Inequality Must End In Benjamin Franklin's The Speech Of Miss Polly Baker
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Inequality Must End
For as long as I could remember, the world has been at war in regards to gender.
The battle of sexes has been about men, having power over women, being considered stronger and more intelligent compared to women, but never about equality. It’s so sad how society has viewed men, it has been stretched to its limits. The very first example of inequality is the story of Adam and Eve. They were thrown out of the garden of Eden, because they had fallen victim to the devil’s tactics. Unfortunately, a minor detail gets overlooked, God gave women a harsher punishment compared to men. Specifically, the women were punished more severely by the pains of labor in baring a child. On the other hand, Adam wasn’t punished as severely as…show more content… Benjamin Franklin’s “Speech of Miss Polly Baker” is a prime example of how women were treated appose to men when it came to committing the same crimes. It displays an unjustifiable and prejudice court system, against women. In Benjamin Franklin’s story, “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker”, he takes on a female alias to show how women are treated back in those times and also it foreshadows his own life experience as he too has committed the same crime as Miss Polly Baker. In the case of Miss Polly Baker located in Connecticut, New England prosecuted Miss Polly Baker, for having a “Bastard Child” (Franklin 463). A “bastard child” is some one who does not have or know their father, and is made out of wedlock. Miss Polly Baker has 5 kids, all different fathers who are no longer around. She paid court fines twice, for having “bastard kids” out of wedlock. She hopes to avoid repeating the punishment by law, which is paying the hefty fines. So, she opens up the case, with her open argument. She states that she’s paid “heavy fines” and she’s been brought back multiple