The Evolution of Women in the United States Do you believe that women of this current generation have always received the same level of respect as they do today? Women today are treated exceptionally well compared to their 19th and 20th century counterparts, and even better than those in America's earliest years. In the past, women's freedoms and rights were limited; their individuality was stripped away and they were constantly forced to conform to the restrictive vision of a “traditional” America. In contrast, women in modern America enjoy a level of recognition and respect unexplored by American women of previous generations. Women have been unfairly judged in the past. Throughout American history, women have been viewed as an inferior sex, always doing something wrong. For example, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the main character, Hester, is exiled to the outskirts of her town with her daughter, Pearl. Residents of Hester's town mistakenly believed that Hester had had an affair while her husband was away; she was actually raped. This mid-17th century Boston society was automatically disgusted by Hester giving birth while her husband was away. They wrongly accused her of lack of loyalty when she was forcibly raped. The novel describes this situation by saying: "She would become the general symbol to which the preacher and the moralist could point, and in which they could vivify and embody their images of the frailty and sinful passion of woman" (Hawthorne 5.1). Men were unfairly seen as superior individuals and less pressure was placed on them. Women were seen as inherently sinful and therefore had a tarnished image because of it. They are in the middle of paper... rules of conduct which are synonymous with success for men. Today, a second wave of women is making their way into leadership positions, not by adopting the style and habits that men have proven successful, but by building on the skills and attitudes they have developed from their shared experience as women. Know that this gradual process of more and more women exercising their own freedoms has led to the independent women who lead America today. Throughout history, women have generally had fewer legal rights and career opportunities than men. Womanhood and motherhood were considered the most important professions for women. In the 20th century, however, women gained the right to vote and increased their educational and employment opportunities. Perhaps most importantly, they fought for and to a large extent accomplished a reassessment of traditional understandings of their role in society..