The Changing Status of Women Women have played a huge role in society. Many people respect women for the simple fact that they bring life to every human being put on earth, and without them, none of us would be here today. Although many people respect women, women believe they have been treated unfairly in the past. I believe that women have been treated unfairly, but I also believe that women today have better opportunities than in the past and that women today are closer to equality than ever before. Writings by Simone de Beauvoir, Karen Horney and Margaret Mead document that, in the past, women have been oppressed or repressed in many ways. For example, they could not vote until 1920. Women could not hold high positions in the workplace and were not paid the same amount of money for the same jobs. Women were not allowed to have a say in financial or political matters of the family and the economy. Women have been treated unfairly in part because they were raised to believe that they should be the ones to stay at home, do the housework, and take care of the children. Since ancient times in most cultures it has been traditional for the man to be responsible for a family's home, and it has been traditional for the woman to obey the man. Therefore, if a woman was told to clean the house, take care of the children, and put dinner on the table, she was expected to do so without objection. Today less importance is given to women as the only domestic worker. She often works outside the home and, in any case, there is cultural pressure, at least in the United States, for women to completely resist the traditional role and demand a more balanced distribution. ......cultural change that is changing this story. It may be that they move too slowly in everyday life, but when today's woman and her rights, functions, activities and values ​​are compared with those presented in the writings, significant differences are noted. I believe that women are becoming more equal to men every day. Works Cited Beauvoir, Simone de. "From the second sex." A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. 5th ed. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston, Massachusetts: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998. 173-185. Horney, Karen. "Mistrust between the sexes". A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. 5th ed. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston, Massachusetts: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998. 337-351.Mead, Margaret. "Women, sex and sin". A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. 5th ed. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston, Massachusetts: Bedford/St. Martin, 1998. 529-541.