Viewpoints on women and their role in their communities has been altered throughout the generations. The restrictions and freedom given to women were mainly determined by men of the time and the situation they were in. During the late 18th and early 19th century, women had more freedom to work and earn money. In fact, a few women did not have any other choice since their men would travel or would be out all day working and thus the women would support each other and their families and fulfill all their needs.
Women who worked during the 18th and early 19th century did various different types of jobs. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of A Midwife’s Tale, mentions occupations such as midwifery, after-nursing, attending women and dressmaking in relation to women. (185-186) By working in such occupations, the women of this community were dividing the labor and making money at the same time. Of course, their work was not in any way limited to their occupation. They still had to do all
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She mentions in her diary the occupations of many of the women, including her own daughter Dolly, who works as a dressmaker before marriage, but no took on the job of dressmaking during the time; they were more prone to doing hard labor. On the other hand, views on midwifery were always changing, and there were physicians who did not accept women having such a role and would take over from the midwives. At one point during Martha Ballard’s life, midwifery was no longer considered a job for a woman. Ulrich states in her book that during that time many men believed that “Women could not qualify themselves to practice midwifery without mastering general medicine, but learning general medicine would disqualify them as women and therefore as midwives.” Thus as time went on, women were thought as being unqualified and incapable of working as midwives. (251,
Baillargeon also mentions the work that women did in order to earn money to help care for their families. The women she interviewed did many of the same things mentioned by Hollingsworth and Tyyska at home, only a few were employed outside the home. In several cases the husbands of the women did additional work on top of their regular jobs.
There was a connection between the textile economy and social medicine. Both midwifery and the production of textiles were female occupations that relied on neighborly exchange, and they both fueled the economy. “The most experienced weavers, all of them women, extended the skills of their female neighbors in much the same way midwives extended the abilities of nurses and watchers (79). The economy relied on household production. There were two different family economies in Martha Ballard’s household that was based on the gender division of labor that had specific responsibilities. The men ran the public businesses and the women handled the housework. Every employee was a daughter or niece of the family, or a neighbor’s daughter. They were all fostered by Martha and her husband. The shuffling of young women in Hallowell contributed to the social web of the community. They would trade the production of cloth with neighbors and other families in the town. Martha would record the type of exchanges between neighbors, and the compensations for services that were performed. The Ballard household had many visitors throughout the years that she recorded in her diary, and the most common names were Mrs. Savage, Mrs. Woodward, Mrs. Hamlin, Mrs. Pollard, and Mrs. Burton (93). The constant visitors and exchange of goods is the most prevalent aspect of the strong social web in the community. During this
When Thomas Jefferson wrote the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, it became one of his greatest legacies. In the first line he wrote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" (U.S. Constitution, paragraph 2). Jefferson wrote these words to give inspiration to future generations in the hopes that they would be able to change what he either would or could not. The word “men” in the Declaration in the early 1700 and 1800’s meant exactly that, but even then it only was true for some men, not all. Women, children, and other segments of the population such as slaves and Native Americans were clearly not included. Jefferson himself was a slave owner and held the belief that women were inferior to men. Though women played no role in the political environment, they were crucial to the development and economic success of the times. The strength, courage and work ethic of pioneer women like Martha Ballard in “A Midwife’s Tale” (Thatcher, 1990) created the very fabric of the community and wove it together so the community could thrive.
"I had traveled much on the Kennebec, by water, by ice, and, during those treacherous seasons when the river was neither one nor the other, by faith" (e.g., A Midwife's Tale). Martha's diary is one of the few documents written by a woman that exist today and that describes the behavior, occupation, roles, and daily activities of a common society in the 18th century during and after the Revolution. Although she dedicates her whole life to help others and her family, the diary exposes a very different world with the very different community. Many other history documents lacked the problems of women and the lack of written documents by the female gender. Through this document, Martha gives the importance of women in the community and how they
Weiner, Lynn Y. From Working Girl to Working Mother: The Female Labor Force in the United States, 1820-1980. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 1985.
In 1850 society the new republic altered the role of women by making the differences of men and women in society more noticeable, by giving them a higher status, and allowing them to demand more rights and think for freely.
The Second Industrial Revolution had a major impact on women's lives. After being controlled fro so long women were experiencing what it was like to live an independent life. In the late nineteenth century women were participating in a variety of experiences, such as social disabilities confronted by all women, new employment patterns, and working class poverty and prostitution. These experiences will show how women were perceived in the Second Industrial Revolution.
...ues women’s work becomes wrong. Yes, in today’s society one could argue further that a woman who stays at home and does not work is only reinforcing the stereotype and prolonging the inequality. However, this essay was not written to change the world. It simply strove to identify and prove the reasons behind a ruined sense of self worth that many women in the early 1900’s felt as a result of their work being demeaned. By reaching out to people’s emotional sides, McBride relayed her grandmother’s tale so that people could clearly feel the hurt and demotion that women of that time lived with in order to have them persuaded that the oppression of women in any manner and capacity is wrong.
Before I watched 'A Midwife's Tale', a movie created from the diary found by Laurel Ulrich chronicling the life of a woman named Martha Ballard, I thought the women in these times were just housewives and nothing else. I pictured them doing the cleaning and the cooking for their husbands and not being very smart because of the lack of education or them being unable to work. My view on the subject changed however when I watched this specific woman's life and her work.
Before the Women’s Rights Movement women were viewed less than men in every aspect. Pre- Civil War women were viewed as the source of life but viewed less than men intellectually . In the 19th century the ideal women was submissive, her job was to be an obedient, loving wife . There were two important thing that ruled the way that women were treated. One of these was the most important out of the two during this time period this was the Cult of Domesticity, which basically said that women were supposed to do all of the domestic work in a household 3.
As women started working, patriarchal control of the family was upset (Faragher 400). Women were now bringing in income just like the men were and to them this was empowering. They now longer depended on a man to survive. Now that women were working many also wanted an education beyond high school. Women started going to college and with a better education were able to further increase the interest of the women 's rights movements (Knight 361). Despite these advances women still were not close to gaining equality to their male counterparts. However they did gain more control of the family’s well being.
These women were not only responsible homemakers but they were also active in other roles. They also took part in the workforce holding positions such as merchants, traders, scribes, courtesans, healers, and of course as midwives. http://www.precolumbianwomen.com/ Women who were midwives or healers were known to be very smart and ca...
In the 1900’s women were thought of as if there only respectable job was that, at home cooking, cleaning and looking after the welfare of the family. It was unthinkable that they should be allowed to vote and work as l...
During the 19th century middle to upper class women were faced with dichotomous roles. On one hand they were expected to be idle, fragile, not engaged in intellectual activities outside of the home. On the opposite hand these same women were expected to withstand the vagaries that were common during the 19th century such as the death of their husband or a reversal of their financial situation(i). This contradiction of roles bore heavily on women who often lacked power or control over their own lives(ii).
Throughout the 19th century, feminism played a huge role in society and women’s everyday lifestyle. Women had been living in a very restrictive society, and soon became tired of being told how they could and couldn’t live their lives. Soon, they all realized that they didn’t have to take it anymore, and as a whole, they had enough power to make a change. That is when feminism started to change women’s roles in society. Before, women had little to no rights, while men, on the other hand, had all the rights.