First Thoughts:
Our group's topic is women. This is an extrememly broad topic, as there are so many different aspects and perspectives that one could chose to research about women. I just find it so strange that just like blacks, women were seen as unequal members of society. There is absolutely no logical reason why women should have different laws and and expectations than men simply becuase of their gender. It is very unfortunate that the topic of "women" is even something that students are studying as there should never have been a reason to have anything to study- that just likemen in America, all women should have been seen as equals since the start of America. However that is clearly not the case, and so our group is learning about the different aspects in American womens' lives throughout the history of America. Our group has divided our research categories based upon what women have struggled to gain equal rights in, and how they have gone about doing so. We have decided to narrow down our focus reguaring womens' role in American society by catorgorizing our research topics to the following: We are going to have a category focusing on the conventions and movements that have been held/led in attempt to prove a point, or to change an existing law or stereotype regaurding womens' rights in America. We are also going to focus on how society views abortion/reproductive rights/birthcontrol, and the different views reguarding how much control a women should have over her own body. We will also focus on how equal women are treated in terms of their education, in the military, in the government, and in all aspects of their own society. Clearly the role of women has shifted dramatically since the 1850s when women first started taking serious action against the societial norms to stand up for themselves, until present day today. However I also feel that even though women have equal opprotunities to education and also have the right to vote, and participate in military and government is it extrememly important for us to focus on how women got to this point. Also, even today not everything is equal for women, and there are many instances where sociatal views on women have allowed for womens' rights to not be guaranteed or protected, and it is important for us to learn about what the future will be like for women in America.