womens suffrage throughout history

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Women Suffrage over the years
Introduction
The world believes that women have had to suffer in many ways throughout the years, and there are pieces of evidence to that idea. Although most have had to endure difficult live, history recognizes others more than the rest. This paper will discuss two women Angelou Maya and Anzaldua Gloria, with the sole focus on the things they had to ensure in their lives. It will also explore the differences and parallels in their experiences. Also covered in this paper are two articles authored some of the greatest women writers in the world. They are Quindlen Anna’s “Between the Sexes: A Great Divide”; and Cunningham Amy’s “why women smile.” The author will evaluate these by drawing relevant information from and applying it to the lives of Angelou Maya and Anzaldua Gloria. The last part of the paper will give an outlined summary of the two authors’ works and how they relate to the lives of women in the modern day life CITATION NWH16 l 1033 (NWHM).
Women’s Smile
According to Cunningham Amy, a woman’s smile is fake, but it has a value that encompasses two factors. They include the woman’s personal take of her smile and the societies’ historical view of the smile. In her analysis of the women’s smile, Cunningham referred to the perspective of a psychologist and extensive research; she also used to explain her assertions. It is the two factors that she uses to draw a conclusion that most of the smiles a woman gives do not reflect joy.

Being a woman, Cunningham finds it easy to relate to the matter, giving herself as a victim of her views. She explained that not all her brilliant smiles meant joy as they, in her words, “Did not service her well” because she smiles when happy or sad. She cautioned that people should not assume that, “Smiles are just the innocuous and small things they seem to be” because “Too many women do it instead of just hiding what they have in their minds.” Cunningham even emphasized in her work that woman, “Smile so promiscuously and in many cases when angry, intense, having children, taking pictures, attending a job interview, or meeting the candidates to hire.” For that reason, the smiling women, especially those from the United States, “have become peculiars and archetypes of America.”
While one would deduce that it is the nature of women to smile, Cunningham points the finger at the American culture, which she states that “Keeps the women’s smiles on an autopilot mode.” She feels that although women’s nature appears less irritable than that of men, making it easier to smile, the culture influences in many ways. For example, mothers have to use the “enter smiling” to make the family happy – a cultural custom which she feels that fathers should share too.
In her efforts to warn the people against believing the smiling of a woman, Cunningham the uses the research of the Psychologist, Ekman Paul, who stated that there exist eighteen types of smiles, each of which showcases a different emotion. Cunningham notes that “The baseline smile of women is not a reflection the felt expression that could engage the eyes” in a way that the Duchenne Smile does because they use it frequently and has no connection to their emotions CITATION HCC16 l 1033 (HCC).
The Divide
Just as the title of her article highlights, Quindlen Anna believes that there is a difference (the divide) between the sexes and gender. She states that the divide is first noticed during the first dance in high school, where the girls dance far away from the boys, and each of them waits on the first party to make the first move. This evidence underlies Quindlen’s belief that girls and boys are naturally and essentially different. They have been dissimilar, and nothing can change that reality. The middle school dances are the first where the differences between these sexes become apparent because they feature the ‘great divide,’ which occurs on the dance floor.
While one would feel that the divide emanates from a range of range of things that separate girls from boys, the author holds that it is not “the big differences between the two that separate them, but just the small ones” (601). Perhaps, if the gap were a so wide the two genders would not join forces to work and live together. It is through togetherness that some couples resort to starting up a family. They give birth and raise their children in homes where “fathers do things the same things that mother did at some point of her life, and vice versa” (601).
The assertions of Quindell are true and occur in the day-to-day life. The two genders are dissimilar, but they only have slight differences as their emotional setups are more or less the same. The great divide is a reflection of how the boys and children are raised and the fact that they do not undergo the same experiences in their childhood. “Anything men can do, women can give a better result” is a common say that brings several debates. My belief is that the conflict arises from the comparison, in which case each gender wants to have the upper hand. However, the bottom line is that they can do the same things, especially from the emotional perspective CITATION ACS16 l 1033 (ACSU).
Application of the Texts
Anzaldua E. Gloria
Although she developed into one of the world’s most celebrated female cultural theorist, feminist philosopher, and author; Anzaldua had suffered in her early life and led a turbulent life. Born of sixth-generation Mexican parents living from ranching farming in Texas, Anzaldua could not get the best family support to lead a decent life or even achieve some of her life goals. For starters, she had a rare disorder of hormonal imbalance that initiated premature puberty, which saw her experience menses when just six years old. This condition must have troubled Anzaldua, but her family could not afford the best medical care, so she had to live with it. She studied under the segregated learning system of Texas, and because she could not speak in English (only Spanish), her teachers punished and mocked. It is that harsh treatment that spurred Anzaldua’s desire to become a writer. She also had to balance her education with working in the fields during the weekends and holidays to provide financial support to her family CITATION Jua16 l 1033 (Anza).
Anzaldua had a difficult life; one that can stop anyone from achieving his/her life goals, but she did not give up to pursue the life she desired. She did not opt for seeking help, but rather help herself out of the situation and make good use of her life. For a person in her situation (an immigrant from a low-life family, a girl with a rare hormonal disorder, and subject of racist humiliation); Anzaldua could have ended up as a maid, sought early marriage, or even seek for donations to fund her education. Instead, she used her free time (weekends and holidays) to work in the fields to raise money to support her family and fund her education.
Despite her life agonies, Anzaldua did not frown all her early life, trying to show everyone that she lived a tragic. Probably, she had to use the fake smiles as described by Cunningham to disguise the pains of her life. For example, she could not get angry at the teachers for mocking her because such a move would only land her in more trouble than the usual punishment. My guess is that she smiled back when mocked by the teachers to their enjoyment and the other students.
Just as Quindlen Anna states, gender plays an integral role is reshaping a person’s life. Anzaldua had to lead a life that depicted her gender. For example, attended the Woman’s the University of Texas to pursue high learning and became a feminist philosopher, advocating for fair treatment of women across the globe.
Angelou Maya
Many people celebrate the life of Angelou for being one of the most decorated poets, an activist of civil rights, and memoirist. While all these titles reflect Angelou’s industrious work, they seem to disguise her turbulent past life. Her parents had a calamitous marriage, which prompted his father to send them (Angelou and his brother, Bailey) to live in their grandmother’s home, in Stamps (Arkansas), at the age of three and four, respectively. The troubles of Angelou’s life began at the age of eight when her mother’s boyfriend (Freeman) raped and sexually abused her. Angelou reported the matter to his brother who informed the rest of the family, and Freeman was arrested for one year. Eventually, Angelou’s uncles murdered him four days after his release. Angelou blamed herself for the incident, the result of which saw her becoming mute for half a decade. She stated that “I believed that, my words killed him; I murdered that man, by telling his name. I also thought that I would never say a word again, believing that my words would murder anyone.”
Other turbulent of her life involved giving birth three weeks after graduation without a proper job to support herself and the child. She also ended up working in the sex trade as a table dance, Madame, and prostitute. In this industry, enthusiasm counts, meaning that Angelou must have used the fake smiles to have her way in the sex trade. At the same time, most of her life encounters underlined her gender. For example, Freeman raped and molested her, and she thrived in the sex trade because-because female CITATION May16 l 1033 (Angelou).
Conclusion
In their analysis of some issues of feminism, Quindlen and Cunningham used a similar approach that depicts women as the lesser member of the society, which only leave them suffering in silence. Cunningham stresses that they smile to hide their inner feelings, the same concept that Quindlen hints as for the cause of the great divided between the genders. At the school dance, girls rarely make the first move because they are likely to receive harsh judgments from the society. The same assertions also featured in the lives of the two women that this paper reviewed. Probably, the teachers mocked Anzaldua because she was a girl, and assuming that she often smiled back to protect herself, they took advantage of her situation. Similarly, Freeman raped and molested Maya because she was a minor female. Despite the advancements that the world introduce to stop indictment of women, the suffrage of women still exist. No country is free of rape cases, among other abusive actions towards women. However, with the help of this paper and other studies in gender issues, societies can adopt improved ways of curbing women suffrage.
Work Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 ACSU. “Between the Sexes, A Great Divide by Anna Quindlen.” 2016. ACSU. 20 Nov 2016.
Angelou, Maya. “Maya Angelou .” 2016. Maya Angelou . 20 Nov 2016.
Anza, Juan Bautista de. “Anzaldu E. Gloria.” 2016. American National Biography Online. 21 November 2016.
HCC. “Why Women Smile by Amy Cunningham.” 2016. HCC. 20 Nov 2016.
NWHM. “Causes: The Woman Suffrage Movement.” 2016. NWHM. 20 Nov 2016.