Introduction
Feminism has come a long way. From struggling for an equal right to suffrage, women have gain solid grounds in their struggle for further equality in social, political and occupational aspects. In 1920’s, the feminist movement is not as successful as it is today yet surprisingly, Crystal Eastman’s essay ‘"Now We Can Begin": What's Next?’ is quite a revelation on how the contemporary society will view women in general. Eastman was able to successfully outline how the feminist cause would turn out in such crisp details. Despite the infancy of feminism during her time, Eastman’s clear goals and visions for the feminist movement are futuristic even in the modern society. It is not surprising then that her essay regarding feminism should be considered as successful because it answered most major questions regarding the future role of the female gender with interestingly prophetic quality.
Addressing the Challenges of being Feminine
Eastman has successfully outlined the path of feminism in the U.S. in her essay and explored possible negation to her arguments. By doing so, she was able to address most major questions that would deem her arguments as invalid. One particular example is the dilemma regarding home keeping and child-raising. According to Eastman, the true objective of the feminist movement is freedom and that freedom means that women should be given “a chance to exercise their infinitely varied gifts in infinitely varied ways, instead of being destined by the accident of their sex to one field of activity -housework and child-raising”. On the other hand, Eastman acknowledged as well that some women are housekeepers and mothers by choice of which she argues that such work should be recognized as an occupation, which entitles a woman to some economic reward. At some degree, it is quite conceivable that governments would reward women with some economic benefit for child-bearing and home keeping. Although today’s society has not yet reached the level of recognition that Eastman hopes to achieve for women who chose to become housekeepers and mothers, because of their ability to conceive, women may wield considerable power in the future. As observed, there is a steep decline in birth rates in most developed countries, which is an indication that “women are no longer socially or economically dependent on men” for which she can chose to remain single or desire children in her own liking. A time will come then that Eastman’s vision of considering ‘raising children’ by women as a service to society of which entitles a woman to an economic reward. Another feminine issue that Eastman addressed was the traditional role that couples assume as home makers. For despite the equal occupation and income opportunity, there is a great disparity between men and women as they come home after their day jobs. Eastman challenges the traditional role of women who serves their men at home despite the fact that both come from physically exhausting jobs. Although society has accepted this traditional role of women in a sense that most women are not even aware of this disparity, Eastman’s arguments challenges the very roots of the patriarchal culture of most societies.
Increased Role of Women in Society
Eastman’s prophetic argumentation of the plight of women as they move towards the 21st century and further is quite exemplary. Eastman’s era was considered as the first wave of feminism in the United States. According to historians, the first wave of feminism is characterized with reform movements such as abolition and temperance that involves women of the working classes. Since then, women have taken major roles in almost all occupation including those that are deemed as masculine dominated fields. Military and Engineering are just a few examples of occupational areas that are considered as masculine, which is successfully penetrated by women. In politics, women were also making considerable progress not withstanding color. Shirley Chisholm, for example, was the first African-American woman to be elected in congress. The coming of the Second World War was even more favorable for women to prove their talents and abilities. Because of the shortage of men that can work in factories, what was previously considered as manly jobs are being assigned to women who took over most of the production work in factories. Apparently, Eastman’s interest in equal opportunity in occupation and economic gain among men and women are already unfolding. In most developed countries, for example, a lot of women are getting educations and salaries that are at par with men. Even in emerging economies such as China, traditional roles of women are now disregarded for economic reasons as most Chinese women from rural areas seek employment in the city and live life as they please with little cultural constraints as before.
Conclusion
Eastman has successfully predicted the future roles of women in society. Interestingly, her essay was even more futuristic since most of her assumptions and recommendations are unfolding while some are about to unfold. In her essay, Eastman has successfully outlined the struggle of women as they fight for freedom. By doing so, she addressed possible issues that society would face because of the increased role of women. Although not all of Eastman’s statements have been fully realized, her arguments are just as timely like it was written beyond her era.
References
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Chang, L. (2008). Factory Girls; From Village to City in a Changing China. New York: Spiegel & Grau.
Eastman, C. (1920). "Now We Can Begin": What's Next? Retrieved December 2014, from http://womenshistory.about.com/: http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/bl_eastman_crystal_1920.htm
Millar, A. (n.d.). Synthesizing Current Research: Women‘s Higher Education and the World Wars. Retrieved November 2014, from http://artsites.uottawa.ca/: http://artsites.uottawa.ca/strata/doc/strata3_024-054.pdf
United States Postal Service. (2014, January). U.S. Postal Service Honors Shirley Chisholm. Retrieved December 2014, from http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2014/pr14_005.pdf
Yew, L.K. (2012). Warning Bell for Developed Countries: Declining Birth Rates. Retrieved December 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/: http://www.forbes.com/sites/currentevents/2012/10/16/warning-bell-for-developed-countries-declining-birth-rates/
