Women saw a great payoff when the National Labor Relations Board was founded, since it gave women workers, specially textile workers, the right to deal as a collective for better wages, and working conditions. An even better reward for this continuous fight was the Equal Pay Act, which established equal pay for men and women for the same kind of job, and prohibited discrimination practices against women. This act was further broader with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which expressly prohibited all discrimination on the bases of race, and sex. Finally the years and years of fighting were paying off. These laws where not just word in papers, they were enforced by institution like the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, in the case of The Civil Act of 1964.

      In addition to fighting for equality in the working place, feminist in the 20th century also followed in the foot steps of the 19th century feminist when it came to fighting for women's education. It was Harriet Hardly Taylor Mill, one of the most prominent leaders of the women's movement in the 19th century who said: "high mental powers in women will be but an exceptional accident, until every career is open to them, and until they, as well as men, are educated for themselves and for the world-not one sex for the other."(Packet, Section 11 page 359) Through the 19th century, feminist fought to give women the chance to higher education, and their fight was finally rewarded in 1848, when Queen's College was established to provide women with a higher education. After that, more and more opportunities for higher education for women developed, and in 1870's, women where able to enter Oxford and Cambridge. And in 1878 the university of London granted them degrees.

      It was a great accomplishment, but the fight was not over, women could become lawyers, and doctors, but this profession when not socially acceptable. The fear of social exclusion pushed women to concentrate in professions that where socially acceptable form women like teaching, and nursing. For those women who chose to be doctors, or lawyers, even after they got their degrees there was no guarantee that they would be able to practice in their field. In some occasions, women where not recognized by institution and associations like the BAR association as professionals, so they could not get license, and practice. So just like in the working place, in the 20th century women continued to fight for equality when it came to education. In 1966 women created the National Organization for women(NOW), along with the Women's Bipartisan Causcus in 1971. This groups where dedicated to promote information, and mobilize voters to demand equal education opportunities for women. These efforts did not fall in deaf ears. In 1972, the Education Act was created. This act prohibited sex discrimination. Finally the courts, number one enemy of feminist demand at first, led down their guards, and became increasingly sympathetic tour women's issues, and began to strike down discriminatory legislation and practices.

      All of these accomplishments were in part due to the political organization that women kept from the beginning. During the 19th century, the feminist movement development lead to two very important organizations, the National Union of Women's Suffrage Society(NUWSS) led by Millicent Garrett Fawcett, and the Women's Social and Political Union(WSPU), led by Emmiline Goulden Pankhurst. This parties operated in very different forms, according to their leaders believes. Faweet believed that the parliamentary democracy would eventually acknowledge women's right to the vote, so she dedicated to expand membership of NUWSS, to promote publically the demand for the vote, through speaking tours, and distribution of their journal, The Common Cause, and to lobby Liberal Politician to vote in favor of women's suffrage. Pankhurst on the other hand, believed that of the vote was to be gain, then action had to be taken, so she actively spoke to gain the vote whenever a Liberal politician spoke, she participated in local and national suffrage demonstrations, at personal risk. Both parties each in their own way, helped to keep feminist active in the political arena, since they knew the only way to achieve equality was to have legislation to enforce them.

      The political arena is the one area, where we see a little bit of discontinuity between the feminist of the 19th and 20th century. In the 1920, women finally archive one of their most desire goals, to get the vote. With the vote, all women had to vote as a block, so that their votes could cause a shift in the polls. They were to vote for candidate that would work on some of their demands. The results however were not as expected. Even though, it was legal for women to vote, it was still not socially acceptable, so most women who did where consider social outcasts. Due to this accurate position, a great deal of women chose not to vote, and most of those who did vote, did so the same way their husbands or fathers did. So they had no power.

      The fear of being labeled as outcast was the cause for the discontinuity seen in the political interest of women from the 19th to the 20th century. In the 20th century, "women have shown less and only incremental progress in what they originally sought most - political involvement and leadership."(Packet, Section 11 page 256) It was social fear, what prevented women from acting ones they had the vote, so women had to work on archiving freedom in the one arena they had left behind, the social arena. During the 20th century, women began to reveal in the social area. They began to smoke in public, wore short skirts and make up, and liberated themselves sexually. In many cases their behavior was reprehended by women of the early feminist movement, however, this was the next logical step for women. In order to be actively involved in politics, and assumed leadership roles, women had to get rid of their fear to be labeled as outcast, not a small obstacle to overcome.

      In spite of this discontinuity, women were somewhat active in the political arena. For example, in the US, according to the Packet Section 11 page 256, in state legislatures, the number of women in 1989 was about 20% compare to an 8% in 1975. We have had women nominated for the position of Vice-President - Geraldine Ferrero in 1984, and even women that almost ran for president - Pat Schroder, congresswomen from Colorado, in 1988. Today, we have the first lady Hilary Clinton running for senate in New York, and may be even for president in the future.

      We can consider the social transformation going on in the 20th century, as the logical step after the political developments in the 19th century, but we can also link them to the social goals set by feminist in the 19th century. Feminism in the 19th century wanted to change the role of women in society, which means a change in the concept of a family, and how children were raised. Women no longer wanted to stay at home and raise the children, they wanted to go to work. In the 20th century, this goal was implemented with the creation of child daycare, so that mothers could work. For example in 1945 in the US, federal agencies provided funds for the establishment of some day care centers. During the 19th century women wanted to be able to decide their lives, whom to marry, what profession to choose, this implies a choice in when to have children, or if to have children at all. These goals were implemented ones again with the social transformation going on in the 20th century. With the sexual liberation of women, for the first time there was talk about birth control, and abortion. For the first time women would have a choice, in what happened with their bodies. An example of this is the case Roe V. Wade(1973), where a state's anti abortion law was declare unconstitutional.

      Opinions on whether feminism of the 20th century is understood as the logical continuation of the 19th century feminism varies, but for the most part we would have to say yes. In the case of education, and the work place there is no doubt, the flows of facts are uninterrupted from the 19th to the 20th century. There is some doubt when it comes to the political area, but the social transformation going on in the 20th century can be seen as the next logical step in the political arena, since it was social fear to be an outcast what was stopping women from pursing the political arena. In addition to this, these social transformations can be seen as extensions of the goals set in the 19th century. Childcare can be seen as an extension, of the desire of women to work, since to be able to work someone had to take care of the children. Abortion, and the use of birth control, can be seen as an extension of the desire of women to run their own lives from choosing whom to marry, to choosing whom to vote for. So in one way or another, the transformations that feminism invoked in the 20th century are part of the next logical step after the transformation achieved in the 19th century because at the end, the supreme goal of feminism has always been total equality, or should we say liberation, in all areas, political, sexual, economical, and social.

Word Cited:

Howard Spodek, "The World's History," vol 2. 1998

Roy Macridis and Mark Hulliung, "Contemporary Political Ideologies," 1996