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Women and gender equality in the 19th century
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Recommended: Women and gender equality in the 19th century
During the nineteenth century, women were forced to marry young, have children, and take care of the household while their husbands worked and supported the family financially. The women represented the values of piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity. This concept, known as the ideology of true womanhood, was transformed the moment the Birth Control Pill became invented. Women began focusing on their strengths and skills that were not necessarily within the household anymore. Many wanted to get occupations and start a career of their own without having to worry about getting pregnant.
A Woman’s Journey Through Misogyny In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the stereotypical roles of women were to tend to the house and to their children. They had little to no freedoms, and their husbands controlled practically every aspect of their lives. These stereotypes created a patriarchal society where men were superior to women. This was the social standard of the time period, but this would not be the case for long.
Children's Literature is everlastingly framed by variable ideologies; this represented the standards and values of a didactic society in the nineteenth century, which was controlled transcendently by the church. Enforcing religious perspectives on the idealistic family life, gender roles were compulsory in respectability, and a woman's place was inside the home. The nineteenth century was an extremely confusing time, with its firm Victorian qualities, class limits, industrialism and expansionism. It was the time when society was a male dominated society in which women were controlled by the male figures in the society.
Nineteenth century America was a time when women were expected to follow the cult of domesticity, a widely accepted opinion at the time. While fathers, brothers, sons, husbands and other male loved ones went off to fight in the American Civil War, women were left behind to take care of the remaining members of the family. “It was in the home that woman’s influence was paramount and her position assured.” For some women, this was enough, however, there were others who were not satisfied with this idea, and felt as though they were meant to become something more. However, there were some opportunities for women to step outside of the social customs and gender roles of the time.
The Unnamed Woman Up until the 1900’s woman had few rights, thus they relied heavily on men. Women could not vote, they could not own their own property, and very few worked. Women’s jobs were solely to care for children and take care of the home. Women during this time, typically accepted their roles in society and the economy ( “Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1909”).
The ‘New Woman’ was an ideal that sought a woman’s individual control over the outcome of her life, whether that was in personal, social, or economic realms. This is contrasted greatly with the Victorian ideal of a woman. Before the turn of the twentieth century, women were viewed as a man’s property and were expected to be angelic, weak, and subservient beings. Though America did not follow all of Britain’s social movements, many in the higher classes tried to achieve the ideal of being a Victorian ‘lady.’ The ‘New Woman’ movement went hand in hand with the suffragists’
Women, like all humans, are dynamic beings. They change overtime just like any other species and with that comes change on a larger scale. This includes society’s adjustment to their advancements and evolutions. Women no longer only tend to homes or fields or just carry water jugs on their heads with baby’s strapped to their chest. This was true even in the nineteenth century.
In order to obtain this, women are educated to be submissive, “to make complete abnegation of themselves, and to have no life but in their affections” (Mill 1108). Women are brought up to believe that they can never be independent individuals and their whole life revolves around their husband and children. Mill touches another important point in Victorian society: education. During the Nineteenth Century, England has significantly improved its system of education, because of the necessity of educating the growing middle class.
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.
Women wanted to have the same right rights, laws and to be treated as the other sex. Early in the period, matters such as politics was of small concern for the Victorian woman since she was disallowed to own either property nor money. She was always supported by her family and husband. In some cases, she had to go to her husband’s family for support. When a woman successfully divorced her husband, she was forbidden to see her children.
During the 1890’s until today, the roles of women and their rights have severely changed. They have been inferior, submissive, and trapped by their marriage. Women have slowly evolved into individuals that have rights and can represent “feminine individuality”. The fact that they be intended to be house-caring women has changed.
The nineteenth-century society regarded ladies as peasants. In spite of the fact that they had certain legitimate rights, those were not regarded, all things considered. The prime part of ladies was to deliver youngsters and to be great spouses; ladies learnt to play the piano, to sing, to wear dresses and so forth. Ladies were compelled to live in a condition of unending youth relying upon the male relative.
It is said that when Queen Victoria was told she was going to be the next queen, she claimed she would seek the best for England despite her youth and inexperience (“Queen Victoria: A Life; Lytton Strachey). In fact, she become the symbol of a century and a woman who set the rules for a society named after her. Her reign lasted sixty-four years (1837-1901) and it is known as the most glorious era of England. Not only did England turned into a world power regarding politics but also as regards the economy development due to the Industrial Revolution. However, the common perception of the period is that the Victorians were “prudish, hypocritical, stuffy, [and] narrow-minded” (Murfin 496).
• The education of Victorian Women with Reference to the
BACKGROUND: Historically, in western society women’s sexuality has been suppressed and controlled by male power. Women 's sexuality before the Victorian age was seen as a volatile, all-consuming, dangerous phenomenon, a wild and destructive force that must be tamed (by threat of rape/violence and by actual rape/violence), all of which preserves patriarchy. The vagina was said to have teeth, representing the dangers of the sexually irrepressible vagina as consuming male flesh. It was commonly held that women 's sexual appetite was insatiable, and that men could not keep up.
