Introduction The antebellum period brought about many changes in American society. One of those changes was the manner in which American households were organized. Robert Max Jackson argues in his account on gender inequality that up to the 1820s a patriarchal ideology predominated the American household giving fathers absolute authority; they would rule their homes as “communal enterprises” in which husband and wife worked together in order to earn a living. However, from the 1820s onwards the economy rapidly expanded as a consequence of the industrial revolution and many men started to work away from home in industrial and commercial firms, leaving their wives at home to carry out the domestic duties. As a result of this “separation of spheres”, these wives, who no longer were under the constant observation and influence of their husbands, gained the new identity of a “true woman” in which they were supposed to “spent their time raising their children and managing their household” (Jackson 199). As Barbara Welter points out, a “Cult of True Womanhood” arose among the middle classes in which “true women” were to hold “the four cardinal virtues of piety, purity, submission and domesticity” (152). This ideology of domesticity, as opposed to the patriarchal ideology, prescribed women’s conduct throughout the nineteenth century. The influence of the ideology of domesticity did not only limit itself to people’s private lives but also became apparent in literature as the ideology of domesticity was already propagated in the popular sentimental novels of that time. The nineteenth century brought forth many female coming-of-age novels that moulded girls into “true women”. In 1908 Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote Anne of Green Gables, a st... ... middle of paper ... ...erley. Girls Only? Gender and Popular Juvenile Fiction in Britain 1880-1910. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990. Salah, Christina. “A Ministry of Plum Puffs: Cooking as a Path to Spiritual Maturity in L.M. Montgomery’s Anne Books.” 100 years of Anne with an "e": The Centennial Study of Anne of Green Gables. Ed. Holly Blackford. Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press, 2009. Stimpson, Catharine R. “Reading for Love: Canons, Paracanons, and Whistling Jo March.” New Literary History 21.4 (1990): 957-76. Waterston, Elizabeth. Kindling Spirit: L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. Canadian Fiction Studies 19. Montreal: E. C. W. Press, 1993. Watson, Victor. The Cambridge Guide to Children’s Books in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Welter, Barbara. "The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820–1860." American Quarterly 18 (1966): 151–174.
“Deborah Sampson, the daughter of a poor Massachusetts farmer, disguised herself as a man and in 1782, at age twenty-one, enlisted in the Continental army. Ultimately, her commanding officer discovered her secret but kept it to himself, and she was honorably discharged at the end of the war.” She was one of the few women who fought in the Revolution. This example pictured the figure of women fighting alongside men. This encouraged the expansion of wife’s opportunities. Deborah, after the Revolution along with other known female figures, reinforced the ideology of Republican Motherhood which saw the marriage as a “voluntary union held together by affection and mutual dependency rather than male authority.” (Foner, p. 190). This ideal of “companionate” marriage changed the structure of the whole family itself, the now called Modern Family in which workers, laborers and domestic servants are now not considered member of the family anymore. However even if women thought that after the war they would have been seen from the society in a different way it never happened. The revolution haven’t changed the perception of the woman and the emancipated ideal
In this essay, we will examine three documents to prove that they do indeed support the assertion that women’s social status in the United States during the antebellum period and beyond was as “domestic household slaves” to their husband and children. The documents we will be examining are: “From Antislavery to Women 's Rights” by Angelina Grimke in 1838, “A Fourierist Newspaper Criticizes the Nuclear Family” in 1844, and “Woman in the Nineteenth Century” by Margaret Fuller in 1845.
Thesis: Boydston argues that women in Antebellum America, along with the society surrounding them, believed that there was little to no economic value to the work they did in the home (xii). Boydston in her text seeks understand the "the intimate relationship between the gender and labor systems that characterized industrializing America (xii).
In Charlotte Gillman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” the narrator describes several attitudes in which men thought about women and the overall oppression of women in the early 20th century. The perception of men and women encouraged society to place limitations on women and allow men to dominate. Women were seen as caretakers, homebodies and fragile, unable to care for one’s self. This is symbolic to the “Cult of Domesticity”, a term identifying a nineteenth-century ideology that women's nature suited them especially for tasks associated with the home. It identified four characteristics that were supposedly central to women's identity: piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness.” One the other hand, men would rule society through their work, politics, and government. They were able to live free and enjoy the public sphere where men enjoyed the competition created in the marketplace through which they gained their identity. In the public sphere, they made decisions that enhanced their own positions in society, while exploiting women’s biological makeup and employing blackmail to render women immobile.
In contrast, men have been seen as more dominate than women because of their masculine abilities and other traits and most importantly their profound responsibility of being the provider and head of the household. Americans constantly uses theses two distinct stereotypes that in many cases present many biases regarding gender codes in America. Things have changed over time the women are no longer just house wives taking care of the house and children waiting for their husband to come home from his nine to five occupations. Andrea L. Miller explains in her article “The Separate Spheres Model of Gendered Inequality” that, “A common theme in the study of gender is the idea that men and women belong in distinct spheres of society, with men being particularly fit for the workplace and women being particularly fit for the domestic domain” (Miller 2). Miller gives two very specific examples on how gender is viewed in American
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.
In her essay “Effective Men” and early Voluntary Associations in Philadelphia, 1725-175, Jessica Chopin Roney of Temple University, finds that, “productivity and property were essential both to masculine republican virtue and to patriarchy.” These societal principles placed restrictions on manly behavior, and failing to meet these requirements could lead to men being removed from the patriarchal order. Roney continues by explaining that, “being a good provider was an essential part of being a patriarch. A man who could not furnish his family with the necessities of life could not in turn command respect and obedience from them.” By extension those men who did not, by choice or circumstance, have a family or means, would often find themselves ostracized and removed from the established patriarchal power structure. While it is true that these individuals retained certain advantages due to their gender, they had an inability to fully access what has traditionally been seen as the male dominated power structure. Roney’s work is only one example. The evolution of masculinity and the changes to patriarchal structures, in the multi-ethnic community of early America are being looked at by a growing multitude of
The workplace became masculinized, and the home feminized. By the separation of the masculine and feminine spheres that had been promoted, men and women now lived in separate worlds. By the turn of the twentieth century, men realized that their exclusion from the domestic sphere was, in fact, harmful to them: It left men “unable to experience the love, nurture and repose that the home supposedly represented” (Kimmel 158). Men were also worried at the “feminization” that potentially threatened their sons: men feared that women, who had the main responsibility for the upbringing of the children, would make the sons into
Comparing its structure and function as it was in 1960 with what it had become in 1990 can highlight the dramatic changes in the American family. Until 1960 most Americans shared a common set of beliefs about family life; family should consist of a husband and wife living together with their children. The father should be the head of the family, earn the family's income, and give his name to his wife and children. The mother's main tasks were to support and enable her husband's goals, guide her children's development, look after the home, and set a moral tone for the family. Marriage was an enduring obligation for better or worse and this was due much to a conscious effort to maintain strong ties with children. The husband and wife jointly coped with stresses. As parents, they had an overriding responsibility for the well being of their children during the early years-until their children entered school, they were almost solely responsible. Even later, it was the parents who had the primary duty of guiding their children's education and discipline. Of course, even in 1960, families recognized the difficulty of converting these ideals into reality. Still, they devoted immense effort to approximating them in practice. As it turned out, the mother, who worked only minimally--was the parent most frequently successful in spending the most time with her children. Consequently, youngsters were almost always around a parental figure -- they were well-disciplined and often very close with the maternal parent who cooked for them, played with them, and saw them off to and home from school each day.
Talcott Parsons and Robert Bales, two of the leading figures in sociology, may be considered the founding fathers for the ideas of the “modern family” and the “male-breadwinner family.” Collectively, their work has influenced how Americans analyze families and has sparked new ideas regarding the American family from sociologists such as Stephanie Coontz and Arlie Hochschild. However, when studying the American family, Parsons and Bales fail to understand that the “ideal” family may not be so ideal for everyone. They neglect to consider societal influences and economic changes when discussing patriarchal social norms as the most optimal family structure. Their description of the male-breadwinner family consists of the father being the “instrumental leader” within the home, providing economically for his family based on his occupational earnings. Meanwhile, the mother is considered the manager of the household, providing for her husband and children physically, emotionally, and mentally.
During the Victorian Era, society had idealized expectations that all members of their culture were supposedly striving to accomplish. These conditions were partially a result of the development of middle class practices during the “industrial revolution… [which moved] men outside the home… [into] the harsh business and industrial world, [while] women were left in the relatively unvarying and sheltered environments of their homes” (Brannon 161). This division of genders created the ‘Doctrine of Two Spheres’ where men were active in the public Sphere of Influence, and women were limited to the domestic private Sphere of Influence. Both genders endured considerable pressure to conform to the idealized status of becoming either a masculine ‘English Gentleman’ or a feminine ‘True Woman’. The characteristics required women to be “passive, dependent, pure, refined, and delicate; [while] men were active, independent, coarse …strong [and intelligent]” (Brannon 162). Many children's novels utilized these gendere...
The role of a woman remains the same throughout human history. Many women prepare for the role of wife and mother from an early age. If one is not married at a certain age then they are labeled as a spinster, a prude. Hedda Gabler and Emma Bovary fearful of being dubbed as a spinster, marry men whom they both despised. During the mid 1800’s, Emma Bovary’s period: women considered inferior to their male counterparts, they could not divorce their husbands, and their husbands essentially own them. Alas during Hedda Gabler’s setting, nothing changes. Because of their society, they are alienated individuals thwarted due to their social status, gender, and misguided intentions.
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.
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.
In early America, the work as a wife was often along with her husband, running a household, farm or plantation. Cooking, making clothes, spinning yarn, sewing and weaving cloth took a major part of a woman’s time. Women played a huge role in the colonial times, revolutionary times, middle- class reform times, turn of the century times, 1920’s and 1960’s. All though these times were not easy for most women they still managed to get through it.