Zining Chen Rhet 105 D4 Prof. Mary 9. 11. 2015
The Marching Towards Equality
The word equality can have multiple meanings. It can be equality between human and other creatures; it can be equality between races; it can also be equality between genders.
Equality is a word we spend centuries to pursue. Fortunately, the efforts do pay back. Though equality is not yet a concrete word in many people’s minds, it is on its way.
After matrilineal society, social status of women has been taken over by men. Men are considered more powerful and capable than women. Thus, more and more positions and opportunities are male only, even the public institutions like state universities. Before 1870, Illinois Industrial University, the state school, was a manonly university. Residents of a state includes not only male but also female. In this case, each individual, regardless their gender, has chance receiving education in public schools. In the flyer that was written by Professor Don Carlos Taft in 1870, its thesis is mentioned in the first sentence: “In obedience to what was believed to be the public will, the Trustees, three years ago opened this University to female students.” From this, it is obvious that the warrant of Professor Taft is equality of genders.
Following the thesis is the supporting data, “In 1870, the Board of Trustees voted 5 to 4 to admit women to the university.” From the significant vote, women obtained the opportunity to attend Illinois Industrial university. Although there were only ninety young ladies in attendance at that time, the number of female students had been increasing ever since. By accepting female
students, Illinois Industrial University took the first step towards equality. Besides, the fact that no qualifier, backing, or rebuttal is in this flyer demonstrates certainty of author. Because
Professor believes equality of genders should be a common sense that no individual would argue about.
Pursuing equality is a journey along river of no return. Once it started, it has to be pushed to a further place. When basic requirements were met, quality came to the top of the list.
Residents now cannot be satisfied with simply admit female in university, they want the
university to treat female well so they can success. Thus, more and more special departments and groups were established to meet female students’ needs. “Illini Wish: A Handbook for Freshman Women 19591960” from University of Illinois was a handbook with thesis of caring female students. The advice it contains in study, social, and daily life indicates that it shares the same warrant with Professor Taft. Also, the advice shows the care of female students and becomes the support for the warrant of authors. For studying, it has sections like “About Classes”; “Do You Know How to Study?”; “Good Study Habits Equal Good Grades”. For socializing, it has tips on dating, like “though weekend dates are usually made a few days in advance, impromptu coke dates and blind dates can be lots of fun”. For daily life, it has suggestions of extracurricular activities like “musical organizations, The University Theatre, The Freshman Council, Women’s Sports and Dance Council.” These are all convincing evidence indicating that female students had been paying attention to. Although the sources for female students had not be formed into an integrated system, they demonstrated a sentence in the flyer wrote by Professor Don Carlos in 1873, “now nothing seems lacking to give young ladies the full advantages of this State University.” From the tips by counseling group, it was lucid that universities accept female
students not only because of the public voice, but also because of the strong wish of each individual’s success. Almost all the advises given were based on the benefit of female students.
From this booklet, we can see the prototype of equality between genders. The time frame of ninety years do reflect on the progress of pursuing equality.
Although ninety years have shaped the word equality better, it was not as good as it is today. Back in 1959 and 1960, female students still had many rules to obey. For example,
“Undergraduate women may visit a fraternity or men’s house only during specified hours when an approved chaperone is present, and only during or in connection with specially registered events.” The word “may” in the sentence is a qualifier which limits the thesis. In University of Illinois today, dormitories are mostly mixgendered. It is not breaking news if there is a girls room right next to a boys room. Visiting a boy’s room now does not need to be approved. Also, there is no time restrictions. Students simply knock on the door, walk in the room, and be the guest. But in 1959, compares to the situation now, although this rule would protect female students, it limited freedom they had. Besides, there was another rule stated: “A freshman
woman planning to leave town on an extended daytime or overnight trip, other than to her home, must file with her House Director a letter of permission from her parents or guardian for each trip.” In boarding high schools or below that, students are usually required to get permissions from teachers in order to get out of school. However, as students who go to university, they are believed to be smart, independent and responsible. In this case, this rule seems to give female students the most protection but it is more likely to imprison them. Today, both male and female students can go anywhere they want to at anytime without obtaining permission from anyone.
They can go to the archive center for research projects during the day; they can go to cities
around the university town for weekends; they can also go to party until three in the morning.
The freedom of managing students’ own time and activities can also become a way to measure equality. The rules in the 19591960 handbook are rebuttals that obstruct equality of genders. In this case, after fifty five years from 1960 to 2015, we can confidently say that we are now able to shape a better picture of the word equality in our minds.
With the belief of equality composes civilization, we spent centuries pursuing equality. In 1822, Englishman Richard Martin first came up with the idea of protecting cattle and promote the first animal protection act named Martin’s Anti Cruelty Act. From 1955 to 1968, there was AfricanAmerican Civil Rights Movements. Including the Civil War and the famous Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. In the 1960s, there was movement called “feminism”
or “women's liberation.” It was a movement that fought for equal social and domestic status as men. Equality is the word that we look up to all the time. In spite of the various species, the diverse races and the different genders, we are all creatures that share the same mother earth.
While living together, we all contribute something to the community. In this case, nobody should be valued less.
The successes in the movements do not mean a hundred percent of equality, but it roused public awareness and attracted more attentions on those issues. Like the status of female students that has been discussed in the previous paragraphs, although using concrete to describe equality is still shaky, we cannot deny the efforts made during the marching toward equality have make the word more easy to picture. With continually endeavor, one day the word equality can substitute the word discrimination and at that time, utopia can exist.
Work Cited
Taft, D.C. “Young Ladies at the Illinois Industrial University”. Illinois Industrial University. Champaign. 1873.
Student Committee of Freshman Advisor, “Illini Wish”. University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign. 19591960.
