"Cross-Dressers of the Civil War"

During the civil war over 600,000 men were killed, and even more were injured. the article “Cross-Dressers of the Civil war” by Veronica Majerol  is about the lives that weren’t counted. Throughout the Civil War many women dressed like men just to be in the army. There were many reasons for this, according to the article many women wanted love, freedom, or money. Back in the 1860’s, when the Civil War was going on, and long after that women didn’t get basic rights. Not only couldn’t women fight in the army, but they couldn’t vote, and were treated as “second-class citizens”. 

The reason women were once not allowed to fight in the army remains a mystery to me, one reason for that is “14 percent of women soldiers were promoted compared with 10 percent of men.” This shows what genuine hard workers women soldiers were. The article also discusses how “The army was no harder than the life they were already living,” Many women couldn’t make much money doing the jobs that they could actually get, when they were in the army they could earn more money. Now, women are allowed to be soldiers since the combat ban was lifted in 2013. It’s two years later and women fighting in combat is common, but unfortunately women have more battles for their rights to fight.

This article made me think about all of the right women have had to fight and how many more they need to. The author really makes you think about how lucky we are to have the rights we have today. Though women are looked at as equals now, we still aren’t treated like it. It’s hard for me to believe that there was once a time where women couldn’t vote, that makes it seem like a women’s voice isn’t as important as a mans. Luckily women have fought and earned the freedoms men were handed at birth.