Sexism is the belief that one sex is inferior to the other. It had quite an effect on the people in the time the civil war took place -particularly women. During the Civil War, which lasted from 1861-1865, women had more responsibilities after their husbands went to war. They did the normal cooking, cleaning, and sewing, but on top of that, they also had to defend their homes from enemy troops that were in town. What this meant was that they were basically taking on both roles of the man and woman. Although they weren't necessarily shunned as people, woman were looked down upon because of their sex.
Even though womens' rights weren't yet established, there were still a couple of those who weren't afraid to stand up for their beliefs. One woman who sparked ideas about women standing up for themselves was Sojourner Truth. In her book “ Ain't I A Woman,” she says, “Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman?” She's simply making the point that it doesn't matter what it is we do as people, we're all equal no matter what. A few of the disadvantages women had were not being allowed to vote, married women had no property rights, husbands had legal power to imprison their wives or beat them, and their self-confidence and self -respect was robbed from them and were made dependent on men.
In today's society, sexism seems more demeaning than it was back during the Civil War. Women are like toys these days. They're used to advertise products in various mens' magazines. Music videos are constantly being made “better” through the exposure of women's body parts and video games are displaying inappropriate images of women that unfortunately make young boys think that it's alright to think of women as less important than men. Even though women actually have higher more rewarding positions in the work force than they did back in the 19th century, there seems to be a lower level of respect for them today.
For example, a girl at this Roman Catholic high school in Alabama who was pregnant was forbidden to go to her own graduation ceremony and was told to no longer attend the school for “safety reasons.” Not only that, her name wasn't even put on the graduation program. So, instead of receiving her diploma in the traditional way of walking up to the teacher and getting it in front of everyone, her counselor decided to bring it to her house. But that's not all, the father of her baby, who was also a senior, was allowed to be in the graduation ceremony. There's sexism everywhere, sometimes it's more subtle than other times but it is definitely an apparent issue in this economy of ours.
Sources:
The Raw Story, Dara Parvis
Video Game Curse, Mark Hurst, Tarrytown, N.Y., June 23, 1997
Sojourner Truth Quote, Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain't I A Woman?Delivered 1851Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio
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