The women were tired of having to stay in the “domestic sphere” as shown at an address to graduates at the Young Ladies’ Academy of Philadelphia by Priscilla Mason where she states, “The Church, the Bar, the Senate are shut against us. Who shut them? Man; despotic man, first made us incapable of duty, and then forbid us the exercise. Let us by suitable education, qualify ourselves for these high departments.” The women knew the disadvantage the men gave them by not allowing them to be in positions of power and barely educating them.
She shows not only women’s roles in family and economy, but also the view on marriage. After Martin left, Bertrande wasn’t aloud to even consider divorce or remarrying, despite their unfruitful marriage and his absence. Rather than having to enter a relationship with the real Martin, Bertrande was able to make an independent choice about whether to enter into a relationship with Arnaud du Tilh. The new relationship allowed her to break free of the specific constrictions that had been imposed upon her by asset of her gender and class. Studying the circumstances from this point makes her choice to harbor a fraudulent husband seem not so absurd, because of the patriarchal society that deprived women of the ability to make choices concerning their relationships.
For the 19th century America, the two sexes were to be separated into distinct spheres, the man’s public sphere and the woman’s private one. It was most common for the two sexes to spend their time mostly in the company of their own sex, and advices were given to the younger members of the society on the proper way of behaving according to one’s sex. Even though both sexes had to be instructed on how to perform in each other’s company, it was the shaping of a woman that needed to undergo through a series of instructions on the proper way to be a woman. A woman had to follow the rules of the Cult of True Womanhood to be considered proper and wife material. Fanny Fern in her writing appeals on and discusses the attributes of piety, purity, submissiveness,
Women began to question if their sex makes them worse at completing tasks than men and advocated that the majority of women were to be educated on how to read so they may deliver a more graceful delivery (Doc.7 Molly Wallace). With this women were given a chance to discuss with one another their thoughts and ideals, leading them to believe that the education of women such as teaching them how to read would benefit the American society. This is similar to the idea of Republican motherhood, revolving around the concept of educating women as it was said to be beneficial since they were able to educate not only themselves but their sons and daughters on patriotic ideals so they can grow up to support their country. French General Marquis de Lafayette in 1780 sent a letter to the Philadelphia Ladies’ Association so she could be accepted into the association. (Doc.6).
In 1847 Eliza Stacey, a frontier farmer’s wife, writes a letter to her father-in-law Edward Stacey for financial aid after her husband George had been arrested and taken to jail. Her family was deep into debt and needed help. As she was nearing the end of her pregnancy, she was swamped with stress and work. This letter attempts to persuade her father-in-law to help her family once more by stressing the time and urgency of the situation, establishing how he is the only who can help them, and taking off blame from themselves. Stacey tries to procure her father-in-law’s sympathy for her dire situation by stressing the time and urgency of it.
"The truth is, women may not vote, they may not love whom they want, they may not develop their minds and their spirits, they may not commit their lives to the spiritual adventure of life, comrades they may not! And why? Is our genius only in our wombs? Can we not write books and create learned scholarship and perform music and provide philosophical models for the betterment of mankind? Must our fate always be physical?"
However, with the coming and the completion of the American Revolution, women’s status did change slightly. In fact, women’s position improved the greatest of the aforementioned groups. Nevertheless, women were treated inferior before the Revolution was common. Part of this could be that women lacked an education similar to men’s.
In doing so, examine the feminist lens’s interpretation of the text. How are gender roles defined? Where to women fit into the text’s plot line. What do you notice about the women in this text? Is this congruent (similar) to society’s view of women, by today’s standards?
In the words of Abigail Adams herself, ”If we mean to have Heroes, Statesmen, and Philosophers, we should have learned women. The world perhaps would laugh at me, and accuse me of vanity, but you I know have a mind too enlarged and liberal to disregard the sentiment. If much depends is allowed upon the early education of youth.” (Abigail Adams) This quotes comes from one of Abigail's many letters.
One might think that men had the greatest role in the Revolution, but women had an equal role in making the Revolution
Fanny demonstrates the obsession of sex and pleasure in the society. She chooses to have multiple partners because of her own personal pleasure. She uses no reasoning nor morality and instead focuses on her own self-interest. Furthermore, she and the rest of society perceives multiple partners as a requirement of the citizens as shown by: “you ought to be…promiscuous” (43). Fanny demonstrates the foundation of society on sex and pleasure.
Educating women was the primary focus for many modern feminists, explaining that if women were educated the opportunities
One of the many characteristic features of the Victorian culture was its patriarchal ideas about women. This culture looked upon sexual activity as a negative matter amongst women. The theme of sexuality is very significant
A woman during the Enlightenment period was not accepted in pure academics, but they could find education from somewhere else, and they could have risks for searching for education. A woman during the Enlightenment period was not accepted in pure academics. A woman was not accepted in academics mainly because men believed woman were ignorant and would not be capable of understanding what man learn. Men at this time believed that women should only attend classes on how to become a perfect housewife to their husbands. The first image of this is seen when Madame du Chatelet was excluded from the Royal Academy of Sciences.
They both believed that women had a very distinct role in society which was to be cheerful and follow and respect their partners. They also believed that they had little to no role in society or education and should only focus on being a good housewife, because of their inferiority to men. These ideas are continuous in the time period of the Protestant reformation through the Enlightenment because many of these ideas have been voiced by enlightenment thinkers. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant are two of the enlightenment thinkers who continued to express the ideas that women were inferior to men. Rousseau and Kant both believed that men and women
