To say that woman have been “written out” of sociology’s history means that they were acknowledged by their peers at the time but their accomplishments seemed to be erased from record. I believe this is due to the fact that although their findings were just as intellectual as the men’s, they were still not entirely accepted by society due to gender, class, and race. The founding women sociologists all concentrated, understandably, on women’s studies; the effects women had on society in many different aspects of life. I believe that this was instrumental in the study of sociology considering that women, just as importantly as men, play such an vital role. I believe that it is extremely important that we recognize the contributions of sociology’s women founders because it is a large part of the history of sociology. Also these women studied significant issues which are just as valuable as the men’s studies and should not go unnoticed. Lastly, I would like to point out that the fact that these women were “written out” of sociology’s history shows that during those times there was such an enormous bias against women, that in itself is something that needs to be recognized when studying sociology today.

          To say that women have been “written out” of sociology’s history means that they may have once been seen as a presence in the sociology community but have since been erased from its record.  This “writing out” was due in part to the issue of social inequality in their time.  As the birth of sociology was developing, women were dealing with the issues of gender injustice, and therefore fell victim to the filtering of much of their work out of sociological record keeping. 

            Many of the early women in sociology shared common ground in Chicago (apart from Harriet Martineau who was a full generation before the other women, and Anna Julia Cooper who didn’t frequent the Chicago area).  They knew each other and each other’s work.  They were all well-known public figures in their lifetime but receive little credit today for their work.  They all aimed to correct social inequality and they shared common beliefs and work toward civil rights (especially among woman and African Americans).  Many helped found or were major contributors to important organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Consumer’s League, the Children’s Bureau, and the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, among others.  All of the women were frequent contributors of sociological research and teachings in books, journals (such as the American Journal of Sociology), universities, and lectures.

            It is important to recognize the contributions of sociology’s women founders today, because sociology was as much the women’s undertaking as the men’s.  Women’s rights have come a long way from these women’s era to the role women play in today’s society.  Although not completely equal to men in the working world, woman can now play significant roles in politics, law, and medicine, and we find more and more women today reaching the top of the corporate ladder.

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The fact that women have been “written out” of sociology’s history is directly connected to the world’s history as a whole. For centuries women had been treated as slaves. They had no civil rights. In the USA they even couldn’t vote till 1919! Why such a social  inequality? Why did men let themselves to act in such a “mannish” way? Men felt their supremacy against women. Lucretia Mott, who was an active figure in the nineteenth-century reform movements, wrote in her speech (“Why should not woman seek to be a reformer? “) that “while man assumed that the situation they had was the original state designed for woman, that the existing “differences were  not arbitrary nor the result of accident,” but grounded in nature; she would not make the necessary effort to obtain her just rights, lest it should subject her to kind of scorn and contemptuous manner in which she had been spoken of”. And she was right, a woman was the mere plaything or the toy of society, content with her outward adorning. I think it concerns the sociology history as well. All those women working in this domain were very smart and talented, well-known public figures. They interpreted works of Marx, Engels, Durkheim, Max Weber. They made scientific researches focusing on such issues as gender, class, race, ethnicity, age. They also took up economic and political problems. They all published their works, translated works of outstanding sociologists. They had different point of view, they looked at things differently than men did and they succeeded in it. But you won’t still find a lot of proofs that they really made a great contribution to the sociology as we know it today. It’s important to know first of all to a woman and then to the whole society that she had been created not just to be the shadow of her husband but someone who can improve and change the world and whose voice will be heard.

In today�s society, men and women are being compared with similar equality. There is still somewhat of a gap between them, but it�s come a long way. Reading about Women and the Birth of Sociology has opened my eyes to how professional women are not remembered, as they should be, in history.

Being �written out� of history means being erased from record. This happened in the case of our historical women of Sociology. Why did this happen? In the 1800�s it was predominantly a �man�s world.� Men have taken most of the credit for the findings of Sociology. These women were part of professional associations, discovered theory, and were strong activists in what they believed in.

����������� Sociology�s women founders had many of the same ideas on different issues. They�ve felt similar in regards to the inequality of gender, race, social status, etc. Many of them wrote books explaining different theories and some were members of the National Sociological Association.

����������� It is important, today, to recognize the contributions of sociology�s women founders.�It not only gives them the credit they deserve, but it also gives our women of today the encouragement to be successful. Those women worked just as hard as the men of that time. They worked right along side many of the men and made the same accomplishments.

In conclusion, our women in history of sociology need to be recognized for their great accomplishments. They’ve worked hard for what they’ve done and deserve for us to know about them. I can only imagine how hard it was to be accepted in that time. I’m hopeful that our women today can be just as successful and receive recognition for their achievments.

When it is said that women have been “written out” of sociology’s history it means that women were simply not allowed or weren’t accepted in Sociology’s History.  There were many women that have had many same ideas and findings as other male Sociologist, but were not good enough at the time, or didn’t mean anything.  They were looked at as inferiors.  Many did work with the founders of Sociology and still were omitted.  This happened because women from the beginning of history have never been accepted as equals to men.

Many of these women sociology founders had issues or ideas in common. Most of them focusing on gender, class, race, ethnicity, age, and more.   They found a balance between research and theory and made many valid points of racism, feminism, and more through many published works.    Also many of these founders were involved in the sociological community.  Such as Addams, a member of the ASA and founded the Hull House.

The importance today of recognizing the contributions of sociology’s women founders is that these women have had many of the same ideas and published great works as the male founders.  Also I think it would be good to see these women’s views on the issues that they have researched in the past.  This mostly because in Sociology, the science of human social behavior, we look to see how society influences people.  How are we supposed to do this only from a man’s point of view? It is simply not possible.