I-Search Paper

Imagine being a female pre-feminist movement, you aren’t allowed to vote, you are seen as being lower to a man and are only socially allowed to be a housewife. A scary thought isn’t it? It is important to know the struggles other individuals went through so that we can only imagine it and not have to live it. Before starting my research I knew a substantial amount of information on the mistreatment of women. I knew that women did not always have the right to vote, one of the reasons being because they were deemed “too emotional”. Further, women were less valued than men in society. They were expected to marry a man, have children, cook and clean, and if they dared stray away from the socially accepted norm they would be blacklisted and shunned by society. However, what I did not have much knowledge on was feminist actions during the Progressive Era. One aspect that I did know due to it being covered in module nineteenth was women's involvement during the second World War. Iwanted to find out more about how the term, feminist was seen during the mid and early 20th century and World War II compared to how we see and define it today. I believe that as a woman it is important to understand that we did not always have the rights and equality seen today. A group of women before us had to fight their way to being valued individuals, and we as women now will have to continue that fight for the women that will come after us. This motivated me to want to learn and research more on the feminist topic. As I got feedback from classmates and Professor Klann, I decided to narrow down my topic to pose the question of, How was feminism seen as during the mid and early 20th century? The two primary sources that I found helped me both answer my question of how feminism was seen during the mid-early 20th century. My primary sources demonstrated first hand accounts on the feminist movement. As well as it further intrigued me into doing a deeper search on feminism and how it has evolved in meaning. 

At first I started my search within the course modules, looking for anything that talked about women’s mistreatment as well as acts of resistance. From then I moved onto a general google search to see the evolution of the term “feminism”. I wasn’t really satisfied with the results I was getting because they weren primary sources or weren’t a reliable source. However, I really started my in depth search process after the professor and classmates left some feedback in the padlet. I followed the links that Professor Klann gave me and it really helped shape where my in depth search went to. The first link took me to The Feminist Majority Foundation, in which there is a portion titled, “The Feminist Chronicles, 1953-1993”. This website was filled with lots of rich knowledge, there were thirty Primary sources on the website. I skimmed about three or four before settling on the one that truly helped answer my question. I believe this was the perfect amount of resources, there wasn't an overwhelming amount of sources in which I didn't know where to start. For my second primary resource I followed the next link which led me to the Duke University Libraries. From there it showed me a digital collection of the Women’s Liberation Movement Print Culture. There were 103 images and even though there were more primary sources it was not overwhelming because you were able to filter them. Both primary sources were able to help answer the question posed. https://repository.duke.edu/dc/wlmpc/maddc01007

The first primary source that helped me obtain an answer to my question was The Annotated planning notes for the Miss America Protest. Upon reading the primary source I noticed that there was the original plan, but there were green and red pen marks that changed the plan or updated the plan. The plan was extremely well organized, I feel as though if I was a part of the protest I would know exactly what was going to happen. I wonder how many times they had to annotate and rearrange the plan. The primary source detailed how the women were going to protest the Miss America Pageant. There would be burning of items used in the pageant, how they would rally other individuals, what speakers would be there, which items to boycott and press relations. This protest took place on September 7th 1968 which is during the mid and early twentieth century. This primary source helped me answer my question because I wanted to know what feminist demonstartions and how feminism was being viewed during this time period. I was able to visualize a first hand experience of how the planing of a feminist protest came about. This was important to understanding femist history because it let me know that feminist were against the objectification and sexualizing nature that can be in pageants during the mid and early 20th century. This document was saved in order to demonstrate and answer questions individuals may have on why this protest occurred. 

The second primary source that lead me to my answer of what feminism looked like was from The Feminist Chronicles, 1953-1993. The specific source I examined was, The National Organization For Women Bill of Rights in 1968. Immediately I noticed that this was a list of demands being made for women equality, equal representation and rights. The demands being made are as follows: “I. Equal Rights Constitutional Amendment, II. Enforce Law Banning Sex Discrimination in Employment, III. Maternity Leave Rights in Employment and in Social Security Benefits, IV. Tax Deduction for Home and Child Care Expenses for Working Parents, V. Child Day Care Centers, VI. Equal and Unsegregated Education, VII. Equal Job Training Opportunities and Allowances for Women in Poverty and VIII. The Right of Women to Control their Reproductive Lives”(National Organization For Women Bill of Rights in 1968). This primary source came out in 1968, during the second wave of feminism. The fight for women's rights and equality could not be more evident though this primary source. This primary source was crucial to my understanding of what feminism was like during the mid and early 20th century, it clearly states what women wanted from the government and society. I understood how impactful feminism was during this era. The Women’s Rights Movement was occurring as well as the Women’s Liberation Movement during the century in question. Similar to my first primary source this source was saved for future generations to see the demands being made by women for women. It was eye opening to see how women’s demands have changed from then to now. 

https://feminist.org/resources/feminist-chronicles/part-iii-the-early-documents/national-organization-for-women-bill-of-rights-in-1968/

Through this research process I learned a vast amount of information on the topic of feminism in the mid and late 20th century. After researching primary sources, it truly furthered my knowledge on the topic. I previously only had knowledge on the mistreatment of women before the feminist movement, now I have historical information on how women fought against the injustices. Besides expanding my understanding, it made it appreciate and value having the opportunity to have access to primary sources. The research process did not change my initial question, however it did get me thinking on how feminism was viewed in other centuries. 

The two primary sources that I found through this research process helped me answer the initial question I posed through providing first hand experiences of feminist demonstartions. I was able to read about how women came together to fight for the common goal of equality and women’s rights. Feminist acts included but were not limited to protests, boycotting, and public demonstrations. Through this process I maintained the same question, because I was eager to understand the actions that defined feminism in the mid to early 20th century. Women struggled and fought for their rights so we did not have to endure the injustices they did.