The Importance of Historical Awareness
History is vital to know and understand because where we come from and what we have been through is what defines us, what makes us who we are today.
Coming into this course, my knowledge of women’s history was relatively limited. I hadn’t thought about why and how the women’s movement affects everyone, but seeing why and how that is true throughout history, the point is driven home. Therefore, providing a definition for the women’s movement (what it means for individuals in society and what is has meant for individuals in society) is absolutely essential. I was certainly aware of women winning the right to vote here in America in1919, but I was certainly not aware of the details that we have now read about and seen in the movie, “Iron Jawed Angels�. The honest truth of the matter is very moving and inspiring, therefore, in-depth knowledge of this event, along with many other monumental events, is essential for us as members of society to learn. For me, reading “A Day Without Feminism� from last week’s assignment painted a familiar (yet still disturbing) picture of women’s lives and sexism in society at that time, give or take a few details I wasn’t aware of. This picture is also important for everyone to see.
I think what is important to focus on is the history of gender and the women’s movement within many categories, because feminism is not only exclusive to women, let alone white women or whatever the stereotype may be. As our “Introduction� reading from Feminist Frontiers tells us, “. . .gender means different things, and has different consequences for status and power, depending on race, class, ethnicity, and sexuality� (1). The feminist movement does not only mean one thing for one group of people. As our class saw from the American Girls’ website, for one example, women’s history can be sugar-coated and missing huge pieces. Within this line of dolls, there were races that were completely unnoticed, amplified stereotypes, and positive aspects completely ignored. Unfortunately for us, this kind of historical view is what gets the most attention and exposure, especially to young children. This poor education must be refined.