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Ryan Martin Period 3 Honors American March 11, 2012 Obama Plans Big Effort to Build Support Among Women Summary  This year President Obama is trying to campaign for the 2012 presidency. He is targeting the women because they are about 50% of the vote. The 2010 healthcare bill he passed is what he is using to strengthen his campaign. He has tried to get the women’s vote by saying that the first bill he signed in office was to give women equal pay for the same work day as a man. He also has added aide to women in Texas so they get help with early parenthood. Republican-led legislature cut funding saying that it paid for abortions. President Obama went up in the polls from January to mid-February. Relevance Women have always been treated less than men in some aspects. That has been changing over the years as they have fought for equality. This includes voting, job opportunities, and equal pay. Women started out as the person in the family who would stay at home and care for the children. This, however, started to change in the mid-1800s. Women took job opportunities when men went off to war. Also women started going out to the work place but jobs were limited, and they worked in factories with harsh treatment. A big change happened after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory incident. The women in this factory were trapped inside when a fire started and were burned to death; in total 146 women died ( Triangle Shirtwaist). This incident helped women band together to make the conditions change. Working conditions for women did change and continue to change and today are the same as men, if not better in some cases. This also sparked interest in women to make changes to other things. For example, the right to vote was next and in 1913, two years after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory incident, they got the right to vote (Women's suffrage). This was when women had the first real political stance ever. From then on, presidents had to appeal to the women and the men. Now the presidential candidates are focusing on the women’s vote a lot because it is a large part of the population. Today, women want equality with men regarding pay, equal job opportunities, and military treatment. The pay for women has never been equal and until about 1982 was about $0.60 to every dollar that a man made. In 2010, women made about $0.77 to every dollar that a man made ( Women's Earnings). President Obama has been working on getting women equal pay throughout the United States (U.S.) and has made some progress. This is a point that presidential candidates are trying to use to get the women audience to vote for him. Presidential candidates are also working on getting women the right to be in the infantry of the military. However, not all women want this to be passed because there are pros and cons to it. The military has some positions that women cannot hold because it is too risky and they do not have the strength that most men have to carry out missions. Additionally, men want to protect the women and may risk a mission to save them from the enemy because it is their natural instinct. Most positions in the combat area are closed to women because of these reasons ( Combat Jobs & MOS). This is a big point that the presidential candidates have to take into account when talking to the women they are trying to convince.

Evaluation Women have played a huge role in the history of America and are going to keep influencing it. Their right to vote was just the beginning of equality for women. They will continue to gain equality and will someday be equal to men. Women populate this country, and they are taking positions in almost every workplace. They have expanded from not only working in the house, but working beside or over men. Unlike the 1900’s when women just worked in factors with clothes now they work in all different types of job politicians, judges, And big time bosses just to name a few. Women play a bigger role in politics today than ever before. Currently, polls are taken to just show how women think about presidential candidates, because they are such a big part of the voters today. President Obama has started Women for Obama which is a group of women who will help campaign for him. They will help him reach the women’s vote. Polls now say that his approval ratings have gone up, and he is now at 53% of women approval ( Kennedy).

Questions How can women become more equal in society today? Should women have roles in combat on the front line? Should women be paid as much as men for doing the same job? Should women keep their job and get paid while off for maternity reasons? Should candidates suck up to the women population?

CALMES, JACKIE. "Obama Plans Big Effort to Build Support Among Women - NYTimes.com." //The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia//., 10 Mar. 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. . "Combat Jobs & MOS | GoArmy.com." //Go Army Homepage | GoArmy.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. . Kennedy, Lesley. "Poll: Obama’s Approval Rating Growing Among Women | Health, Beauty, Fashion, Love, Careers and more - MORE Magazine." //Health, Beauty, Fashion, Love, Careers and more - MORE Magazine//. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.more.com/obama-women-approval-rating>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">"Triangle Shirtwaist Factory: Information from Answers.com." //Answers.com: Wiki Q&A combined with free online dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedias//. 22 June 2004. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.answers.com/topic/triangle-shirtwaist-factory>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">"Women's Earnings as a Percentage of Men's, 1951–2010 — Infoplease.com." //Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. — Infoplease.com//. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0193820.html>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">"Women's suffrage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">P.S. the fonts and format didn't convert right on my computer for word, I don't know why.