![\"sba\"](\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/womenushist\/files\/2016\/04\/sba.jpg\")
<\/a>In the month of March, our nation celebrates Women\u2019s History Month and organizations throughout the country bring together lectures, events, and exhibits to honor the achievements of Women from the past. In Philadelphia, there were many different events being held throughout the city to celebrate Women\u2019s History Month. The event I chose to attend was held at the National Constitution Center. I thought it would be interesting to view their advertised exhibit about Women\u2019s roles in the Constitution. I went with pretty high expectations, as I thought a place as well known as the National Constitution Center would have a great Women\u2019s exhibit, but unfortunately, my enthusiasm for this event went from high to low very quickly.<\/p>\nGoing into the Constitution Center main exhibit, I expected to see at least a section of the room that was very clearly dedicated to women\u2019s history month, something that would stand out amongst everything else, to celebrate women\u2019s achievements in history. I was disappointed when I found out that this \u201cexhibit\u201d, which was really just a few small pieces of women\u2019s history, were scattered throughout the main exhibit and I really had to search for them. They did not stand out as I had hoped. There were only four aspects of Women\u2019s history that were on display. These included the following: some information about a few women in their virtual touch screen \u201cAmerican National Tree\u201d, a letter by Susan B. Anthony and a few items from the women\u2019s suffrage movement, Sandra Day O\u2019Connor\u2019s Supreme Court robe and an equal rights amendment button from the 1970s. Although I did find these items interesting, I wanted so much more. I understand that the Constitution Center was presenting women\u2019s events that were relevant to the Constitution, but I still expected a more elaborate exhibit at least for this celebratory month.<\/p>\n
The Nineteenth Amendment and women\u2019s suffrage were the two most prominent aspects of women\u2019s history that the exhibit focused on, but this focus was very broad and it left out some other very important changes that came along with suffrage and voting.\u00a0 \u00a0In Reva B. Siegel\u2019s article \u201cShe the People: The Nineteenth Amendment, Sex Equality, Federalism, and the Family,\u201d she mentions that the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment not only gained women the right to vote, but that \u201cin the immediate aftermath of ratification, both the Supreme Court and Congress understood the Nineteenth Amendment to redefine citizenship for women in ways that broke with the marital status traditions of the common law\u201d (1018). This right went against everything that a \u201ctrue woman\u201d should be, and now America\u2019s \u201cnew woman\u201d, with her extravagant hats and comfortable pants, was able to participate in the voting process, one of the most important parts of American society, without the need of man. These are among many of the very important changes that women went through in the process of gaining the right to vote, and sadly, they are not really mentioned in the exhibit.<\/p>\n
The Constitution Center offers other Women\u2019s History Month events, including a lecture and an interactive show that have gotten great reviews and I am sure they are wonderful, but I chose to go to the general exhibit and to do the \u201cWomen\u2019s History Self-Guided Tour\u201d because I wanted to see how or if they changed the main exhibit to integrate some kind of special tribute to women\u2019s history. What I found did not feel special, and I walked away from this experience thinking about how much women\u2019s history is really available to the public. The information that is available to the general public about the history of women is so selective and I feel that if I hadn\u2019t learned so much about women\u2019s history in college, I would never have the knowledge that I do now, without having to do my own research. The most pleasing aspect of my trip was the area of the gift shop that had an entire revolving rack of children\u2019s books dedicated to women, which I found very amusing and totally unexpected due to the limited amount of information on women in the exhibit. There were several coloring books dedicated to famous American women and the first ladies. There was also a paper doll book called \u201cFashions of the First Ladies Paper Dolls\u201d. These coloring books are just about the only kind of women\u2019s souvenir you could buy, besides a few Betsy Ross items and although they were coloring books which were very clearly made for little girls, they made me feel a little bit more hopeful, and a little bit jealous that I never had one growing up.<\/p>\n
Works Cited<\/u><\/p>\n
Siegel, Reva B. \u201cShe the People: The Nineteenth Amendment, Sex Equality, Federalism, and the Family\u201d. Harvard Law Review<\/em> 115.4 (2002): 947\u20131046. JSTOR. Web.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Beyond Suffrage and the Right to Vote In the month of March, our nation celebrates Women\u2019s History Month and organizations throughout the country bring together lectures, events, and exhibits to honor the achievements of Women from the past. In Philadelphia, … Continue reading