Abby Black
American Lit Honors
16 November 2012
Womens’
Rights and freedoms as Citizens
For
years, women have been degraded, misunderstood, and underestimated by men.women
have gone from being simply a maid for their husbands, to making up 57% of the
professional workforce contrasted to men. This workforce includes lawyers,
doctors, dentists, computer technicians, etc. Women make up more than half of
the people doing those jobs. My point, is having a law that says it’s legal for
a man to beat his wife, but only once a month, is immoral and unethical.
This
law is legal in Arkansas, and was set up to reduce domestic violence in the
household, however, it is still permittable for a man to beat his wife. What
does the government think this will accomplish? Sure, it may reduce the act of
domestic abuse, but will it act to terminally eliminate it? Most good citizens
look up to their lawmakers and set up their guide of life on the laws they have
to abide by. As a result of this, men think it’s okay to harm their wives
physically as long as they don’t exceed their limit on the number of times that
they perform these acts.
The
Equal rights Ammendment clearly states that equality of rights under the law
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account
of sex. With this being said, Arkansas’s government has no right to ignore the
constitution and set men above women, nor women above men in any way.
This
law can also result in more divorces, family problems, child abuse in the home,
and violence in the community between citizens. If a man has the right to beat
his wife, then he probably thinks it’s permitted to beat his children as well.
This causes more imbalance of the home and causes an unhappy living environment
for the child and not to mention, an unpromising future. In direct correlation,
If people have the right to abuse someone they usually end up abusing the right
and could even start getting physically aggressive towards their neighbors, and
that can cause tension and unhappiness in society.
With
the imbalance of power between the man and the woman, it would also cause more
divorces and unhappy marriages. Any type of abuse disrupts the union that two
people have together, and can also disrupt the unification in a community. The
Arkansas government should should have taken into account the well-being of the
community and people as a whole instead of just one group of people. In Thomas
Paine’s piece of literature, “The Crisis”, he mentions, “Tyrranny, like hell,
is not easily conquered; Yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder
the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” (Paine,160). We as the people
need to stand up against the government when needed! Such laws as these should
never be put into play, even if the government says so. We need to start
thinking more like responsible Americans
again instead of allowing such cruelty and hatred exist among our people.
Our
government is supposed to unite us all and make sure we work together as a
union. For example, John F. Kennedy says in his speech, “The Inaugural
Address”, “United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative
ventures. Divided, there is little we can do- for we dare not meet a powerful
challenge at odds and split asunder.” (Kennedy,197).
It’s
our duty as Americans to unite and stand by the constitution and our
forefathers. We need to stand up against this absurd law.
Now that you have read my essay, PLEASE comment, and leave your opinions on the following questions. Thank you. :)1. Is my thesis strong and clear?
2. Does the body of my paper support it well?
3. Is my paper concluded well?
4. What are my strengths and weaknesses as a writer?
5. Do you agree with my view or disagree? Why?
Work Cited:
http://www.equalitynow.org/english/index.html?gclid=CIT_2pDl9LMCFQyDnQodfBkAPg
http://www.aclu.org/womens-rights
http://www.hrw.org/topic/womens-rights
