The Same
You probably read the title, and now your thinking, what’s the same? Gender and how they should be equally right. Our Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” With that being said, are the equality rights only being used in the United States or all over the country? Analyzing the pulp images from Super Science Stories, The Fantastic Adventures, I’ve noticed how the pictures show the equality of the men and women in America. Some images being displayed were the images from February 1941, and July 1942 catalog. They reflected the gender roles being used in both women and male perspectives, the man saving the woman, as well as the woman saving the man. We may ask why is this an issue, in many countries other than the United States, many do not believe we should have gender equality and equal rights. Now let me describe what kind of gender rights I am talking about, the rights such as the ability to go to school, the decision to take care of health concerns, and making economic decisions. I’m talking about how we have gender equality rights as a human being, however do we have them everywhere or just in the Untied States. Women in other countries do not have rights to choose how they want to educate the mind, and how to protect and respect their bodies. If we are made equally, we should all have equal unalienable rights that shouldn’t be taken nor not given to us just because of where we live or how we were raised. The pulp images, analyzed from Super Science Stories, show a great amount of gender equality being in better conditions which, while are not perfect, are far better than in other countries around the world.
Being a woman, being equal is a thing we deal with on a daily. Whether we go to work, school, even the clinic we deal with having to be equal to a man or even another woman. We as women get questioned about the equality rights we have with men and being equally responsible. Analyzing the pulp images of The Super Science Stories, they show a depiction of the equality between men and woman of today’s day. The images from the February 1941 and July 1942 show equality and responsibility given between men and women by both being rescued by each other. In the February image, the role for being a superhero has switched. The woman in the yellow dress does the rescuing rather women than the man rescuing her. When looking at the switching of roles, I believe the equality of the men and woman has a great affect on society and the author in today’s society. I believe when the author drew these images his intension is to show no gender inequality discrimination therefore, believe we are all equal. Here in the United States, the Declaration of Independence gives us as women the declaration to have equal unalienable rights, such as man. With those rights we are created equal and those rights cannot be taken away. However, in the past, and other countries, this isn’t the case. According to the article Gender Ideology & Separate Spheres in the 19th Century, “The gender history of 19th-century Britain can be read in two ways: as an overarching patriarchal model which reserved power and privilege for men; or as a process of determined but gradual female challenge to their exclusion.” (Marsh 1). Marsh states a little harshly but self-evident how they chose to word men as powered and privileged, but women as excluded. When reading I thought, excluded? An example being, back then women were “created” to be mothers, and housewives, rather than a successful woman for a high-powered executive company. How are women excluded if in today’s society we are as equal as men and given the same treatment as men today? Yet in the 1900’s the society then was described as utopian, meaning they thought woman being equal wasn’t a reality but a fantasy.
When we think of women here in America, we think of successful women in the workplace, in school, even in healthcare. Here, we can go to our jobs, go to the clinic down the street if we ever get sick, and if you have medical concerns when having a baby, your health is our concern. Women in other countries do not have choices such as these to make. According to the article You Won’t Believe How Many Countries Still Won’t Allow Women The Right To Education, “For girls living in India, virginity and purity is given the utmost importance, not education. This notion, combined with the nation’s poor economic conditions, requires the girls to work to aid the family” (Agintar 1). For instance, here in America, education and health is a big priority that is given as a free right. However, in many foreign countries one being India, their most important priority is being a virgin and pure. The problem with this is, what if these women travel to a different country? The problem is, they will not have the knowledge we have nor understand the equality of women towards men, that once coming into the country their beliefs are left behind and ours come into practice. Coming from another country such as India, being educated isn’t a priority, meaning they do not understand dangers of not getting the right healthcare, one healthcare concern such as when pregnant. In India, if a woman isn’t pure, meaning virginity, she has a less chance to get pregnant and therefore is considered worthless. With no knowledge of how dangerous pregnancy can be, after birth or even before, many health issues are at risk. Meanwhile here in America, we have the right to go to a doctor and make sure our health and pregnancy is on track. Other countries such as India have similar beliefs to what women roles should be and men roles.
With the current issues in many countries, the conditions of being equal are continuing to improve. Women here in the United States to countries around the world, the health status, workplace, and social class have improved and have done something greater for the gender equality issue. In agreement to the article, Yesterday and Today, “The situation of gender equality has greatly improved in the past years. Education, career, and even business opportunities have paved its path for women. Women are in fact the core of inequality ever since males started dominating the world of business” (yxyServers 1). The hosts, yxyServers, render the issue of equality by stating how the equality is becoming even greater than before. Connecting their statement in today’s day using short stories such as The Super Science Stories, social media, and even comic production are examples of the increase of equality. Using women as superhero’s shows how women are climbing the equality line with men. The Black Widow is an example how the woman is becoming a dominant character in the comic world as well in real. The Black Widow in Captain America is used as a agent trained as a spy, marital art, and sniper, and outfitted with an arsenal of high-tech weaponry, including a pair of wrist-mounted energy weapons dubbed her "Widow's Bite". She is described with many assets to helping Captain America in their journey. As a helper, she also has had an eye on her making her be a dominant woman character in helping save lives.
Thinking about how in the 1940’s women thought of being equal to a man was a utopian dream, and how women in other countries do not have choices we do now, brings me to think about how we think of women today. From my point of view, since I have grown up living in America from the 1995 till present day, reading these articles shows me the history in the making. However even though other countries haven’t agreed to the rights we have as women here, conditions on gender equality are improving but continue to be a leaching questioning issue. As the article Why Gender Equality Stalled states,
Between 1994 and 2004, the percentage of Americans preferring the male breadwinner/female homemaker family model actually rose to 40 percent from 34 percent. Between 1997 and 2007, the number of full-time working mothers who said they would prefer to work part time increased to 60 percent from 48 percent. In 1997, a quarter of stay-at-home mothers said full-time work would be ideal. By 2007, only 16 percent of stay-at-home mothers wanted to work full time"(1).
As Coontz states, the female roles are increasing, however she believes it’s not to increase gender equality but to increase the right to choose between pursuing a career and devoting themselves to full-time motherhood. She believes that increasing the women rights to be equal to men isn’t the case, but rather to increase women as a whole and their choices. Thinking about what Coontz has to say, I can agree to disagree. She has a valid point, however I believe if women want to increase the right to pursuing a career and motherhood, using gender equality is a great way. Men and woman are equal in todays day, so why cant a woman increase her life in the way she wants such as a man.
To disclose my argument, gender equality is being practiced more in the United States rather than foreign countries. The foreign countries have other issues greater than making a woman feel equal to a man. The pulp images reflected the mentality of the author, rather than what others seen and felt within the 1940’s time period. They reflected the equality of men and women in the society of today and how they are equal. The pulp images influenced me to elaborate how some countries don’t have these equality standards and point out the major issues of other countries and health effects, how the history has changed, and how it will continue to change. Even though we are all making decisions, we are manifesting and making changes to the issue of gender equality everyday. We do not build something and destroy it rather make it better, instead, we think of changes or improvements to make it better, and I believe the gender equality issue is a work in progress. We do not realize all the freedom and rights we are given, I as an American citizen am lucky to be a part of this society, and generation. Researching this topic leaves this question, if there was something you could do for gender equality would you do it, and are you glad to be an American citizen?
Works Cited
Cover: Super Science Stories, February 1941. 1941. Special Collections and Archives, Oviatt Library, California State University, Northridge. Milt Stevens Science Fiction Collection. Web. 5 May 2014.
Cover: Super Science Stories, July 1942. 1942. Special Collections and Archives, Oviatt Library, California State University, Northridge. Milt Stevens Science Fiction Collection. Web. 5 May 2014.
Coontz, Stephanie. "Why Gender Equality Stalled." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Feb. 2013. Web. 05 May 2014.
"Gender Ideology & Separate Spheres in the 19th Century." Victoria and Albert Museum, Online Museum, Web Team, [email protected]. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
"You Won't Believe How Many Countries Still Won't Allow Women The Right To Education." Elite Daily. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
"Yesterday And Today." - Gender Equality in Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2014.
Cover: Super Science Stories, July 1942. 1942. Special Collections and Archives, Oviatt Library, California State University, Northridge. Milt Stevens Science Fiction Collection. Web. 5 May 2014.
Coontz, Stephanie. "Why Gender Equality Stalled." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Feb. 2013. Web. 05 May 2014.
"Gender Ideology & Separate Spheres in the 19th Century." Victoria and Albert Museum, Online Museum, Web Team, [email protected]. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
"You Won't Believe How Many Countries Still Won't Allow Women The Right To Education." Elite Daily. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
"Yesterday And Today." - Gender Equality in Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2014.