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Dec 18, 2024
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Surname 1Student’s Name Institution Affiliation CourseDate Working Women“Why Women Should Work: Miss Emily Faithfull's Views On the Duties” is an article published by the New York Times on December 2, 1882, concerning Miss Emily Faithful's views on why women should work. The article is about the speech given by Emily Faithful—an English women's rights activist born May 27, 1835- May 31, 1895—to the audience in Chickering Hall about women in the workforce and their roles in society. SummaryThis article's main points of interest are the author's advocacy for equality between genders in job settings and her opinions regarding the value of women in employment and society in general. The article is about a speech she addressed to the audience in Chickering Hall,England. In her discussion of the evolving nature of women's roles in the Nineteenth Century, Miss Faithfull makes the case that women need to have the same access to employment possibilities as men (New York Times). She questioned the perception that “women have unsexed themselves by striving to earn a living," saying that such a perception is not only erroneous but also ridiculous. Therefore, Miss Emily supported that women should work as well as men and also emphasized the necessity of educating women, saying, "no girl had the right to assume that she would be clothed, fed and cared for always but rather should be prepared to go through life as a bread winner” (New York Times). This quote underscores the necessity of
Surname 2providing equality in education and challenges the traditional stereotypes of women, stating that they should not be assumed to only do house chores and child-rearing jobs. Consequently, Faithfull highlights that women can carry out a vast array of jobs previously allocated to men. She says that "The Female mind was fully as capable of cultivation as the male mind," then adding that women are making their way successful into several professionals and trades as a number of women are now doing well in clerks, telegraph operators, copyists, and many more jobs (New York Times). This quote underlines that women have demonstrated their ability to occupy nearly every role that has historically been thought to have been solely male. This acts as a catalyst for achieving gender parity in the workplace and demonstrates her faith in the potential of women. In addition, Faithfull's presentation explores the wider societal ramifications of women's employment, stressing that women's contributions to the labor force may result in improvements to education and healthcare, for example, eventually fostering a more just and equal society (New York Times). She supports the idea that the increased introduction of women into the workforce is breaking the boundaries of discrimination and creating new possibilities for gender equality.AnalysisThe article relates to a course reading by Kathy Peiss, titled "Charity Girls and City Pleasures," because both link how women working grants them social freedom and autonomy. This article, published detailing the historical notes on working-class sexuality from1880-1920 gives the view on how granting women’s rights to work has demeaned the gender-based stereotypes and traditional gender roles that belittled the women's gender. The article states, "Leisure has offered young women an unusual degree of power and social freedom” (Peiss, p.70). This quote underscores the progressive life and thinking that relates to women working
Surname 3since it challenges the traditional cultural norms on gender roles, thus promoting women's autonomy. This shows that the reading relates to the article because it emphasizes the importanceof women's granted rights, similar to women's, as they become more independent and autonomous and access a high degree of power that enhances progressive thinking in society. According to Kathy, two of the main characteristics that set apart Victorian-era nineteenth-century American culture from modern American culture are the rise of heterosexual public life as well as increasingly open sexuality. She states today that “ young women demand greater independence in the realm of personal life” (New York Times). This quote shows the article's advocacy links with the article's emphasis on the necessity for gender equality to give women their independence in decision-making. The article confirms that women's independence, autonomy, and power are paramount in enhancing gender equality. The reading goal emphasizes that women granted power and independence can explore various life adventures, which the article confirms by advocating for women to work (Peiss, p.67). This means that it does not add complexity to this reading, but helps showcase how women at work challenge traditional gender roles and grant women power and autonomy. Faithful insights in her article show the change in traditional roles and challenge gender inequality, so it underscores the societal attitudes toward women, helping readers understand women in the twentieth century as seen in the reading. The article provides glimpses into the earliest attempts to advance women's rights, so it does not question any information in the class reading. Faithfull's advocacy of equality in employment by calling out women to work is consistent with Kathy's observations that women given rights demonstrate high independence, autonomy, and freedom that are key to enhancing more progressive advocacy of gender quality.
Surname 4Analysis IIThe main topic of this newspaper article is to show the ongoing significance of the early advocacy efforts for women's rights, so it links to the reading as it demonstrates the long history of support for women's employment and equality. This shows that the article's primary focus is on women's position in the workplace, which reflects larger societal concerns like equality between men and women and social advancement. The course's examination of the advancement of women's roles and rights and the historical background of how such rights impact women and society at large all directly relate to this issue. The article sheds light on a time when conventional gender norms were being questioned, which helps clarify women's roles and rights in society (New York Times). The idea that women might work and contribute to society began to acquire traction in the latter part of the nineteenth century, signaling a change in society's perceptions of gender. The reader can better comprehend the reading and the subject of women's history in the workforce thanks to Faithfull's views on the development of such shifting roles andthe ongoing campaign for gender equality. This piece is significant because it challenges conventional conventions and reflects the forward-looking thinking of the period. This makes it better for the reader to under the topic as it provides an insight into the earliest attempts to advance women's rights in the workplace. Additionally, the article demonstrates the long history of support for women's job opportunities and equality, which relates to understanding even the advances that took place in the twentieth century in Peiss's reading (Peiss, p.68). As a result, the article emphasizes the significance of advocacy efforts for women's equality, which aligns with the ideas covered in this course. This makes it essential to demonstrate the events and advocacies made in the time period for the call for women's rights.
Surname 5ReactionI am impressed by Emily's progressive outlook on gender equality and women at work. She made a compelling argument for equality between men and women with her progressive support of women in employment and her claim that it greatly promotes civilization. It is amazing to observe numerous of the assertions put forward by the advocates of women's liberation from male dominance. However, not everything is clear to me in this article because certain things are unclear, especially the struggles of women's inequality and benefits that she purported “women working” has benefited society. It is hard to comprehend women's particular difficulties at the time as the article does not show significant historical records and background on women's struggles (Peiss, p.68). The surprising thing about this article is the benefits it portrays of “women at work” in society. This means she either rushed ahead of time or made assumptions as it was the start of women gaining rights to work, and there was no substantial evidence of its benefits. However, the quote, "each sex had its proper and equal sphere and that men and women were designed to be coworkers," sums it all on public opinion about gender equality (New York Times). Therefore, I believe the article challenges the status quo and gives implications of the significant impacts gender equality will have in society. ProcessI utilized the Lehman College Library Databases and searched for "New York Times Historical Newspapers" to find the article. In the search, I focused on searching for historical events and backgrounds of women's work in the years 1817–1980. This was followed by the Boolean search technique as I used a combination of words like "women," "work," "gender equality", and "employment." This enhanced to find this article that specifically relates to my search interest because it sheds light on early women's rights activism and tackles an important
Surname 6historical subject. Additionally, I chose the course reading, “Charity Girls and City Pleasures," because it gives a historical account of women's working-class sexuality, which is essential as it continues to give the impact of granting women equality to work (Peiss, p.67). This seemed relevant to advance my understanding of women's equality. Additionally, I think the newspaper article worked well to lay a better understanding of the reading and, most importantly, the topic of the history of women's work and its impacts on society. As a result, I believe it worked well for this assignment because it provided the point of view of history on a subject pertinent to the subjects of the course of study.Searching for historical content in a newspaper article was challenging in this assignment as no significant historical contexts were provided in the article. However, the help of looking into Emily's upbringing and the social environment that prevailed where she lived increased my interpretation of the history of women's work.
Surname 7Works CitedNew York Times. “Why Women Should Work: Miss Emilly Faithful’s Views on the Duties of Her Own Sex.” The New York Times, August 15, 1874, www.nytimes.com/1874/08/15/archives/womans-work.html. Accessed May 4, 2024.Peiss, Kathy, et al. "Charity Girls" and City Pleasures: Historical Notes on Working-Class Sexuality, 1880–1920." Women in Culture: An Intersectional Anthology for Gender and Women’s Studies (1983).67-79.