Caroline Rao

WGST112
12/16/17

Essay 1

Education is essential in communicating issues effectively. In order to enact change,

people need to be educated on the issues at hand. In terms of the women’s rights movements and

feminism, helping people to understand the true meaning of feminism and revealing the truth

behind each aspect can help broaden or change one’s perspective. Specifically, this semester my

perspective on reproductive rights and birth control have been broadened and I have learned and

discovered information that will help me continue to portray the truth and promote feminism.

One of the first modules taught us about the beginnings of birth control and its impact on

American society. It also discussed the development of how the pill was made and the backlash

and chaos it created when it first came out. More specifically, how the pill affected music and

society for decades after it was approved. The effects are seen in the banning and controversial

song by Loretta Lynn, called “The Pill,” which debuted in 1975, several years after the pill was

released. The song discusses birth control very blatantly and was uncomfortable for many people

hearing it. In the “Introduction to Loretta Lynn’s ‘The Pill,’” the document discusses how

country radio stations refused to play her song. But on the other hand, “Lynn had been

congratulated after the song’s success by a number of rural physicians, tell her how ‘The Pill’

had done more to highlight the availability of birth control in isolated, rural areas, than all the

literature they’d released.” This is so important to note because for a while people were afraid of

getting the pill because of the backlash associated by it. Women were afraid people would be

extremely judgmental and reject them because they were on the pill. Loretta Lynn’s song was
extremely influential in getting the information and recognition for the pill than a lot of other

advertising had at the time.

From the information I learned about the pill, to the way just one song could spread

knowledge about it, my perspective has certainly been broadened. Prior to this course, I never

really thought the pill was as controversial as it was. I am on the birth control pill myself, but had

never realized that at one point it had never even been invented and was completely

unimaginable. After learning about the long and tough path several people went through to get

the pill to even be made, I am more appreciative of the easy access I have to it today. The history

of the birth control pill also makes me think about women’s reproductive rights as a whole. The

issues we have today surrounding reproductive rights do not compare to where women had to

start back when there wasn’t even a birth control pill. I have come to realize that we have a basis

to argue on because of these women who changed the norm and changed people’s perspectives

about reproductive rights, when reproductive rights didn’t even truly exist.

My broadened perspective on this topic brings me to think about Sandra Fluke’s

perseverance and statement in front of the democratic committee. The extreme hatred and

criticism she received from Rush Limbaugh was something you would think would only happen

back when something like birth control was just starting out in the 1950s and 1960s. Instead,

women across the world are still constantly facing judgment from society about our own desires

to have control over our own bodies. I have certainly supported the idea that birth control is a

huge part of healthcare and should be covered by all plans and companies, but I never realized

how much of an issue this is still today. I have learned we still have a long way to go and that

more women like Sandra Fluke will need to step up and face discrimination before everyone can

understand that women’s reproductive rights need to be respected.

 Essay 2

Workplace inequalities are not new to society. They have been around and occurring for

decades. Before women worked, inequalities occurred between the rich and poor men and

landowners and slaves. As women began to enter the workforce, they faced inequalities of all

kinds. From demeaning statements from men to actual discrepancies between pay, women have

always struggled gaining equality in the workplace. The transition from staying at home to

having a 9-5 job like men was not easy for women to begin with and the inequalities they

experience certainly did not help.

The obvious place to start with explaining women’s inequalities in the workplace is with

the physical wage they were, and still are, receiving in comparison to men. According to the

lecture, “Women’s Work Inside and Outside the Home,” women earned 59 cents to a man’s

dollar in 1963 and just 46 years later, in 2009, women earned 77 cents to a man’s dollar. The first

thing to note is that still today women do not earn anything close to equal to men in the

workplace and this is just an average between women’s jobs. That means that some women are

receiving pay that is even less than that compared to men. Another thing that is important about

this is that the gap between the pay is not decreasing quickly at all. It has taken 46 years for the

gap to close 18 cents. That is outrageous and honestly quite scary for the future of women in the

workplace. If the physical payment of women compared to men does not become equal, then

how can the emotional and psychological part of inequalities in the workplace be solved.

Another aspect women face in the workplace is through STEM jobs and just overall

higher-up leadership jobs, like CEOs and presidents of companies. Although it has improved in

recent years, there are significantly more men in STEM jobs than women. Women are

discouraged from the start from pursuing a STEM career and often will focus on more liberal arts
career paths. This causes an inequality in the amount of women in these fields and therefore a

woman’s opinion and knowledge is left out of significantly powerful fields of study, where a

woman’s opinion should be valued and considered. The other part of this inequality is the lack of

women in leadership positions in companies. While women may have jobs in big-name

companies, they likely are not in leadership jobs or a part of the decision-making board. This

leads to a lack of representation of women in companies and therefore, a lack of women’s

opinion’s being respected and acknowledged.

In terms of real life solutions and gaining equality for women in the workplace, a lot of

work needs to be done. A lot of it can be accomplished through education, specifically education

about the truths of why and how women have become so unequal within the workplace. This

education can start within the workplace. Having women explain the inequalities they face every

day and how it impacts them in their daily life and allow other men to understand better what

women face in the workplace. Additionally, women speaking out when they face day-to-day

inequalities is important. For instance, “mansplaining” has become a large issue and saying

something when this happens will make the men doing it feel uncomfortable and actually realize

what they are doing to these women. A large part of the issue sometimes is other women. We, as

women, need to support each other in the workplace and work together to reduce these

inequalities. We cannot ignore the obvious faces of discrimination and sometimes demean each

other in the process. Getting other men involved is also vital to reducing women’s inequalities in

the workplace. While having women band together is important, having men be supportive as

well can make a difference. This is especially important when presenting any legislation or

trying to get laws enacted to reduce women’s inequality in the workplace. In the end, support

from all groups is important and perseverance in the face of discrimination is what will work.