How Gender Roles Changed in the United States Over the Last Century Essay

How Gender Roles Changed in the United States Over the Last Century - Essay Example How Gender Roles Changed in the United States Over the Last Century In America, there have been drastic changes regarding the gender roles, notably in the last century. Such changes in the gender roles have affected the American society all round, starting from homes, schools, workplaces and even the government. Most of these changes have seen the female gender become more and more empowered and greatly involved in all issues of the society, which were previously reserved for men. Consequently, the gender constitution of workplaces and schools has changed, having more of the female gender being incorporated in areas that were previously dominated by the male gender only. While such changes have been welcome by many in the society, there did not lack some quarters from which resistance was experienced. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the resistance, the change in gender roles in the American society has occurred anyway. Then right to vote is one such change in gender roles that has occurred in the American society, in the last century. Previously, starting from the colonial times, women were not allowed to vote. However, this changed in 1920, with the 19th amendment to the US constitution, which allowed all genders to be involved in voting, without any discrimination, based on their sexes. This right was fought for by women parties and associations such as the Women suffrage and the National Women party, which sought to have women allowed to vote. The fight for the right to vote was speed up by the World War I, which was referred to, as the war for democracy. After the war ended, women undertook several protests to have them indulged in voting. Although, their protests were ignored for duration of six months, consistency in agitating and protesting eventually made the government agree to consider their grievances (David, 113). Eventually, the government agreed on the 19th amendment, which allowed wo men to be involved in voting, for all elective posts, both in the government and other organizations. This has acted as a major step towards enhancing equality for all genders, in matters to do with decision making, as earlier, only the male gender would be involved in such decision making, thus instilling their will on the female gender (Bailey, 36). The right to vote has allowed women not only vote for the members of the male gender, but also the female as well. This has allowed them get involved and represented in all spheres such as political, religious, social, and economic. Another major change in the gender roles is the roles played by women in the workplace currently, compared to the past centuries. There has been a great increase in the number of women at the workplace, who accounts for 47% of the entire American workforce currently (David, 65). By the year 1995, the percentage of women who were working away from their homes had increased to a tune of 76%. By the start of t he 20th century, women were not expected to be working and as such were meant to remain at home and undertake the domestic duties such as caring for children and performing other domestic chores such as cooking and washing. However, with increased access for education by the female gender, their