Barry Robertson
September 21st, 2015
History 4010
Dr. Fernández
Women Adrift Essay
Women Adrift by Joanne J. Meyerowitz portrays the life of women who had moved to Chicago between 1880-1930. Chicago provided many unique opportunities for women who had grown up across the United States in rural environments. The new economic sector of Chicago allowed for many people to find work and move from the outside country life, to the more urbanized metropolis that was Chicago. This also allowed for a new interdependence for women who had once lived in the country and journeyed away from the farms in hopes of finding work in Chicago. Meyerowitz’ Women Adrift helps capture the struggles of the women wage worker who often took a leap of faith leaving her home life in hopes of finding a new life in the great urban city of Chicago. Meyerowitz argues that Chicago provided new opportunities for women, dispelled the idea of the Victorian woman, and the exploitation of the women wage earners.
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The first main reason for such migration is also the most obvious, employment. Chicago offered a multitude of jobs which varied from Dressmakers, Seamstresses, and Tailors in 1880 to Nurses, Laundresses, and Saleswoman in 1910. These new jobs allowed women to gain a freedom that they had not been able to achieve out in the countryside. Women could now be in control of their own money and livelihood without having to rely on their family. Employment was not the only reason however; some women were forced from their homes for sexual activity that the family deemed immoral. Some women also left their families in hopes of find a better life for
Rappaport, Doreen. American Women, Their Lives in Their Words: Thomas Y. Crowell, New York 1990
As many women took on a domestic role during this era, by the turn of the century women were certainly not strangers to the work force. As the developing American nation altered the lives of its citizens, both men and women found themselves struggling economically and migrated into cities to find work in the emerging industrialized labor movement . Ho...
The two works of literature nudging at the idea of women and their roles as domestic laborers were the works of Zora Neale Hurston in her short story “Sweat”, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Whatever the setting may be, whether it is the 1920’s with a woman putting her blood, sweat and tears into her job to provide for herself and her husband, or the 1890’s where a new mother is forced to stay at home and not express herself to her full potential, women have been forced into these boxes of what is and is not acceptable to do as a woman working or living at home. “Sweat” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” draw attention to suppressing a woman’s freedom to work along with suppressing a woman’s freedom to act upon her
Flapper by Joshua Zeitz is a book that many historians have found so thrilling that they find it difficult to put it away. This is because of the manner in which Joshua presents the themes touching story. He tells a telling the story and growth and development of the American woman. He explores the role of industrialization and the growth and development of urban centres. He uses a romantic story using Zelda and F. Scott. Besides, fashion, which many women strive to achieve, plays an essential role in making the work of Joshua a world class literature. American woman underwent a number of revolutionary stages to come to what is now referred to as modern women. Through the stories of Zelda and Scott, the reader is able to imagine the rough road that women in America have travelled to achieve their current status of modern woman.
Dublin, Thomas. Women at Work: the Transformation of Work and Community in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1826-1860. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979.
Suburban life in the 1950s was ideal, but not ideal for the women. Women were continuously looked at as the typical suburban housewife. In Richard Yates’ novel, Revolutionary Road, we are given the chance to see the dynamics of the Wheeler family and of those around them. Through the use of theme, tone and major symbolism in the novel, we are shown the perspective of gender roles in the 1950s. The author shows the reader the struggles of strict gender roles and how the protagonist of the story will do just about anything to escape from it.
Hartmann, Susan M. The Home Front and Beyond: American women in the 1940s. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1982
The Market Revolution took place between 1800-1840. It was described as a time when new forms of transportation connected different parts of the country resulting in an expansion of the marketplace. Although becoming connected mainly defined this time period, it also represented a great amount of people becoming disconnected. People began to disconnect themselves religiously, socially, and individually. It seemed that during this time period, people became more independent from the “norm.”
When you hear the term “Roaring Twenties”, what is the first thought that comes to your mind? Do you think of the amazing night life and the beautiful extravagant parties? Or, do you think of the incredible influence alcohol had on the culture in the twenties? Many people imagine the severe transformation of the people. During this period of overwhelming prosperity, many people questioned the values of the past and were willing to experiment with new values and behavior as well as new fashions. Today, you will be reading about the most significant changes and qualities in women during the 1920’s. Over the course of the rebellious and luxurious atmosphere of the twenties, women began asserting their independence, and demanding the same values and freedoms that men received.
Stansell, Christine. “Women on the Town: Sexual Exchange and Prostitution,” in City of Women: Sex and Class in New York, 1789-1860 (Illinois, 1987), 171-192. [ACLS Humanities E-Book, via Coast]
In the Victorian era, in New York City, men and women roles within the society were as different as night and day. A man regardless of his extra curricular activities could still maintain a very prevalent place in society. A woman’s worth was not only based family name which distinguished her class and worth, but also her profession if that was applicable.
Schneider, Dorothy. American Women in the Progressive Era 1900-1920. New York: Facts on File, 1993.
Women’s role in society changed quite a bit during WWI and throughout the 1920s. During the 1910s women were very short or liberty and equality, life was like an endless rulebook. Women were expected to behave modestly and wear long dresses. Long hair was obligatory, however it always had to be up. It was unacceptable for them to smoke and they were expected to always be accompanied by an older woman or a married woman when outing. Women were usually employed with jobs that were usually associated with their genders, such as servants, seamstresses, secretaries and nursing. However during the war, women started becoming employed in different types of jobs such as factory work, replacing the men who had gone to fight in the war in Europe. In the late 1910s The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) had been fighting for decades to get the vote for women. As women had contributed so much to the war effort, it was difficult to refuse their demands for political equality. As a result, the Nineteenth Amendment to the constitution became law in 19...
She showcases a variety of different scenarios, standards, and occupations that women were subjected to at the time. This helps the readers to see the difficulties women of that time period had to overcome to secure what little rights they were able. The oppression of working class women did not just affect those said individuals, but in turn, males, children, and other upper class females. Stansell’s ability to look beyond the normal subject matter permits her to capture the inimitable atmosphere surrounding the struggle of an assorted group of women to find their footing within the society of a nation that was facing its own struggle of independent and prominence. Thus, giving City of Women a fascinating edge against other books of a similar
Women in the nineteenth century, for the most part, had to follow the common role presented to them by society. This role can be summed up by what historians call the “cult of domesticity”. The McGuffey Readers does a successful job at illustrating the women’s role in society. Women that took part in the overland trail as described in “Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey” had to try to follow these roles while facing many challenges that made it very difficult to do so.