Even before this event, the struggles of women in society were surfacing in the media. Eliza Farnham, a married woman in Illinois during the late 1830s, expressed the differing views between men and women on the proper relations between a husband and wife. While Farnham viewed a wife as being “a pleasant face to meet you when you go home from the field, or a soft voice to speak kind words when you are sick, or a gentle friend to converse with you in your leisure hours”, a recently married farmer contended that a wife was useful “to do [a man’s] cookin and such like, ‘kase it’s easier for them than it is for [men]” (Farnham, 243).
Gloria Steinem, a journalist and activist, identifies the purpose of a feminist who “is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.” In other words, feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. Discrimination against women has been going on for decades. Donald Hall’s Literary and Cultural Theory explains that the “Key to feminist analysis is recognition of the different degrees of social power…” (199). Meaning that depending on the social power, women can be treated differently. Nevertheless, women in society are like cows; they are branded in a way where they are seen as property owned by men. Women are labeled as “weak and sensitive” but when they stand up for their rights and make a decision; they are seen as crazy human beings whose expressed thoughts are misunderstood as nonsense. There are women from past history or even our modern world today that made a change to earn their respect and obtain their rights as women. For example, Mary Wollstonecraft; who supported the feminist movement through the struggle for female suffrage. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and “The Story of an Hour.” Including Charlotte Perkins Gilman “The Yellow Wallpaper” we are introduced to three female characters who have realized how much their world has been controlled by their own husbands. It alludes to them as “beginning to realize [their] position in the universe as a human being and to recognize [their] relations as an individual to the world within and about [them]” (Chopin15). These protagonists made changes to show society that women should earn recognition not for what they are believed to b...
First of all, in the essay, “I Want a Wife”, Judy Syfers exposes the meaning of “wife” presently in our society. Her argument is based on the premise that all wives are completely devoted to their husbands and are willing to tend to all their needs and satisfy them completely while working, being a good mother, and remaining gorgeous. Syfers reveals her definition of a wife in a very sarcastic and frustrated manner. Also, the style of the whole paper is very ironic. Almost as if she is screaming, she concludes her essay with, “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?”(pg.648, 11). The cultural values portrayed in this essay are the value of control and the value of wanting to be loved. The value of control is portrayed in our society by the husband having the control and power over his wife. Because of that control, t...
The portrayal of gender in this text shows the husband as the prime breadwinner of the household while the wife stays home to clean the house and tend for the children. This is clearly our traditional family lifestyle of a household. Now although this can be considered traditional, we clearly see this lifestyle outdated in our twenty-first century society today. The text is demonstrated to show the young daughter her place in society, and teach the young girl the everyday tasks she will need to know in order to run a household smoothly and successfully. It is also clear that the mother’s life reflects all of these ideals that a husband should be the one working and the wife is to be happy and content by taking great pride and satisfaction in the caring for her home. The mother also has strong view on the behavior for a women in society and throughout the story gives many warning on her daughters behavior such as “on Sundays try and walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming”. (Kincaid 56) This is a clear statement from the mother tha...
I Want a Wife by Judy Brady is a humorous essay that provide reasons why some men want wives. Reflecting on her friend and his actions she produced possible conclusions why he would pursue another wife. The author used specific descriptive details to explain the actions of a wife and illustrate why a person including herself would want a wife. The detail in the writing does not leave the reader looking for clues nor leave anything to the imagine.
Until the last hundred years or so in the United States, married women had to rely on their husbands for money, shelter, and food because they were not allowed to work. Though there were probably many men who believed their wives could “stand up to the challenge”, some men would not let their wives be independent, believing them to be of the “inferior” sex, which made them too incompetent to work “un-feminine” jobs. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, feminist writers began to vent their frustration at men’s condescension and sexist beliefs. Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” and Zora Neale Hurson’s “Sweat” both use dialogue to express how women are capable of and used to working hard, thinking originally, being independent
In conclusion, from my understanding this essay is about using rhetorical situations and how a writer can use them to their advantage. Whether it be in writing or in an advertisement the writer adjusts the way they write things to influence a certain audience. And to portray a certain kind of image that will be liked by the
In “Housewife No Longer a Dirty Word,” Lucy Cavendish uses personal experience to bring light to the world of a stay-at-home mother. She reminisces on times when she loved to play dolls and bake but never thought of it as something that she might do all day. Her mother never loved staying at home; she worked for a significant amount of her life, until she married Cavendish’s father. Even then she complained about how boring home life was and stressed the importance of education to Cavendish and taught her about historical figures of feminism, like Germaine Greer, Kate Millett, and Simone de Beauvoir, that influenced both of their belief that they could be anything they wanted. At one time Cavendish believed she was a firm advocate of working women against men, but she and many other women have changed their minds. She argues that the way women
Throughout the texts we have read in English thus far have been feminist issues. Such issues range from how the author published the book to direct, open statements concerning feminist matters. The different ways to present feminist issues is even directly spoken of in one of the essays we read and discussed. The less obvious of these feminist critiques is found buried within the texts, however, and must be read carefully to understand their full meaning- or to even see them.
Feminism is motivated by the need to establish equality between the genders since most feminists attribute women’s problems to inequality between the two genders. Therefore, by way of a collection of political movements and social theories, feminists seek to curb this inequality between men and women. It is important to note that the equality sought after by feminists is not just economic and political, but also social equality. According to Heather Gilmour, The institution of marriage during the pre-modern era or the Victorian era was based on inequality as the roles to be fulfilled by both genders for the success of the marriage were essentially different (Heather 26). As the roles kept changing over time due to different circumstances, so did the expectations of marriage and along with that, the rise of feminist movement. Screwball comedies such as It...
Monique Wittig, a radical feminist, illuminates, “For what makes a woman is a specific social relation to a man, a relation that we call servitude”. The concept of justifying the female inferior image based on biology and the ‘w...
Jochild, Maggie. Feminism Unadulterated: Why I Want Wife. 5 April 2008. 27 February 2014. .
In her classic essay first published in feminist magazine Ms., “I Want a Wife” Judy Brady declares the role of women in the 1970’s as viewed from a man’s point of view. This essay by Judy Brady is written from a feminist point of view portraying how men perceive women in their minds and how life is difficult as a wife:
"If I hadn't been a feminist I quite probably wouldn't have become a writer"5 says Garner, indicating the importance of feminism in her own quest for self identity and freedom. Her definition of feminism is "a simple matter of being intelligently for women and women's freedom to develop as decent human beings"6. And although she considers marriage "an institution that is not set up with the welfare of women in mind"7, she also recognises a "powerful urge in people ... to marry"8. It stands to reason then, that in her fiction she would explore the possibilities of the tradition of marriage with the view of finding ways it will allow women to develop into "decent human beings".
Women have always been essential to society. Fifty to seventy years ago, a woman was no more than a house wife, caregiver, and at their husbands beck and call. Women had no personal opinion, no voice, and no freedom. They were suppressed by the sociable beliefs of man. A woman’s respectable place was always behind the masculine frame of a man. In the past a woman’s inferiority was not voluntary but instilled by elder women, and/or force. Many, would like to know why? Why was a woman such a threat to a man? Was it just about man’s ability to control, and overpower a woman, or was there a serious threat? Well, everyone has there own opinion about the cause of the past oppression of woman, it is currently still a popular argument today.