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Role of women in 1800s america
The history of gender inequality
Role of women in 1800s america
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Many women in the early 1900’s sought for change. Some rose to power and took leadership over many organizations that pushed for equality. Women’s battle for voting rights was specifically led by Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul. These women devoted most of their life to create a foundation which we live upon today. Women’s struggles lasted many decades until they finally achieved some equality under the 19th amendment.
The period of time from 1890 to 1925 was a revolutionary time for women in America. From the beginning of the United States the role of women was always ambiguous. Women were seen as necessary for the survival of the colonies but not equal to men in any way. However, over time the role of women has evolved. The era of 1890 to 1925 included the Gilded Age, Progressive Movement, and the first World War and these events changed the role of women in American forever.
Women throughout history were always undervalued by the men. They have always known where their place in society was. Also, women are known for always being at a disadvantage with the men; women have never gotten as many opportunities as men, even in today's world. They always were at a disparity against men. It wasn’t until recently when women were able to be educated.
Women's issues suddenly became so prominent in American culture because things were changing. People were forming new opinions and women saw an opportunity. In the 1800's transcendentalism came into the picture. Transcendentalism was an intellectual movement led by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau (Henretta, G-13). They believed that they needed to examine individuality and self reliance closely.
During the war there was multiple types of jobs for a women and roles that a women had to play. Women were soldiers, nurses, spies, abolitionist, promoters, etc anything that help benefit the war. Women is never really seen as a big part of history due to the fact that women was always get ran over by men and family members because of their gender and what they was seen for. There was some women out there who thought of their self as more to be and tried to do more than what they can. It was easy for a women to cover their self because there were often too many people in the war to be caught but if they were they will have to face consequences such as Women in the 1800's were just finding out their purpose in life and was just noticing that
During the late 1800s, women made it clear that they wanted their equal rights. Women had no power compared to what men had. If women started looking like they had power, it was said that they started to look more masculine. Women began to fight back and attempt to reform the government. In this political cartoon, the artist shows his view of life before and after women were able to vote.
While reading about American history the thing that I found most appealing was the limited rights that women had during this era. Although women gave the early settlers longer life expectancy and brought hope to their future, women still were not considered equal to a man. Women were discriminated against and didn’t play an important role in early American history. Generally, women had fewer legal rights and career opportunity than men because they were considered weak and not able to perform certain tasks. Different women came from different ethnic backgrounds and were all created equal in the eyes of men.
The life of Women in the late 1800s. Life for women in the 1800s began to change as they pushed for more rights and equality. Still, men were seen as better than women, this way of thinking pushed women to break out from the limitations imposed on their sex. In the early 1800s women had virtually no rights and ultimately were not seen as people but they rather seen as items of possession, it wasn’t until the late 1800s that women started to gain more rights. The Civil War actually opened opportunities for women to gain more rights, because with many of the men gone to war women were left with the responsibilities that men usually fulfilled during that time period.
The women were expected to create a happy home, guard the religion, and the morality of her family. The unmarried and married women who tried to seek work outside the home faced limited employment opportunities because of their gender. Women were expected to only focus on domestic duties and her role were limited to continue living in the man’s world. Women roles were expected to be in line with the culture and norms set by the society. The American culture perceived that women were not intellectually and emotionally stable to be involved in the complex world of work and, therefore, women did not take up leadership and political roles.
Lucky for the youngest generations alive today, they have grown and matured in an age of equality that was unimaginable a century ago. Though there is always progress to be made, it is undeniable the revolutionary social and political changes that have been made in American life since its beginning. While a woman nearly won the presidency in the previous presidential election, one hundred years ago, a woman could not even vote. But thanks to the brave women in the nineteenth and twentieth century, women are now allotted to not only vote for the president, but so much more that came after. Most people know women’s suffrage was a more recent event, but the work that led up to the amendment is anything
American Women in the Late 1800’s Were married American women in the late 1800’s expected to restrict their sphere of interest to the home and the family? In the late 1800’s women were second-class citizens. Women were expected to limit their interest to the home and family. Women were not encouraged to obtain a real education or pursue a professional career. After marriage, women did not have the right to own their own property, keep their own wages, or sign a contract.
During the 19th Century education was seen as a masculine job and women were only there to assist the men in teaching (Smedley, 2007), although through evolution, starting in the 1840’s, diverse careers and jobs became increasingly appealing to men, resulting in gender defined jobs being apparent in 20th century Britain, introducing sexism into society influencing gender-bias professions (Griffin, 2008). The government document green paper: Meeting the Childcare Challenge 1998 demonstrated that even back in 1998 the media and the government viewed childcare primarily a female profession although were still aware/conscious of the importance of males within childcare. Between 2011-2012 statistics show only 2% of men employed in early years
widespread until the mid-1800s. People regarded women as inferior as and less important than men. Such people believed a woman’s proper place was in the home. The law at that time reflected this opinion. For example, women were barred by law from voting in elections.
The Nineteenth Century, as known as the Victorian Age, “was an age where the impact of the industrial revolution caused a sharp differentiation between the gender roles, especially of the upper and middle classes” (Radek, 2001, para. 1). Males and females were thought to have separate societal duties based on gender differences. Male’s duty was to the public sphere and women’s duties were confined to the privacy of the home. During the nineteenth century, the advanced female status started to emerge through with the rise in female education and women’s rights. Kathryn Hughes’s article, Gender roles in the 19th century, introduces us to the fact that, in the past, gender roles were not so heavily revered upon.
In 19th century Europe, society was split into two parts: the private and public space. Men tended to reside in the public space, while women ruled the private. The two spaces were near opposites in what was acceptable in each, from objects, to activities, to topics of conversation. For the women who presided over private space, they would frequently stay in the parlor room.