Overall, the rights and status of women have improved considerably in the last century; however,

gender equality has recently been threatened within the last decade. Blatantly sexist laws and

practices are slowly being eliminated while social perceptions of "women's roles" continue to

stagnate and even degrade back to traditional ideals. It is these social perceptions that challenge the

evolution of women as equal on all levels. In this study, I will argue that subtle and blatant sexism

continues to exist throughout educational, economic, professional and legal arenas.

Women who carefully follow their expected roles may never recognize sexism as an oppressive

force in their life. I find many parallels between women's experiences in the nineties with Betty

Friedan's, in her essay: The Way We Were - 1949. She dealt with a society that expected women

to fulfill certain roles. Those roles completely disregarded the needs of educated and motivated

business women and scientific women. Actually, the subtle message that society gave was that the

educated woman was actually selfish and evil.

I remember in particular the searing effect on me, who once i

William Webster, declared that he saw no evidence of "terrorism." Only on 3 January 1985, in a

believe the decision was made in favor of women's rights mostly because the court made a

It is disturbing that the slow gains achieved by the women's movement are so volatile and

case as the basis for overturning Roe v. Wade." (See Endnote #5)

needed to stay home and help my mother with her kids. My brother needed college to support a

numbers, however. The fact that Mr. Johnson felt he was denied his civil rights because an equally

we see the same trends in legal action for the use of affirmative action plans as we saw in the

Specifically, 9 of the 10 Para-Professionals and 110 of the 145 Office and Clerical Workers were

dominated fields are never mediocre - they are extraordinary achievers." Her insight encapsulates

S. Ct. 3040 (1989)) case. "The Reagan Administration had urged the Supreme Court to use this

Some common words found in the essay are:
Alice Brooks, Roe Wade, Transportation Agency, Weekend Daddy, Gender Equality, Justice Blackmun, Wade Endnote, Betty Friedan, Dream Deferred, Betty Friedan's, civil rights, affirmative action, women's movement, roe wade, constitutional law essays, supreme court, male dominated, alice brooks, essays goldman, law essays, goldman page, law essays goldman, essays goldman page, civil rights movement, affirmative action plans,
Approximate Word count = 2294
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)