Were Gonna Be Big essays

Were Gonna Be Big essays American society prides itself on being evenhanded and impartial, but so far history proves otherwise. In the past, unjust treatment of minorities was acknowledged, and in many cases, accepted, but it is the apparent and yet unmentionable treatment of women, past and present, that threatens to undermine America. Although sexual harassment and discrimination have been battled in the work place, it is only a small step towards the killing of the Angel of the House and the acceptance of the imperfect women. From the early 1900's when women were rallying for their right to vote, females were limited to occupations that included wives, mothers, homemakers, midwives, nurses, teachers, and occasionally entertainers. Some dared to attain and hold other employment. This was so because society deemed it fair and correct for women to be taken advantage of and used. Obviously, as time progressed, women were "allowed" to pursue more and more professions and occupations. Like many women in her era, Virginia Woolf desired social recognition and public approval, but unlike most women, she tackled her desires and overcame them. Woolf was driven, as many were and continue to be, by men, prejudice, conscience, society, necessity, ambition, family, and most importantly possessions. Woolf's desires to own items such as a cat, a motor car, and eventually a room of her own, forced her to open her eyes and take in the world. In doing so, Woolf saw things that impressed not only her mind and soul, but her writing as well. In Woolf's essay "Professions for Woman," she tackles some of the most taboo subjects such as murder, independence, and other mutinous ideas that sparked a sexual revolution. She shared her convictions with beau ideals such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Woolf realized that "the road" for women "was cut many years ago," but she also learned that even though there is a road, the journey may ...

M. Carey Thomas

M. Carey Thomas M. Carey Thomas Facts: Known for: M. Carey Thomas is considered a pioneer in womens education, for her commitment and work in building Bryn Mawr as an institution of excellence in learning, as well as for her very life which served as a model for other women. Occupation: educator, president of Bryn Mawr college, pioneer in womens higher education, feministDates: January 2, 1857 - December 2, 1935Also known as: Martha Carey Thomas, Carey Thomas M. Carey Thomas Biography: Martha Carey Thomas, who preferred to be called Carey Thomas and was known in her childhood as Minnie, was born in Baltimore to a Quaker family and educated in Quaker schools. Her father, James Carey Thomas, was a physician. Her mother, Mary Whitall Thomas, and her mothers sister, Hannah Whitall Smith, were active in the Womens Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). From her early years, Minnie was strong-willed and, after a childhood accident with a lamp and the subsequent convalescence, a constant reader. Her interest in womens rights began early, encouraged by her mother and aunt and increasingly opposed by her father. Her father, a trustee of Johns Hopkins University, opposed her wish to enroll at Cornell University, but Minnie, supported by her mother, prevailed. She earned a bachelors degree in 1877. Pursuing post-graduate studies, Carey Thomas was allowed private tutoring but no formal classes in Greek at the all-male Johns Hopkins. She then enrolled, with her fathers reluctant permission, at the University of Leipzig. She transferred to the University of Zurich because the University of Leipzig would not award a Ph.D. to a woman, and forced her to sit behind a screen during classes so as not to distract male students. She graduated at Zurich summa cum laude, a first for both a woman and a foreigner. Bryn Mawr While Carey was in Europe, her father became one of the trustees of the newly created Quaker womens college, Bryn Mawr. When Thomas graduated, she wrote to the trustees and proposed that she become the president of Bryn Mawr. Understandably skeptical, the trustees appointed her as professor of English and as dean, and James E. Rhoads was appointed president. By the time Rhoads retired in 1894, M. Carey Thomas was essentially performing all the duties of president. By a narrow margin (one vote) the trustees gave M. Carey Thomas the presidency of Bryn Mawr. She served in that capacity until 1922, serving also as dean until 1908. She stopped teaching when she became President, and focused on the administrative side of education. M. Carey Thomas demanded a high standard of education from Bryn Mawr and its students, influence by the German system, with its high standards but less freedom for students. Her strong ideas directed the curriculum. So, while other womens institutions offered many electives, Bryn Mawr under Thomas offered educational tracks that offered few individual choices. Thomas was willing to be more experimental with the colleges Phoebe Anna Thorpe school, where John Deweys educational ideas were the basis for the curriculum. Womens Rights M. Carey Thomas maintained a strong interest in womens rights (including work for the National American Woman Suffrage Association), supported the Progressive Party in 1912, and was a strong advocate for peace. She believed that many women ought not to get married and that married women ought to continue careers. Thomas was also an elitist and a supporter of the eugenics movement. She endorsed strict immigration quotas, and believed in the intellectual supremacy of the white race. In 1889, Carey Thomas joined with Mary Gwinn, Mary Garrett, and other women in offering a large gift to the Johns Hopkins University Medical School in exchange for ensuring that women would be admitted on an equal basis with men. Companions Mary Gwinn (known as Mamie) was a long-time companion of Carey Thomas. They spent time together at the University of Leipzig, and maintained a long and close friendship. While they kept details of their relationship private, it is often described, though the term wasnt used much at the time, as a lesbian relationship. Mamie Gwinn married in 1904 (the triangle was used by Gertrude Stein in a novels plot), and later Carey Thomas and Mary Garrett shared a house on campus. The wealthy Mary Garrett, when she died in 1915, left her fortune to M. Carey Thomas. Despite her Quaker heritage and childhood emphasizing simple living, Thomas enjoyed the luxury now possible. She traveled, taking 35 trunks to India, spending time in French villas, and living in a hotel suite during the Great Depression. She died in 1935 in Philadelphia, where she was living alone. Bibliography: Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz. The Power and Passion of M. Carey Thomas. 1999.