Essay On Women In The 1800s

In the late 1800s, women were becoming increasingly involved in occupations formerly performed by men. By 1870, around 15 percent of women over the age of 16 were employed for wages. Many women began working at this age, with plans to quit their jobs and marry after about six years of work. Many worked at least ten hours a day, six days a week, earning up to 20 cents per hour (or around $450 per year). Some were forced to take in extra tenants, or boarders, to help pay rent. Women during the Gilded Age typically worked as secretaries, bookkeepers, typists, telephone operators, and nurses. However, some women further stretched cultural norms by becoming ministers, lawyers, and doctors. One of these women was Arabella Mansfield, who in 1869 became the first female lawyer in the United States. Josie Mansfield, on the other hand, never needed to enter the workforce. Instead of finding a job at 16, Josie married Frank Lawlor. It was only after her divorce with Lawlor two years later that Josie fell into a

With a desire to evolve past the cult of domesticity perpetuated in the first half of the century, they pushed the concept of a “new woman” whose capabilities and responsibilities more closely matched those of men. Women fought for the right to vote, lobbied for equal pay, and participated in various political and social movements. Groups like the National American Woman Suffrage Association worked for the enfranchisement of women under Susan B. Anthony, while the General Federations of Women’s Clubs and it’s150,000 members worked for reforms in child welfare, education, and sanitation. Women’s study clubs were formed across the country to educate women on history, literature, architecture, and women’s rights. All-female colleges liked Vassar, Barnard, and Bryn Mawr began to open and by 1900, women made up 40% of all college students in the United