美国妇女地位.doc

(完整word)美国妇女地位
英语毕业论文—美国妇女地位提高所带来的思考

A Reflection on the Improvement of American Women's Status
Abstract
This paper describes the women’s status in the USA from three points: 1。women’s rights in education； 2.women’s rights in politics； and 3。women in economic field. And it discusses why American women can improve their status. There are two main reasons： one is the exterior cause （such as capitalist productive force, bourgeois ideology; the efforts of the government and non-government organizations； the guide from some literary work), and another is the interior cause (women’s self-awareness； women's emancipation movement and help from education）. On the contrary, women in other countries are in unfavorable conditions. This paper discusses why they fall behind and how to change this condition。
Key Words
women’s status； causes； labor force；women’s movements; measures

摘 要
本篇论文主要从三个方面描述了美国妇女的地位：1。妇女在教育上的权利;2。妇女在政治上的权利；3.妇女在经济领域的成就。本文讨论了美国妇女能够提高她们的社会地位的主要原因。第一是外部原因,例如资本主义生产力的大发展，资本主义思想的传播;政府和非官方组织的努力，以及文学作品的指引.第二是其自身的原因，如自我意识的觉醒,妇女解放运动的影响和教育的作用。相反，其他大多数国家妇女的地位却是很低的。本文旨在讨论为什么她们的地位提高不明显，以及要解决这个问题，应该采取何种措施。
关键词

妇女地位;原因；生产力；妇女运动；措施

Introduction

Since 1975, the first Women’s Conference was convoked in Mexico City with the help of UN， the advocates of “Gender Equality” and “improving women’s status" have appeared。 Now, many years have passed， but the progress is not so remarkable: in Asia， many girls are not allowed to receive education， female babies are killed or abandoned； and in Africa， women are considered as a part of belongings. Their value lies in giving birth to children and taking care of the family. On the contrary， great progress has been made in improving women's status in the United States. The writer tries to find out the reasons for the progress， so that people can understand what shall be done to achieve similar success in other countries.

Ⅰ。 US Women’s Status Today
In history， there was a long time when woman was legally treated as subsidiary of man。 During all her life， man was her owner or manager。 A woman should obey what her man or her father said and serve the man’s need。 There was no need to have education， for knowledge was a sign of status。 For this reason, women had no right in politics and no one would hire a person lacking in skills and knowledge。 However， conditions have changed.
A. Education
In the past, women received little schooling because their lives went around home。 Yet, the situation has changed。 By 1980, women earned a majority of all associate and bachelor degrees, and in 1998， the proportion was 56% （U.S。 National Center for Education Statistics, 2001）
College doors have opened to women， and differences between men’s and women's majors are becoming smaller。 In 1970, women just earned 17% of bachelor degrees in the natural sciences， computer science， and engineering; by 1998， that proportion had increased to 31%. For all areas of study in 1998， women eared 57％ of master’s degrees and 42% of doctorates (including 56％ of all Ph.D.s in sociology）。 Women have also broken into many fields that used to be occupied by almost all males. For example, in 1970 only a few hundred women received a master's degree of business administration, compared to more than 39，000 in 1998 (US National Center for Education Statistics, 2001）.
Nonetheless， the proportion of women in all these professions is rising steadily。 For example， the American Bar Association reports that law school class of 2004 across the US is about evenly spit between women and men。 （Gest， 2001）

B. Politics
Once the Supreme Court decided, in Minor V. Happersett （1874）, that women’s suffrage was not a right inherent in the national citizenship。 In fact women were legally barred from voting in national elections until the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1920。
Today， thousands of women serve as mayors of cities and towns across the U.S., and tens of thousands hold responsible administrative posts in the federal government。 In 2001， 22% of legislators were women。
The year 2006 can be viewed as American women’s politic year。 Women from the Democratic Party were so bright in the past American mid—term elections. They helped the Democratic Party to get dominations of Congress。 Pelosi was going to be the Speaker of Houses of Representatives and this was the first female Speaker in the U。S.A; Hillary， wife of the former President Clinton， won 70％ votes and she will continue to be the senator of New York City. Let us take Rice as an addition， the Secretary of the State from the Republican； those three women are brisk in the peak of the American politics。 And the number of female candidates of Houses of Representatives congress is 2468. There are 10 states that women are voted as candidates of governors in the country. According to the vote proportion, women's is higher than the average of this nation。

All the data shows, now, American women pay much attention to the politics, and participate in it positively than ever before。 And they win and get more in this field。
C. Economy
Back in 1990 , only 1/4 of U。S。women were in the labor force. In 2000， 60% of women aged sixteen and over worked for income， and 3/4 of women worked full time。 The traditional view that earning an income is a man’s role no longer holds true.
Moreover， we can see a fine trend toward greater gender equality. In 1977 ， 65 % of all adults endorsed the statement “It is much better for every one involved if the man is the achiever outside the home and the woman takes care of the home and family。 ”By 2001， however， support for this statement had dropped shapely to 39 ％. (NORC, 2001：266）
According to a recent report， more and more women operate their own companies。 In the U。S。 1/3 medium and small-sized enterprises are run by females。 There is an investigation showing that companies owned by females increase at 45％. From 1990 to the year 2000， the proportion of females' companies was 40% of the whole companies in the U.S.
Those data shows us clearly about American women’s great achievements in this field。
Ⅱ。 Why Can They Make Great Progress？
The change is remarkable。 A century and a half ago, women occupied a position of striking subordination. Husbands controlled property of wives， and laws barred women from most jobs. The movement toward equality has surged ahead。 Two—thirds of people entering the work force during the 1990s were women. And the economy of the new century depends on the earning of women。 Why can they make great progress？ This is the next question to be discussed.
A. Exterior Causes
1. Development of Capitalist Productive Force
By the mid—eighteenth century， a second technological revolution was underway， first in England and then in North America. The development of industry brought greater changes than agriculture did. At the very beginning of the foundation of capitalist production relations, women in lower ranks were greatly needed as labor force. And women going out from their houses for their families were poor so they must work to support the family. At that moment, specialization， the product of Industrialization, was gradually popular in more and more factories， and such specialization raised production but lowered the skill level of the average worker。 This condition helped women a lot to get jobs easily than before， since they had no professional knowledge.
After the World WarⅡ， there came new technological revolution， economic area, productive department and needs for goods and service。 They brought ways to jobs and enlarged the need of labor force. This new condition shifted the nature of work from physically demanding tasks that favored male strength to jobs that required intelligence and imagination. In this aspect, women and men were on even footing。 There were more young women participating in the production of computers and other electronic productions。 In 1947-1960， the proportion of American workingwomen was increasing from 29%—37。7%. Women became the white-collar workers; they worked as managers, directors of companies。 And up to 1985, there were 5，010,000 career women in America, and it was 44%of the total labor force。 Then， the times of knowledge economy came into being. Knowledge became the most important factor in work and people paid much more attention to the employees’ knowledge and capability than gender。 This was important to female， especially those who had high education and had enough skills as males. It was another peak for women having careers

2. Efforts of Government and Non-government Organizations
The American federation， every state government, and non—government organizations contributed themselves to improving women’s status。 In 1992, a law to protect women in work was passed by the U.S. Congress。 Since 1994, the Federation diverted US$ 10 billion per year basing on this law to help women working in IT and manufacturing industry, which was traditionally dominated by men and with high salaries and good future. This measure made more women get better positions with high income （20%—30% higher than women got in traditional careers）。 On Oct。7， 1998， Congress passed Amendment to The Federal Higher Education Act and the Higher Education. This act allowed people who live by social welfare to receive professional training and financial aids for higher education. In Tennessee, the local Women’s Economic Committee formulated a plan to make sure that women’s salary would not be less than the Minimum salary. In 2001, the women’s organization in Alabama published Alabama Women’s Blueprint for Action to state the political position of females there， and it also pointed out that the development of economy was closely related with women. The American women’s organizations frequently exchanged different ideas about how to develop women’s status。 They offered useful information to who needed it or who was in trouble through internet. The number of people using website to discuss how to deal with problems women met with in their daily life was increasing. They tried to help women to pursue their own business， be independent， overcome difficulties and also help women to know how to grasp chances leading to success. Some associations would invite famous or successful women in every area to give speeches or have some talks to inspire and help other women to keep far away from inferiority。 In western countries, according to Bible， women were thought to be connected with evil, so the organization would hold conferences or publish articles to correct citizens' minds and to prove that traditional view was wrong and antiquated。 To those who received no education, the government or organization would hire volunteers to be part—time teachers to reeducate them.
1。 Self—awareness
It was the Human Right Movement that caused American women’s awareness。 In the bourgeois revolution, bourgeois idea was widely spread。 Many people were attracted by it and joined the revolution. The idea was personal rights. They fought for equality between nobles and the common people， white and black。 They asked for no difference。 They fought for the independence of their country and believed in the Declaration of Independence。 During those movements， American women noticed that even though they contributed to equality and the revolution went to a successful end, the black won their citizen rights and voting rights， but it was very ironic that they still did not have equal rights as men did。 They began to ask “why” and think about “why”。 They were adults， healthy， clever， but they could not vote for an official they really appreciated。 They did the same work as men, but they were paid lower than men。 They grew up with their male friends， neighbors, or brothers shared the same air， culture, food, but when they were old enough, those males could enter school to get education， but they could not. They took care of the big family， husband, children， garden, pets and did lots of housework， and they did feel tired， but when the drunk husbands came back， they should show their tender and smiles to them, listened to their complains， served their needs. Women did so well; they still had to face violence from the men. Why？ There was a big“？" in their minds.
The advocate from human rights told them to pursue freedom, equality, and rights. Another advocate from men told them “go back to your home， love your husband, and help him。” Those extremely different advocates made them understand they were the exception from Human Rights. So as the follower of human rights, American women stood up， went together and developed feminists to struggle for their citizen rights。 Meeting at Seneca Fall， New York， in 1848， a group of women issued a declaration written by Elizabeth Cady Station stating “all men and women are created equal， endowed with the same inalienable rights。” The declaration, much like the Declaration of Independence on which it was modeled， and then presented a long list of violations of rights， including the denial to women of citizenship rights and suffrage。 The Seneca Fall convention began the social movement by which women finally won the right to vote in 1920。 There were other famous leaders in Women’s Movement such as Charlotte Gilman。 She pointed out the reason why women were looked down upon was“economy” in her book Women and the Economy。 Women had to make their lives by relying on the men， without their supports， they would die for lacking in money. So she persuaded her mates to be independent in economy, and then they could be independent people. Only after then, the men would admit women’s social status, women’s value, and only after then， the society would show its respect to them。 Feminists believed in her words， and later there came a movement for jobs, and it was exactly because of this that the number of career women was increasing which we described as “economy”.
All of their contributions, finally， helped American women wake up and evaluate their value。 They began to go out from the house， receive education， take jobs, and earn money。 They showed to the society that they could do as well as men。
2。 Women’s Emancipation Movement
Women’s emancipation movement was the direct result of awareness。 After American women found that they were treated unequally and lost most human rights, they began to struggle for themselves.
Firstly， we should introduce some information about feminism， for the feminists led these movements.
Feminism was the advocacy of social equality for men and women， in opposition to patriarchy and **＊ism. Feminists support five general principles： the importance of change； expanding human choice； eliminating gender stratification； ending ＊*＊ual violence； promoting ***ual freedom.
There are many movements, let’s take the struggle for women’s suffrage as an example. In order to amend the Cons