It took 72 year and many feminist movements and protests for women to be granted voting rights. Under Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, women’s suffrage wasn’t a pleasant topic. The president never intended on giving women the right to vote, but women never stopped fighting for their rights. Some historians say that the president would only agree to request the amendment if it was seen as if he granted it due to women’s contribution to the army during WWI, and that was exactly what happened, but it was not all that easy (Clark, 384). The NAtional American WOmen’s Suffrage Association, NAWSA, and the National Woman’s Party decided to picket and lobby the
White House pointing out the fact that the president was being a hypocrite. They read and then burned many of Wilson’s speeches where he talked about freedom and democracy, despite the fact that a large part of the country’s population was not even allowed to vote. These actions got both groups on the front page of major newspapers, but they also got them sent to jail for putting the safety of the president and the people at risk. This did not stop them, in jail they formed hunger strikes to continue their protest. The president demanded that they were force fed because if one of them died because he had sent them to jail, it would look bad on his part. President Wilson did not want the public to know that the approach taken by NAWSA and NWP had worked and scared him since it would damage his reputation. He immediately gave a speech to congress about granting women the right to vote and used NAWSA past contributions to frame the granting of the amendment as a thank you, for everything they had done during the war.
I learned that in my first semester at Ramapo College, and it is something I will never forget. It is a little story in history that gives you a taste of some of the things women have had to go through to gain rights that were granted to men at birth. It has been over two centuries that women have been fighting for equality amongst themselves and men, and even today it does not exist. This situation has definitely gotten better, but there are still some areas where it lacks a sense of equality. This is mostly seen in jobs and careers. Years ago fields were strongly dominated by one gender or another, and today although it has evolved a little we can still see the same scenario most of the time.
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Two years ago, making a decision on what college I wanted to go to was hard because I didn’t even know what I wanted to study and that was the main issue. There was always a bit of doubt on what i wanted to study, if i was fit for that field, my chances of getting a job and being successful, who was my competition, how much would i make. I am sure many students go through that same situation, and it is honestly a little nerve wracking. This year, after submitting my research proposal for this paper, i declared myself as a Biology major. This paper was the perfect opportunity since it encouraged me to do research on the field. In my essay I will discuss women’s access to the medical field. IS there is a glass ceiling in the field? How is pay and access different for women of different cultural and class backgrounds? As well as taking a closer look at gender inequality in the medical field and who is more affected by it. To answer my research question i read various articles, looked at statistics and charts, reports, and books which research the topics of sexism, racism, wage gaps, and limitations or barriers towards women in the medical field. I compared that part of my research to our class discussions on intersectionality, feminism, sexual harassment, and the wage gap between genders and races.
Although women have always been involved in providing medical care; at home to their families, during the war when injured soldiers were brought home, or attending other women while participating as midwives, the medical field was strongly male dominated from the beginning. The reason why it was mainly male dominated was because medical schools were only for men, no women allowed. That was until 1847 when Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to be accepted to medical school, and graduated first in her class in 1849 (softscool.com). After spending some time in London and France, Elizabeth returned to the United States in 1851 and opened a private practice in her house since she was denied a spot in government organizations as well as a private office space (thoughtco/civilwartalk). Elizabeth established a dispensary in 1853 which later on was included in the New York Infirmary for Women and Children.
The infirmary was created in 1857 where Blackwell’s sister, Emily Blackwell, and Marie Zakrzewska joined her and lectured other women on hygiene and healthcare. Elizabeth Blackwell was also responsible for the creation of the Women’s Central Association of Relief, and association that trained women as nurses to help the wounded soldiers during the Civil war in 1861. Not only did that help our soldiers and our country, but it also helped women have more access and be more involved in the medical field. Elizabeth Blackwell was the most important people in the history of women in healthcare since not only was she the first woman to be recognized as a doctor, but she also created the Women’s Medical College in 1868 to give women the opportunity of a four-year medical education. A few other people who were also very important to women’s history in the medical field were Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first African-American woman to graduate from medical school and become a physician; Rebecca would not have been able to accomplish such a thing if it hadn’t been for Dr. Samuel Gregory who established the New England Female Medical college in 1848. The first college to focus only on women’s studies.
