Over the span of many centuries, women have been undermined and ridiculed by the reality of a bitter society. A female’s sex generally predetermined the uneventful course she would be expected to take throughout her life. Promising opportunities were rare and for ages, ladies were confined to the home with little more than a puppet role to play. Common household chores were a part of the daily agenda, and unfailing devotion to a husband was anticipated (Cruea). The initiative push by The National Woman Suffrage Association provided a source of encouragement for women searching for impartial justice in basic aspects of everyday life. The women’s rights movement-though a long, rocky road-essentially led from bigotry to equality.
The average American woman’s role in society was not by any means influential prior to the women’s movement. Under the circumstances of the early 1800s, females held many obligations but were presented with far fewer choices. A lady’s primary purpose was to find a husband, bear children, and serve him for the remainder of her life. She worked within the home by cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children. Girls learned from their mothers the steps to taking care of their own household at an early age (Schneider). Women were controlled by all of the men in their lives including fathers, brothers, husbands, and other male relatives. Marriage was almost always a lifetime commitment. A husband had the rights to a woman’s inheritance and possessions. He essentially owned his wife; she could not obtain a divorce or flee an unhappy marriage. Single women were generally ridiculed and pitied by their communities (Novkov). There were three different classes for women, each with differences in daily, family, and w...
... middle of paper ...
...ns. They fought for their liberties despite the downpour of negativity and insults thrown at them throughout their promotion of the cause. Women’s rights proponents adjusted the view many Americans held. Women became bigger than a puppet figure in the household. They possessed jobs requiring masculine qualities, and struggled to achieve the rights they justly deserved in the labor field. They wrangled for their freedoms to vote, attain a divorce—freedoms to create choices and bright opportunities for themselves (Shah). They did not look to stop until they had achieved what they set out for, and for women of our modern day, the significance is unmatched. Females of the early 1800s have paved the way for a balanced society, equipped with equality among men and women alike, thus drastically changing the way life could have been had someone not step up to defend women.
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).
During America's early history, women were denied some of the rights to well-being by men. For example, married women couldn't own property and had no legal claim to any money that they might earn, and women hadn't the right to vote. They were expected to focus on housework and motherhood, and didn't have to join politics. On the contrary, they didn't have to be interested in them. Then, in order to ratify this amendment they were prompted to a long and hard fight; victory took decades of agitation and protest. Beginning in the 19th century, some generations of women's suffrage supporters lobbied to achieve what a lot of Americans needed: a radical change of the Constitution. The movement for women's rights began to organize after 1848 at the national level. In July of that year, reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton(1815-1902) and Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), along with Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) and other activists organized the first convention for women's rights at Seneca Falls, New York. More than 300 people, mostly women but also some men, attended it. Then, they raised public awar...
Up until and during the mid -1800’s, women were stereotyped and not given the same rights that men had. Women were not allowed to vote, speak publically, stand for office and had no influence in public affairs. They received poorer education than men did and there was not one church, except for the Quakers, that allowed women to have a say in church affairs. Women also did not have any legal rights and were not permitted to own property. Overall, people believed that a woman only belonged in the home and that the only rule she may ever obtain was over her children. However, during the pre- Civil war era, woman began to stand up for what they believed in and to change the way that people viewed society (Lerner, 1971). Two of the most famous pioneers in the women’s rights movement, as well as abolition, were two sisters from South Carolina: Sarah and Angelina Grimké.
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.
As mentioned above, women’s role were unjust to the roles and freedoms of the men, so an advanced education for women was a strongly debated subject at the beginning of the nineteenth century (McElligott 1). The thought of a higher chance of education for women was looked down upon, in the early decades of the nineteenth century (The American Pageant 327). It was established that a women’s role took part inside the household. “Training in needlecraft seemed more important than training in algebra” (327). Tending to a family and household chores brought out the opinion that education was not necessary for women (McElligott 1). Men were more physically and mentally intellectual than women so it was their duty to be the educated ones and the ones with the more important roles. Women were not allowed to go any further than grammar school in the early part of the 1800’s (Westward Expansion 1). If they wanted to further their education beyond grammar, it had to be done on their own time because women were said to be weak minded, academically challenged and could n...
For over centuries, society had established the societal standard of the women. This societal standard pictured the ideal American woman running the household and taking care of the children while her husband provided for the family. However, between 1770 and 1860, this societal standard began to tear at the seams. Throughout this time period, women began to search for a new ideal of American womanhood by questioning and breaking the barriers society had placed upon them.
Women had a role in the forming of our country that many historians overlook. In the years leading to the revolution and after women were political activists. During the war, women took care of the home front. Some poor women followed the army and assisted to the troops. They acted as cooks, laundresses and nurses. There were even soldiers and spies that were women. After the revolution, women advocated for higher education. In the early 1800’s women aided in the increase of factories, and the changing of American society. Women in America were an important and active part of achieving independence and the framing of American life over the years.
All in all, American suffragists sacrificed their time and risked their lives just to claim themselves the right that they should be given for long time ago. The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920 which give American women a voice in politics by voting. Following the ratification was the time of World War II that gave women opportunity to get back to the work force. Men were being sent out to war, women were recruited actively in working forces. Despite the contribution of women to the war, they were still seen as secondary to men. Because of that, the hope for equality in gender in the United States grew even stronger after World War II.
This movement which was inspired by the ideologies of courageous women and fueled by their enthusiasm and sacrifice is often unacknowledged by most historians in the chronicles of American History. Today the movement is often misunderstood as a passive, white upper class, naive cause. But a deeper study would reveal that the women’s suffrage movement was the one that brought together the best and brightest women in America, which not only changed the lives of half the citizens of United States but also changed the social attitudes of millions of Americans.
Women did not have an easy life during the American Colonial period. Before a woman reached 25 years of age, she was expected to be married with at least one child. Most, if not all, domestic tasks were performed by women, and most domestic goods and food were prepared and created by women. Women performed these tasks without having any legal acknowledgment. Although women had to endure many hardships, their legal and personal lives were becoming less restricted, although the change was occurring at a snail’s pace.
Society has long since considered women the lessor gender and one of the most highly debated topics in society through the years has been that of women’s equality. The debates began over the meaning between a man and woman’s morality and a woman’s rights and obligations in society. After the 19th Amendment was sanctioned around 1920, the ball started rolling on women’s suffrage. Modern times have brought about the union of these causes, but due to the differences between the genetic makeup and socio demographics, the battle over women’s equality issue still continues to exist. While men have always held the covenant role of the dominant sex, it was only since the end of the 19th century that the movement for women’s equality and the entitlement of women have become more prevalent. “The general consensus at the time was that men were more capable of dealing with the competitive work world they now found themselves thrust into. Women, it was assumed, were unable to handle the pressures outside of the home. They couldn’t vote, were discourages from working, and were excluded from politics. Their duty to society was raising moral children, passing on the values that were unjustly thrust upon them as society began to modernize” (America’s Job Exchange, 2013). Although there have been many improvements in the changes of women’s equality towards the lives of women’s freedom and rights in society, some liberals believe that women have a journey to go before they receive total equality. After WWII, women continued to progress in there crusade towards receiving equality in many areas such as pay and education, discrimination in employment, reproductive rights and later was followed by not only white women but women from other nationalities ...
In previous times, the equality between men and women were at dramatic differences. It is frequently believed that women’s suffrage was desired and fought for only in England and the United States during the 19th century. Though these movement changes in their reasons and tactics, the battle of female suffrage, along with other women’s rights concerns, cut through many national boundaries. Women’s rights and suffrage had changed drastically from the 1890 till the time of Nixon’s Administration. During these time markers women had been treated poorly, they felt as if they weren’t equal to the other citizens of the world, especially the men. There are countless activities involving women, but the most spoke about topics is, women’s rights, their suffrage, and the roles they played.
“I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves” – Mary Wollstonecraft. In the 19th century the hot topic was women’s rights everybody had an opinion about it. Of course the expected ones like Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had much to say but a few unexpected ones like William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass spoke out for women’s rights. The focus will be the responsibilities and roles that the activists played in the Women’s Rights or Feminist Movement. The relevance to the theme is the activists had a very important role toward reaching the ultimate goal of the Women’s Rights Movement. The Women’s Rights Movement was one of the most essential times in American history; it was the fight for women acquiring the same rights as men. Susan B. Anthony was considered the leader of the Women’s Rights Movement after she was denied the right to speak in a temperance convention; she had the responsibility of creating the National Women’s Suffrage Association (NWSA) and helping to secure voting rights by her historic court case, the Trials of Susan B. Anthony. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an important women’s rights activist that helped plan the first organized women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York and wrote the Declaration of Sentiments. Lucretia Mott worked along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton to plan the first women’s rights convention and wrote the, “Discourse on Women”. Lucy Stone formed the American Women’s Suffrage Association (AWSA) and convince individual states to join the effort towards women rights. These women had an influence in the National American Women’s Suffrage Association’s (NAWSA) achievement of the goals in the Women’s Rights Movement. These women had a profound effect on reaching equal rights between men and women.
As centuries pass by, generations also pass their traditional values to the next generation. some people still think the way their ancestors thought and believe in what they believed in. During the beginning of 1890 people couldn’t have premarital sex, women had to be the caretaker while men were the breadwinner. During this century, those perspectives have changed, argued Stephanie Coontz, the author of “The American Family”. Coontz believes women should have more freedom and there should be gender equality.
Throughout history, women have remained subordinate to men. Subjected to the patriarchal system that favored male perspectives, women struggled against having considerably less freedom, rights, and having the burdens society placed on them that had been so ingrained the culture. This is the standpoint the feminists took, and for almost 160 years they have been challenging the “unjust distribution of power in all human relations” starting with the struggle for equality between men and women, and linking that to “struggles for social, racial, political, environmental, and economic justice”(Besel 530 and 531). Feminism, as a complex movement with many different branches, has and will continue to be incredibly influential in changing lives.