The Wife of Bath's Tale: Equality for Women and Different Ethnicities

Equality has been a goal for hundreds of years and maybe today is the day to finally change it. Equality has been an issue throughout generations upon generations. Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and women have all been fighting the same battle. It was the fight for total equality. Throughout the hundreds of years, women were thought lesser than man and set apart from everyone else. The Canterbury Tale of The Wife of Bath shows how women were taken as less than man and can relate in struggles in society today. Within job positions to the amount of money they make women have been seen as less than men.

Throughout the years women have fought to get jobs that men were given at birth. Once they have achieved and they think the fight is over, they have to fight for equality within the job life. Back in the early Medieval England for reaping, a man could get eight pence a day. For the same task, women would get five pence. For hay making, men would earn six pence a day while women got four pence (Trueman). Women have been making significantly less than men for hundreds of years. It does not matter the strides women take they will always take two steps forward and one step back. This is not just women getting less then man but any “minority” receives almost half of what others would make. Full-time working women on average earn 82% of what their male peers earn in any occupation (Biddle). Within the workforce women have to work twice as hard as men to get just below them in pay and in ranking even if they are more skilled, they will still get less than a male employee. Since 1917, when Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman to serve in Congress, a total of 326 women have served as U.S. Representatives, Delegates, or Senators (The Women's Right's Movement, 1848-1920). The first women in congress struggled day after day to get her words heard and fight to be at the same level as men in her society. Her fight created a path for other women to do what they have dreamed and yet they are still thought to have less of a valid opinion when they have proved to be just as skilled or even better. Women receive more college and graduate degrees than men. Yet, on average, women continue to earn considerably less than men. In 2015, female full-time, year-round workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of twenty percent (McAtamney). The pay gap even if small it is still a gap for the exact same work done it is just by a different gender. If someone is just as skilled and equipped for a job why should they be payed less because of a gender or ethnicit. Within the workforce women not only have to fight for equal pay but also go through constant discrimination and harassment.

Women must deal with constant harassment and discrimination also getting few to no chances to show what they can do. Women saw increased participation rates in Officials and Managers, Professionals, Technicians, and Sales Workers from 1966 to 2013 (Randazzo). Harassment is a constant problem woman go through which started in the streets but now has moved to in ones place of work. Men think of themselves as higher than women and would do as they wanted and when they wanted “he saw a maiden walking all forlorn ahead of him, alone as she was born. And of that maiden, spite of all she said, by very force he took her maidenhood,” (Chaucer). Women have to fight for every chance they get and even if given it is because the men don’t want to do it “Implored the king to exercise his grace so ceaselessly, he gave the queen the case and granted her his life, and she could choose whether to show him mercy or refuse,” (Chaucer). When given the chance it is out of pity and this is their only chance to show what they can do. As the first woman to succeed her husband in Congress, widow Mae Ella Nolan set a precedent by championing the legislative agenda of her late husband, John I. Nolan. Representative Mae Nolan complained that she was regularly misquoted and misrepresented (The Women's Right's Movement, 1848-1920). This shows how even women in some of the highest positions of employment still have to struggle for their standing. A woman should be able to work the job she wants to work and never have to deal with what is said by her colleges. With all the struggles women have faced throughout the years they are still trying and will never stop.

Equality is something we have been fighting for world-wide for hundreds of years. It should be something that comes naturally but instead many have to fight for a quarter of what other people get naturally. How is it fair for someone to have the same skills and achievements as the next person but not get the same benefits because they could be a different ethnicity or a different gender. The Canterbury Tale of The Wife of Bath can show how women were struggling even in Medieval England. Anyone can make the change the effort must be put in just need to take it one day at a time.

Work Citied Page

1. Biddle, Tabby. 'Breath Of Fresh Air To Equal Rights Movement.' Huff Post (August 23, 2017)
2. McAtamney, H. (2015). “What Is Feminism?” Huff Post
3. Randazzo, Chani. 'What is feminism?' Women Against Feminism (September 12, 2017) “The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848-1920.” History, Art, and Archives House of Representatives (2012)
4. Trueman, C.N. 'Medieval Women' historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 5 Mar 2015
5. “Wife of Bath Tale.” The Wife of Bath's Tale Text-Pdf, pp. 154–170., www.b-g.k12.ky.us/userfiles/1049/The-Wife-of-Bath-s-Tale%20text.pdf.