Equality for Undocumented Immigrants Essay

The adult females laminitiss of sociological theory made it possible for adult females and members of other marginalized communities to derive entree to the rights and privileges their white male opposite numbers enjoyed for centuries. In peculiar. the unbelievable lives of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Ida B. Wells-Barnett allowed new avenues of academe and societal alteration that had non antecedently been imaginable. Although they used different attacks and their theories focused on different facets of the society in which they lived. a common yarn ties them together in the history of feminist minds: their passion for societal and economic alteration for adult females. Their parts laid the basis for the modern twenty-four hours struggles for civil rights. in peculiar the battle for just intervention and equality of undocumented immigrants.

Gilman and Wells-Barnett did non derive esteem for keeping the status-quo. which is precisely why it is of import to use their methods of research and analysis to the battle for the equality of undocumented immigrants. This paper focuses on the radical theories Gilman and Wells-Barnett are most known for. and discusses the possible deductions the application of these theories might hold when applied to undocumented immigrants. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on July 3. 1860 and died by self-destruction in August of 1935. Despite her unfortunate decease. the parts Gilman made to the feminist motion are still considered to be alone. so much so that has been judged “the most original and disputing head which the adult female motion produced” 1.

In her most celebrated work. Womans and Economics. Gilman separated herself from other women’s rightists of the clip by boldly saying that the built-in cause for sex-distinction and the inequality confronting adult females is the dependance on the hubby in the household unit for all money doing activities. Her bold and unapologetic prose highlighted the “sexuo-economic relationship” between married work forces and adult females. dating back to prehistoric times 2. Harmonizing to Gilman. adult females must trust entirely on their gender to achieve even their most basic demands.

Unlike work forces. who have eternal chances to derive their desires. immature adult females are left with merely their organic structures as a agency for stuff and societal well being. because “all that she may wish to hold. all that she may wish to make. must come through a individual channel and a individual pick. Wealth. power. societal differentiation. fame- non merely these. but place and felicity. repute. easiness and pleasance. her staff of life and butter-all. must come to her through a little gold ring” 3.

Woman’s dependance on work forces economically non merely hurts adult females financially. socially. mentally. and intellectually. This dependance of married adult females on their hubbies for virtually all facets of their well being besides has a negative consequence on the economic system. Gilman blames the “androcentric culture” for societies ailments. utilizing the term specifically to mention to the establishments and societal norms defined by the capitalist patriarchate work forces and adult females are taught to populate in get downing at a really immature age. This phenomenon. coupled with the inability for adult females to vie with work forces in society. is doing great rational waste every bit good as economic branchings. Until adult females could hold the same freedoms as work forces to prosecute economic independency. they would stay subjugated and forced to populate their lives without freedom and confined by societal norms perpetuated by the capitalist patriarchate of male domination.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett made her grade in feminist sociology non merely for her work in the field of sociology but besides as a societal militant who challenged the status-quo of American society. She used a alone blend of research and societal activism to dispute the racism she and her fellow African Americans faced every twenty-four hours in the United States. peculiarly in the South. Wells-Barnett gathered information from newspapers. diaries. and other media mercantile establishments to bring out the ways African Americans were represented in the media and the negative consequence this had on the lives of people of colour and the hapless across the state. For illustration. in her autobiography. Wells-Barnett describes one incident which resulted in a case against the Chesapeake. Ohio and Southwestern Railroad.

When she refused to go forth the “ladies” auto. two music directors had to physically take her. during which she bit one music director on the arm and refused to allow travel. She explains “”the white ladies and gentlemen in the auto even stood on the seats so that they could acquire a good position and continued claping the music director for his brave base. ”4Together with other theoreticians like Julia Cooper. Wells-Barnett developed a theory of domination that explained why white work forces of power continued to rule American establishments and perpetuate the rhythms of racism and poorness. Specifically. Wells-Barnett focused on the violent behaviours. such as lynching. that dominant members of society used when they felt their place of authorization was being threatened by person or some group they deemed subsidiary in society.

Historian Ula Taylor explains the many ways Barnett used these tools: “She challenged the myth that all White adult females were chaste. all Black adult females were without virtuousness. and all Black work forces were rapers by unleashing a monolithic international run against lynching. She documented the economic worlds of lynching victims. the possibility that a White adult female could be attracted to a Black adult male. and eventually the fact that Black adult females were violated and abused at dismaying rates. Barnett advocated self-help activities. but she besides fought against Jim Crow installations with economic boycotts and was non above armed resistance” .

The focal point of Wells-Barnett on the subordination of adult females was alone in that it looked at the job non merely through the lens of sex. but of race. category and geographic location. Undocumented in-migration. normally known as “illegal immigration” . is a hot button subject in American political relations today. In the last 10 old ages campaigners for political office. political parties and involvements groups have used this issue to derive support for their cause. ensuing in a het on-going argument that affects the estimated 20 million undocumented immigrants that live and work in the United States today.

What has become lost in the bulk of these treatments is the lessened quality of life these immigrants are forced to digest due to neglect societal policy of US lawgivers. every bit good as the many positive parts immigrants from all states have on the economic system and civilization of the United States. Advocates for undocumented immigrants are faced with similar challenges faced by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Both adult females fought for equality for those who did non hold equal position in society and in the establishments that make up American authorities. The application of their theories to the predicament of undocumented workers provides a alone lens in which to analyze these adult females and to prove whether their theories can still be successfully applied to contemporary issues.

The battle for the rights of undocumented immigrants in the United States today is being fought with many of the same tools used by Wells-Barnett during her battle for civil rights. These tools include economic boycotts. Marches. policy protagonism and media coverage that highlight the unfairnesss being endured by 1000000s of work forces. adult females and kids across the state. For illustration. in 2004 a docudrama entitled “Farmingville: POV” told the narrative of two slayings in the suburban town of Farmington. New York6.

Two undocumented workers from Mexico were viciously murdered by the custodies of white work forces because of their ethnicity and legal position. Harmonizing to Wells-Barnett. these barbarous slayings occurred because of the pathology of the white work forces. The force was a reaction to the dominant members of the society experiencing their position in their community was being threatened by those they considered beneath them. The similarities in legal position of African Americans during the life-time of Wells-Barnett and contemporary undocumented immigrants is strikingly similar.

Undocumented workers. like African Americans of that clip. hold different legal rights than their “American” opposite numbers. and lawfully they are non afforded the same rights and autonomies as those considered “legal” . As she did in her surveies of lynching of African-Americans. Wells-Barnett would besides look at media representation and cases of racism within the constabulary force and other jurisprudence enforcement bureaus as cogent evidence of her theory of domination.

For illustration. she could mention an article late published in Los Angeles. California in which Ernesto Cienfuegos boldly stated: “murderous monsters are today acquiring off with the hideous violent deaths of undocumented Mexican immigrants due in portion to uncaring and frequently racist USA jurisprudence enforcement bureaus. Anti-immigrant craze. one time the horizon of periphery vigilance man groups. has now afflicted some in the mainstream media and this has fanned the fires of anti-Mexican dogmatism throughout the state ensuing in a series of flagitious slayings of undocumented immigrants that have included adult females and children”7.

The linguistic communication in this article reflects the beliefs held by Wells-Barnett refering the colza. slaying and other ferociousness faced by African Americans before and during her life-time. The theories of Charlotte Perkins Gilman could besides be applied to undocumented immigrants in the United States. Specifically. her averments refering unspecialised labour in the work force. In “The Waste of Private Housekeeping” . Gilman explains her belief that because adult females are forced to be homemakers and hence can non prosecute their rational potency:

“Neither the labour of the overworked female parent. nor the labour of the ageless lowgrade learner. can of all time make high efficiency. This component of waste is built-in in domestic industry and can non be overcome. No particular preparation can be applied to every miss and bring forth good consequences in all ; no psychological gymnastic exercises can promote housekeeping when housekeeping. in economic position. is at the really underside of industrial evolution” .

Gilman argued that because adult females were kept to working inside the place they were non able to develop intellectually at the same degree or rate as work forces. Because undocumented workers face exile and other penalties because of their legal position. they besides are frequently forced to stay in occupations in the service industry and as amahs cleaning up and looking after the kids of other households. They depend on the companies that hire them and the households that pay them for their income. and hence have no pick but to work in distressing on the job conditions with rewards frequently lower than the federal lower limit pay. The statement can besides be made that many undocumented adult females are kept economically dependent on work forces because they are brought into the United States for usage in the sex industry. and frequently kept as slaves.

Without the necessary accomplishments. instruction. or legal position these adult females can non get away their awful state of affairs. and hence remain dependent on work forces for their basic demands in return for work around the house and sex. Without Gilman and Wells Barnett it is difficult to cognize what these adult females would believe about the predicament of undocumented immigrants. It is of import to take into history the different clip periods these adult females lived and worked in.

For illustration. Wells-Barnett focused on African Americans because they were lawfully enslaved by slaveowners for centuries in the United States. and there were Torahs in topographic point that protected these slaveowners from being held accountable for bring downing injury on any of their slaves. Undocumented immigrants. nevertheless. are afforded some basic rights that African Americans were non even after the abolition of bondage. which Wells-Barnett might be speedy to indicate out. While it can likely be proven that the media gives less attending to the slayings and force towards undocumented immigrants. the badness and societal stigma affecting lynching of African Americans in the South was surely much different.

Gilman’s theories are frequently criticized for their racialist and xenophobic undertones. as she believed America was the best state in the World and Americans were morally superior to citizens of all other countries9. Might she so condemn undocumented workers and handle them with the same racism she afforded African Americans? In decision. the work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Ida B. Wells-Barnett is anything but limited to sociological theory. Both their lives impacted adult females around the universe. and without their vision. mind and passion for societal alteration the position of adult females could non be where it is today.

The permanent feeling these adult females made on society is proven when their theories are applied to the predicament of undocumented immigrants in the United States today. These adult females are responsible for the tools marginalized members of society usage to derive entree to the freedoms we as Americans strive to accomplish. Although unfavorable judgments can and hold been made against the theories of both adult females. their positive parts to critical societal theory far outweigh the negative. Because of these women’s passion for societal justness and equality they excessively would fall in the battle for immigrant rights if they were alive today. I am honored to hold been able to analyze and analyse their plants and will transport the cognition gained from this experience for the remainder of my life.