Discussion of Women’s Truth & Rights

Nowadays, women are still fighting for their rights, what seems to be nonsense in a 21 century. Even though significant success has been reached, women are still facing discrimination of many sorts. It is hard to even to imagine how hard it was for women of the previous centuries if, in 2018, where every person seems to be equal, many people still do not see women as full human beings and see them as lower beings, than men. In my explanatory essay, I will explore the problem of inequality on two works: “A Cat in the Rain” by Ernest Hemingway and a speech by Sojourner Truth “Ain’t I A Woman?” These two works are connected with the same topic throughout them – the way women were treated in the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century. It is important to note that in her speech, Sojourner also speaks upon how, precisely, black women were treated in the 19th century.

Gender studies is an essential field of inquiry that has been around since the 1970s. In the beginning, gender studies were called “women’s studies,” because the beginning of it was marked, when during the protests against the involvement of U.S. in Vietnam War and pressure for civil rights reform, scholars, who supported feminism, started to pressure universities to make an interdisciplinary study for women. The goal of gender studies was not only intellectual or political fields, such as recognizing women who have contributed to the world. Also, these studies focused on helping the women that longed for help, supporting various women’s programs and viewing women’s problems as an important area of an academic study. The term “gender studies” appeared as an alternative name of such studies, when women’s studies programs realized, that the relationships between masculinity and femininity are interdependent. Even though this term has a broader opportunity for studies, it loses the original spirit of gender inquiry. Nowadays, gender studies cover many areas, starting from political and philosophical institutions, continuing with domesticity, labor, overall family issues, and ending with popular culture: arts, film, sports etc. Gender studies see itself as an activist academic discipline that has a goal to help analyze, identify and correct the inequities in society in both global and local terms (Encyclopedia.com).

“Oh, shut up and get something to read,” George said.” (Biblioklept). A perfect quote from Ernest Hemingway’s short story to sum up the way the woman was treated in the previous century. The sentence comes from the mouth of George and is meant for his wife. From his speech, you can feel that he does not care about his wife’s wishes. In his story, Hemingway does not give much description of the main characters – two Americans, George and his wife – young girl, who does not even have a name. The only description of feelings that Ernest Hemingway gives us is how American’s wife feels about the old hotel-keeper. “She had a momentary feeling of being of supreme importance.” (Biblioklept) He was very welcoming, stood up to greet her, was always ready to serve her as a guest of his hotel. Even when she went for a little cat in the pouring rain, he sent a maid with an umbrella after her, so she will not get wet; her husband did not consider it a problem and did not even get up from his evening reading, only warned her not to get wet. Even though the author never said a word about how American husband and wife feel about each other, it is clear: their marriage is far from happy. George answered his wife without moving his eyes from his book, but when he stopped reading, his speech was rather cold, and he sometimes seemed annoyed. In the speech, Sojourner Truth also speaks her mind about the way women were treated, reflecting her times in slavery. Her whole speech is flaming with the facts of how she was neglected. Only she was also under the influence of white supremacy, so nor she had a chance to be a woman and be proud of it, she was not treated as a human being. “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?” (Sojourner Truth). It was a truly heroic speech, not only a woman but a black woman in the 19th century spoke so openly about the inequity from the stage, no wonder her speech is still remembered. Sojourner almost predicted the way feminist and people of color movements will be developing. “I think that ‘twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon” (Sojourner Truth). If only she knew that two centuries after some people are still not able to say that they are treated as equally as white men.

Throughout history, women from various countries, of various ethnicity, age, and social status have been fighting for their rights. These rights include the right to vote, have an education, get an equal payment, but most importantly, these rights include the right to be a human. If in today’s mentality some people dare to say that women do not deserve to have rights, equal to men, the reality in the 19th century was much worse. In her speech, Sojourner Truth, a proud woman, gives a brilliant argument on why women must be treated as equal as men. “Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! The man had nothing to do with Him” (Sojourner Truth). In the story “Cat in the Rain” by Ernest Hemingway readers can clearly see that women were not taken seriously than on the example of one family. Every girl’s wish is ignored. She looks in the mirror, sees her short haircut and asks her husband if he shares her vision of her with long hair looking nice, he first says that he likes her the way she is, and after she states that she is tired of looking like a boy, he annoyingly says – “You look pretty darn nice” (Biblioklept). The way American girl feels about the hotel-keeper is explainable – he makes her feel like a decent human being.

Before the feminist movements even started, the topic of women’s rights was in the air. There were always women who questioned the attitude men had towards them. Moreover, it was completely understandable. For example, with all of the contribution that women had in science, why were they not allowed to have proper education up to the 20th century? There were always women who wanted to vote for the future ruler of their country, yet in some countries, women began to vote only in the beginning of 21st century. The fact that some fundamental human rights are not applied to women even sounds far-fetched, but, unfortunately, it is not. To quote Nora, the main hero of the movie “Doll’s House,” based on the Henrik Ibsen’s play “Doll’s House,” “I believe that before anything else I am a human being” (Ingvild Marie Karlsen). Women were seen as mothers, wives, daughters, and men close to them, first – father, later – husband, always defined their so-called duties.

Women have through many years to have the rights, yet still, there is a lot to work on. Women were neglected, their wishes and true desires were ignored, and they were not seen as human beings. Such women as Sojourner Truth have made an enormous contribution to the women’s rights movement by speaking their minds. Many literary works have been written that highlight the issues that women faced. Thanks to scholar-activists, gender studies as a field of inquiry became possible in the 1970s, and it keeps developing to teach the world about the inequities of genders. We shall unite to educate the world, so more people know the problems that exist, and only after that, the inequity of any kind can be defeated.

Works cited

“Ain’t I A Woman?” Sojourner Truth. http://www.sojournertruth.com/p/aint-i-woman.html.

“Cat in the Rain” – Ernest Hemingway.” Biblioklept. 11 Feb. 2014, https://biblioklept.org/2014/02/11/cat-in-the-rain-ernest-hemingway/.

“Gender Studies.” Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Culture Society History. Encyclopedia.com. 21 Mar. 2018, http://www.encyclopedia.com.

Ingvild Marie Karlsen. A Doll’s House, Last Scene. Youtube. 8 Apr. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMa0ZARfZBM.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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