Separate Sphere Mentality Essay

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The opposition to women's suffrage in the early 20th century stems from a deep rooted social phenomenon in england that took hold in the 19th century. The victorian era gave rise to the system of gender roles and relations that sought to separate the sexes on all fronts of society. This sex class system, also known as the separate sphere ideology, developed from the changing economic scheme, the opinions of great victorian philosophers, and a revival of religious integrity. The separate sphere ideology very popular amongst english society and developed a level of indisputable credibility when publically defended by an emergence of pseudo science discoveries on a woman's capacities. The separate sphere mentality would define the clear roles, …show more content…

The ‘antis’ scientist validated the anti-suffragist movement and the “laws” of the separate sphere ideology in a manner that awaken mass public support and confidence. While Albert Einstein published the Theory of Relativity, the influential scientist British bacteriologist and immunologist Sir Almroth E. Wright focused his energies on providing new scientific “information” on the abilities of a woman's mind. In his Letter to the London Times “The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage”, March 28, 1912, he talks of the “emotional reflex” and other disabilities of the woman’s intellect. He discuss the thinking process of a female brain, claiming that it has an “imperfect sense of proportion” and “over-influenced by individual instances; arrives at conclusions on incomplete evidence” and focus on “mental images” not statements of reason. He goes on to explain that women “looks upon her mind not as an implement for the pursuit of truth, but as an instrument for providing her with creature comforts in the form of agreeable mental images.” Sir Almroth E. Wright believed that women could never being equal to men, for a womans mind was inferior and used for frivolous things. His scientific opinion was coal to the burning fire of the separate sphere ideology, and a scientific defense of the ‘antis’ movements in

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