media which was largely controlled by men. Women were expected to perform certain duties and be submissive  throughout her life.  The event that marked the beginning was the women rights movement started by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and later Susan B. Anthony, Harriot Staton Blatch and Alice Paul.  The mainstream media was quick to attack Staton and Anthony's movement and campaigns.  But Staton believed that all publicity was good publicity. Despite the "failure" of The Revolution, The Women Journal was subsequently founded by Stone which was the aim of the suffrage press. To join women all over the country together even with the lack of transportation by reaching out to women through a printed publication.  It contained information of activities nationwide and reinforced her sense of purpose.

Despite that, the attacks from the media particularly the male dominated ones became more vicious and hostile. Elizabeth Cady Staton and Susan B Anthony were constantly ridiculed and depicted as extremely unattractive through pictures. It was only during an era of change and the rise of a new generation that allowed the issue of women suffrage to be taken seriously. With the lack of support from the fourth estate and with such limited and distorted media coverage, it took seventy two years before women in this country finally secured her rights.

Leaders Elizabeth Caddy Stanton & Susan B Anthony

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (right) and Susan B. Anthony sit on the porch of the Anthony house in Rochester, in this undated photo.

What would you do

if someone told you

you can't be what you want to be

because you are a girl?

 

What would you do

if someone told you

your vote doesn't count

your voice doesn't matter

because you are a girl?

 

Would you ask why?

Would you talk back?

Would you fight...

for your rights?  --Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Quote source:   http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tanyastone.com/assets/images/Cover.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tanyastone.com/index.php%3Fid%3D25&usg=__a9p3n4X9n5WjI4HL6ZOmPPbuDXs=&h=797&w=585&sz=318&hl=en&start=38&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=rpsTgTPno20skM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=105&prev=/images%3Fq%3Delizabeth%2Bcady%2Bstanton%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1

Fighting for Women's Rights In China - Sheryl WuDunn

Women Journalists and Feminism in China

A most remarkable change took place in the first half of the twentieth century in China--women journalists became powerful professionals who championed feminist interests, discussed national politics, and commented on current social events by editing independent periodicals. The rise of modern journalism in China provided literate women with a powerful institution that allowed them articulate women's presence in the public space.

source: http://www.amazon.com/Women-Journalists-Feminism-China-1898-1937/dp/1604976608

Afghanistan's Female Journalists Get a First Chance

 

Women in Afghanistan are making bold, yet cautious, steps toward press freedom and making their voices heard, through Afghanistan's first Women’s Journalism Center. The Center was born out of a need to funnel female journalism graduates from Herat University into actual journalism jobs, rather than following the traditional and safe route of teaching. Journalists, both male and female, still face dangerous circumstances in war-torn Afghanistan, so the creation of a female-specific journalism center is likely to raise eyebrows--but also earn international applause.
"Such a center could not only seek to provide local reporting to local audiences, but also play the role that so-called 'bridge bloggers' play -- providing context and depth to those who are nowhere near Afghanistan but anxious to know what's going on," Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard Professor and Co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, tells Fast Company. "Indeed, foreign correspondents could come to draw on the work going on at centers like this to flesh out their own reporting, crediting the new sources."
The Afghan Women's Writing Project is another resource for female journalists in Afghanistan, and yesterday one of their journalists wrote about predicting the recent Afghan earthquake. It's unclear if writing about non-political, religious issues is a safety net for most female reporters or if they generally feel free to express a critical voice.
As for security questions, we'll have to wait and see how this pans out, but perhaps the increasing role of women in media and journalism will ultimately affect national policies, and as the UN has reported, greater involvement of women in government helps to drastically decrease violence against women.

source:  http://www.fastcompany.com/1684940/afghanistans-female-journalists-get-a-first-chance