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Gender roles during the 1920s
Gender roles in the 1700s and early 1800s
Gender roles in the 1700s and early 1800s
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Religious, racial and ethnic biases fuelled the class distinctions in the nineteenth-century. As fears increased over the declining birth rate, concerns about racial integrity intensified and were publicly expressed, promoting a climate where exercising control over a woman’s fertility was not only seen as warranted, but necessary (Falconer 2002). The introduction of the term “race suicide” was used to describe the declining birth rate among the “the better class of inhabitants” in both Canada and the United States. The ideal upper class woman was viewed as selfless, dependant, sexually subservient and chaste, a mother and homemaker (Falconer 2002). These women were supposed to provide “sex on demand for their husbands along with preserves, clean linen and roast meat” (Hall 1988). Throughout the nineteenth century, Britain and its colonies came to view motherhood, childbirth, and child-rearing as a “matter of imperial importance” and central to the role of empire building (Davin 1978; Falconer 2008; Summers 1991).
Social and economic class is something we as Americans like to push into the back of our minds. Sometimes recognizing our class either socially or economically can almost be crippling. When individuals recognize class, limitations and judgment confront us. Instead, we should know it is important to recognize our class, but not let it define and limit us. In the essay, “Class in America”, Gregory Mantsios, founder and director of the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education at the School of Professional Studies, brings to light the fact that Americans don’t talk about class and class mobility. He describes the classes in extremes, mainly focusing on the very sharp divide between the extremely wealthy and extremely poor. In contrast, George
Each chapter contains numerous sources which complement the aforementioned themes, to create a new study on cultural history in general but women specifically. Her approach is reminiscent of Foucault, with a poststructural outlook on social definitions and similar ideas on sexuality and agency. Power cannot be absolute and is difficult to control, however Victorian men and women were able to grasp command of the sexual narrative. She includes the inequalities of class and gender, incorporating socioeconomic rhetic into the
Orgeon (1908) reaffirmed society’s reliance on women as mothers. Discussing the negative effects of long hours at industrial factory work, Goldmark could not keep her traditional outlook of womanhood from coloring her argument. She claimed that a female’s body structure and performance abilities served as disadvantages in industrial occupations, and “as healthy mothers are essential to vigorous offspring, the physical well-being of a women becomes an object of public interest and care in order to preserve the strength and vigor of the race.” This increased focus on protecting family and race indicated that women were a crucial part to preserving the white, middle-class society. Unemployment or shortened work hours served as a sign of social health that protected the breeders of new life and removed the undesirables from society.
I will be analyzing the essay “Class in America --2012”. The topic of this essay is talking about does it matter what your social and economical standings are, and do they play a role in if you succeed in life. I personally agree with this. If someone is hard working and willing to do the job then I feel that they can be successful. Their background, race, and social and economical standings don’t justify everything that they are. Mantsios effectively communicates the phenomenon of stereotyping certain races, genders, and social classes will be more successful than others in America.
Although the majority of Caucasian Americans practiced racism and classism, it was the stigma of birth control that caused many citizens to dislike Margaret Sanger’s ideas intensely. Women who used birth control tended to be flappers who were the social symbol of sexual liberation which caused conservative Americans to carry animosity towards pregnancy prevention, due to the dishonorable stain it carried. American conservatives considered birth control to be immoral because they speculated that pregnancy prevention would fuel the abhorrent actions of the flappers and cause the social demise of America. Sanger faced fierce opposition for her ‘immoral’ public conduct and her seemingly devilish thinking. However, Sanger’s acclaimed speech “The Morality of Birth Control” advocates that pregnancy prevention will aid the advancement of modern Anglo-Saxon American society, while stating that in order for that to occur we must disregard traditional views.
Women were confronted by many social obligation in the late nineteenth century. Women were living lives that reflected their social rank. They were expected to be economically dependent and legally inferior. No matter what class women were in, men were seen as the ones who go to work and make the money. That way, the women would have to be dependent since they were not able to go to work and make a good salary. No matter what class a woman was in, she could own property in her own name. When a woman became married she " lost control of any property she owned, inherited, or earned" ( Kagan et al. 569). A woman's legal identity was given to her husband.
Illegitimacy was just one of the reasons on why abortion was carried out and according to Macfarlane (2002), who believed illegitimacy was a burden, and the child was seen as “The bastard, like the prostitute, thief and beggar…a living symbol of social irregularity”. Women feared of being degraded and losing their social status within society, and they would willingly kill their own child to forget the existence of illegitimate children, so it was no surprise woman would go through with abortion so they would still be accepted within society. Extreme poverty was also a reason as many parents and woman could barely feed themselves, much less another child (Sauer 1978). Knight (1977) also argued that in the 19th century was when depression hit so both working class and middle class could not afford children.
During the 1800’s, especially in the beginning, the American society was run by males. They were seen superior to women in nearly every way. They got the best education, they were paid the most, they had the only voice in the family, and they had complete control over women. Especially at home, women weren’t respected. The father was the highest voice and everybody was expected to listen to the father. A woman’s roles at home included taking care of the children, cooking, cleaning and doing whatever her husband asked of her. A women’s money belonged to her father if she wasn’t married. If she was married, they money belonged to her husband. It was because of these reasons that men looked for wealthy women to marry so they could have more mon...
The 19th Century is an age that is known for the Industrial Revolution. What some people don’t realize is the effect that this revolution had on gender roles in not only the middle and upper classes (Radek.) It started off at its worst, men were considered powerful, active, and brave; where as women were in no comparison said to be weak, passive, and timid (Radek.) Now we know this not to be true, however, back in the day people only went by what would allow ...
Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto in order to give a voice to the struggling classes in Europe. In the document he expressed the frustrations of the lower class. As Marx began his document with "the history of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles" he gave power to the lower classes and sparked a destruction of their opressors.1 He argued that during the nineteenth century Europe was divided into two main classes: the wealthy upper class, the bourgeoisie, and the lower working class, the proletariat. After years of suffering oppression the proletariats decided to use their autonomy and make a choice to gain power. During the eighteenth and nineteenth century the proletariats were controlled and oppressed by the bourgeoisie until they took on the responsibility of acquiring equality through the Communist Manifesto.
According to author Helena Wojtczak, “the average working class wife was either pregnant or breast-feeding from wedding day to menopause,” bearing approximately eight pregnancies, and ultimately raising approximately five children. This overflow of offspring was most likely linked to the fact that birth control literature was illegal at the time (Wojtczak). Wohl’s research of the difficulties in Victorian childbirth shows that a combination of a nutrient deficient diet, and a substantial deficiency of both height and weight prevalent in urban working class Victorian women very likely contributed to an exceedingly high number of premature births, and consequently, a high infant mortality rate. Also, working class women were expected to continue working throughout their entire pregnancy. Examples of this prejudice can be found in Victorian articles such as “The Rearing and Management of Children: Mother and Baby” in Cassells Household Guide. The article states that, “He who placed one woman in a position where labour and exertion are parts of her existence, gives her a stronger state of body than her more luxurious sisters. To one inured to toil from childhood, ordinary work is merely exercise, and, as such, necessary to keep up her physical powers, though extra work should be, of course, avoided as much as possible.” In reference to pregnancy outside of marriage, Wojtczak notes that it was notably common for a working class woman to become pregnant out of wedlock, and due to the social stigma involved, and the possibility of unemployment, these women often chose to conceal their pregnancy.
Kuttner also agrees, “a lot of ugly realities were concealed by “traditional values”; the legal and economic emancipation of women was long overdue, and the task now is to reconcile gender equality with the healthy raising of the next generation.” (124). Before the 1890s, females had no other options but to live with their parents before marriage and with their husband after marriage. They couldn’t work and if they did, their wages were way lower than men.
The industrialization of the nineteenth century was a tremendous social change in which Britain initially took the lead on. This meant for the middle class a new opening for change which has been continuing on for generations. Sex and gender roles have become one of the main focuses for many people in this Victorian period. Sarah Stickney Ellis was a writer who argued that it was the religious duty of women to improve society. Ellis felt domestic duties were not the only duties women should be focusing on and thus wrote a book entitled “The Women of England.” The primary document of Sarah Stickney Ellis’s “The Women of England” examines how a change in attitude is greatly needed for the way women were perceived during the nineteenth century. Today women have the freedom to have an education, and make their own career choice. She discusses a range of topics to help her female readers to cultivate their “highest attributes” as pillars of family life#. While looking at Sarah Stickney Ellis as a writer and by also looking at women of the nineteenth century, we will be able to understand the duties of women throughout this century. Throughout this paper I will discuss the duties which Ellis refers to and why she wanted a great change.
At first glance, sixteenth century Shakespearian drama and the nineteenth century dialectic philosophy expressed by Marx and Engels share no probable relationship to one another. Upon closer examination, however, developments in contemporary Shakespearian England illustrate that the social and economic centralization that generate the necessary characteristics of a proto-modern nation state were emerging in sixteenth century England. The unprecedented urbanized demographic shift created by the Enclosure Acts, which enabled the systematic destruction of the feudalistic relationship between the peasantry and the nobility; the emergence of a state sponsored market economy; the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the resulting ascendancy of English navel power; and the galvanizing image of English nationalism contained in the figure of Queen Elizabeth I all provided a compelling backdrop for the existence of modern class based antagonisms within Shakespearian dramatic themes.
Throughout the early 1800s, British women most often were relegated to a subordinate role in society by their institutionalized obligations, laws, and the more powerfully entrenched males. In that time, a young woman’s role was close to a life of servitude and slavery. Women were often controlled by the men in their lives, whether it was a father, brother or the eventual husband. Marriage during this time was often a gamble; one could either be in it for the right reasons, such as love, or for the wrong reasons, such as advancing social status. In 19th century Britain, laws were enacted to further suppress women and reflected the societal belief that women were supposed to do two things: marry and have children.