Sexist Laws and Their Remedies

Many men during the 19th and 20th centuries did not condemn women nor promote the idea of their inferior intellectual or physical capabilities. However, they did nothing to change the laws and practices that kept women beneath men and they did not see much wrong with the system that was already in place. The Constitution was addressed to men and not women. The promises made for equality, under natural law, did not extend to the female sex. Although “[Benjamin Franklin had] a view of the female as a rational being engaged in the pursuit of happiness…it never occurred to Franklin, the archetypal self-made and self-educated man that the freedom to create the self might be extended to women” (Conway 2). Most people stayed silent while women were denied from pursuing education past a high school diploma.

They did not speak up while women were laughed out of universities or ridiculed for trying to practice law or medicine. There were some who even fabricated science to give evidence to why women should not be allowed to study math (Gershon). The societal influences that pushed the idea of inferiority on women were not only connected to science but also to religion. Christianity, being a pillar for our government and many other European and American countries, has had a significant impact on our society. Therefore, when “the Christian view of the female [was] a lesser creation marked by greater impulsiveness andless able to use reason in control of the emotions than men,” that way of thinking bled into the minds of the people. It was also ingrained in our government and laws (Conway 2).

However, that began to change as Title IX and the Equal Pay Act 1970 were passed and granted women the luxury of cashing the check “that [would] give [them] upon demand the riches of freedom” and the equality that had been intensely fought for (King). Title IX was enacted in 1972 as a part of the education amendments and became a landmark federal law in the United States that prohibits sexbased discrimination in educational programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. Not only did it reprimand discrimination in schools, but it also demanded that schools properly address sexual violence and sexual harassment. Because it addressed so many of the issues that women had fought for, this amendment became the leading shift towards gender equality, and not only for the United States but all of Western civilization (“Title IX and Sex Discrimination.”).