Recently I watched an American drama "Mrs. America", the Chinese name is "Mrs. America". The show is based on the true events of the Affirmative Action Act. This drama mainly unfolds from the perspective of many iconic figures of the affirmative action in the United States, telling the story of the United States advancing the "Amendment to the Equal Rights Constitution".
When I watched the first episode of this drama, I thought it should be a fight for women's rights with men for women's rights. It wasn't until I watched 9 episodes of the TV series that I realized that this show is a war between women and women from the beginning to the end. It's a war between full-time housewives and working women. There is a saying that the strongest enemy of man is not others, but himself. Therefore, the strongest enemy of women is not men, but women themselves.
women's rights
The feminist movement, also known as the women's liberation movement or the women's movement, is a social goal or social movement of feminist revolutionaries who oppose discrimination against women, enable women to obtain their due social status and rights, and achieve complete equality of gender rights.
Since entering the patriarchal society from the matriarchal society, the status of women has gradually become lower, and even women are firmly controlled by men in the patriarchal society, controlled by their fathers at home, controlled by their husbands after marriage, and even when their husbands die. Controlled by his son. In thousands of years of patriarchal society, women have been forgotten by society and abandoned by the development of the times.
With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the development of industrial technology not only brought a new way to the development of society, but also enabled women to work in factories as labor productivity. The development of science and technology has changed the way of social development. It is no longer based on the physical strength of the body, which enables women to exert the same productivity as men. With the continuous development of science and technology, physical strength is no longer the only measure, nor the main standard, and the future development of society will pay more attention to intelligence. The level of intelligence is not divided by gender, so the competitiveness of women in the future society will not be inferior to that of men. With the improvement of women's social status, the corresponding rights of women will also increase, and the ultimate goal is to achieve equal rights with men.
The feminist movement broke out in the 19th century. The earliest birthplace was in France, and later it spread in European countries, and also affected women in various countries in America and Asia, such as Russia, Japan, etc. Awakened women made their voices heard, and they rallied to speak for themselves. In a patriarchal society, fight for your rights bravely. Women are not just tools for reproduction. Women's life should not only be a family, but only for the husband and children. Women should have the right to employment and the right to education. Women are no longer a group that depends on men to exist in society. Women should have the same rights as men and participate in the wave of social development and change. They should not just stay on the shore and watch the waves rise. It should be one of the waves.
There were three waves of the feminist movement. The first wave was in the second half of the 19th century—the beginning of the 20th century. The focus of this wave was on the need for equality in the life course of gender, including between men and women, that is, gender equality, as well as civil rights, political rights, and so on. The most important goal is to strive for the equality of domestic labor and social labor, and the equal value of political rights, so it is called the "feminist movement". The second wave was from the 1960s to the 1980s. The women's liberation movement this time originated in the United States. The TV "Mrs. America" tells the story of what American women did for liberation in the second wave. s hard work. The keynote is to emphasize the natural division of labor between the sexes and to eliminate the phenomenon of unequal pay for equal work between men and women. This point is also clearly raised in the feminist movement in "Mrs. America". The third wave was in the 1990s—the result of the feminist movement so far is gender studies, and feminist scholarship has arisen.
Earlier we mentioned that this TV series mainly tells the role of American women in the second wave of the feminist movement from the perspective of the main symbols of the affirmative movement.
From the TV series, we can see that there are two camps in the affirmative action movement, one is the camp composed of professional women, and there are all kinds of people in their camp, such as unmarried, single mothers, gays and so on. Representing women in the lower and middle classes of American society; one is a camp of full-time housewives who are dominated by elite married women who are family-oriented, attached to their husbands, and enjoy the benefits of being housewives. privilege.
Iconic women of affirmative action. Betty, a female author, wrote "The Feminine Mystique", a book that influenced many women and gave birth to their awareness of women's rights. Jill, the mother of several children, is also a Republican who supports the feminist movement. Gloria, an independent woman who is not married, has her own women's magazine and advocates the legality of abortion, which has a lot to do with her own experience. Bella, a former feminist activist and then a full-fledged politician, knows how to game politics for the best interests.
Women against affirmative action. The most important role in this camp is Phyllis. Under her leadership, the "affirmative action", which was already about to win a big victory, was met with Waterloo. Phyllis brought a group of housewives to support The women of Affirmative Action pose a huge obstacle. I believe that viewers who have watched this TV series will have such a question: Is Phyllis a real housewife? Although she has no career, she can publish books and provide her own ideas and advice to MPs, so she should not be regarded as a real housewife. But, let's be clear, she relies on her husband for all these things, and without her husband, she wouldn't have these opportunities. But Phyllis has ambition. Her ambition is to gain the same rights as men in politics and to participate in national politics.
female power
In this TV series, the women's movement under Bella's leadership must make compromises and concessions in order to obtain women's rights under the male-dominated social system. Cheryl, a black woman, was the first black female vice-presidential candidate in American history, but in the end, she failed miserably in the campaign because she lost the support of women's groups. Bella and Gloria, who supported McGovern in the election, could get corresponding benefits, but only at the last minute of the voting site knew that they had been deceived. Later, Bella became the leader of the National Women's Organization, leading women's groups to fight again for affirmative action. Compared with feminist activists such as Gloria and Betty, Bella knows how to obtain benefits moderately in a male-dominated society without confrontation. In the end, Bella was forced to resign for embarrassing President Carter, and other iconic feminists also resigned. With the election of Conservative Reagan to the presidency, the feminist movement also entered a low point.
The housewives under Phyllis learned how to account, how to write speeches, how to organize events, and more. And then splicing together their unique talents has created many thorny difficulties for affirmative action. The TV series shows footage of Phyllis speaking many times. From her speech, you can see the sophistication in her language. She seizes the loopholes in the "affirmative action", such as equal rights for men and women, and she points out that women will also Conscripted to go to war; women lose their privileges as housewives, etc. She is very good at sophistry and good at using language. As we can see from the TV series, Phyllis's ambition, she wants to get into the core of the political leadership circle, to get a political position in it, so she's not exactly a housewife at this point. Moreover, she led the anti-affirmative action movement, and she also wanted to use her power to push her into the inner circle of the White House. Once she succeeded in demolition for a long time, the old saying is good: fortune and misfortune lie. She gave her contact list to the Reagan campaign and helped Reagan successfully run for president, but in the end she didn't get the return she wanted because of politics.
Whether it's Bella or Phyllis, they are all bargaining chips under the patriarchal social system, and neither of them can play a major and irreplaceable role in politics.
The United States is a federal country. In addition to the Constitution, each state has its own laws and regulations. The Affirmative Action Act must be written into federal law only after more than half of the states have passed. , so it's like running a marathon, a constant struggle to test endurance.
There are two major political parties in the United States, one is the Republican Party and the other is the Democratic Party. Presidential elections come from these two parties, who take turns governing. Republicans are seen as a conservative party, like they oppose abortion, think it's murder, it's cruel, they don't approve of homosexuality, etc. The Democrats are seen as a liberal party that upholds women's reproductive rights, supports women's right to choose abortion, supports homosexuality, and more. In the TV series, we can see that the rise and fall of the feminist movement is closely related to the ruling party. Conservatives think that liberals have messed up America and made America un-American, so they want to put America on the right track.
Feminism is a trend
At the end of the TV series, Phyllis's best friend Alice becomes a professional woman, after being married and raising children for many years, after she has become a grandmother. The arrangement of your shopping here, I think, also shows that the feminist movement will be an irresistible trend in the future society. The improvement of women's society will inevitably require the improvement of corresponding rights.
In today's world, although it is still a male-dominated society, more and more women are appearing on the political stage. Women's self-awareness has also gradually improved. Modern women are not only wives and mothers, but also play roles in the social workplace. Women's economic and ideological independence also makes women less dependent on men. It is hoped that one day in the future, women will no longer be regarded as the appendages of men, and women will have more right to speak and freely choose their own path.
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