Chapter 17- Atlantic Revolutions and their Echoes

Feminist Beginnings. Of all the subjects talked about in chapter 17, this really caught my eye. For many years women have not been treated with the same equality that men have been treated with. Everything for a woman has been ten times harder than a man to achieve in society. We are lucky now that in this day in age things have definitely taken a huge transformation and women are just as important as men. This all may have not happened if it wasn’t for the feminist movement. Europe and North America is where it all began. Within the middle class, more and more women found educational opportunities to learn new things, in order to obtain more knowledge to be successful. Some women found free time from household chores. Many many women took part is different activities and became involved in society such as temperance movements, charities, abolitionism, missionary work, socialist/pacifist organizations, and even active trade unionist. On the other countries such as France were not too fond of this movement and “based their claims less on abstract notions of equality and more on the distinctive role of women as mothers.” They were not supportive of women in society to be successful and make a difference. This did not stop anything and by the 1900’s upper and middle class woman were attending universities and women in the United States we able to manage and control their own property and wages. This was a huge break through but many feminists were viewed as “selfish” because they were “willing to sacrifice the family or even the nation while pursuing their individual goals.” There were many conflicts about feminists and their explosion in the world to be treated as an equal with men. In my opinion, I am a female, and I believe that females are just as capable as men to do anything. I think that sex doesn’t change anything and shouldn’t be regarded in any matter because equality is the key to success. Everyone deserves a chance to be what they want to be and do what they desire, with that, being judged on whether or not you’re a male or a female is unfair. I am very thankful for the feminist beginnings and how it has paved a concrete path for other females to live their dreams.