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Between 1865 and 1920, many different groups of people fought for their freedom. Each group had their own definition of freedom and most of them worked hard to preserve perfect freedom, but they soon realized that freedom can only exist under the restrictions and therefore there are no such things as perfect freedom. The restrictions always exist in society, but under the restrictions, freedom can still be preserved and sometimes the restrictions can help to establish freedom. For example, 13th amendment abolished slavery, which restricts freedom to own a human as a property, but at the same time it protects a greater amount of people’s freedom. This example applies to many cases such as for women, they faced many restrictions by the law and society, but the restrictions helped women to preserve certain freedom and that freedom must be protected under any circumstances. The best definition of freedom for women back in the late 19th century was to have rights to take care their family and to keep good health. During the late 19th century, women’s major roles in society was to take care of their family and to take control of what is happening in their households, and they wanted to keep those rights to preserve their freedom. The Cult of Domesticity became popular during this time period, and it allowed women to be in charge of domestic issues, but it also restricted women’s activities such as political involvement, having a job, and more. Even though it restricted women’s activities and allowed them to do only housework, home was women’s freedom where she can be in charge and take care of her husband and children. Generally it is understood that in many cases women care more about children than men, and most women tend to do bette... ... middle of paper ... ...edom only exists under the restriction. The freedom for women can be defined as rights to take care of their family and to keep good health. In modern society, some part of this definition still apply to women, because in the most cases, women do more housework then men, even though they both work outside. This is because women tend to do better housework. Therefore women must have rights to take care of their housework. During the 19th century, many women worked hard to gain suffrage, but women’s suffrage is unnecessary to define the word “freedom” for women. There must be restriction to preserve freedom and this is one of those restrictions. By having this restriction women can freely appeal to any political parties about different issues. There is no way people can have absolute freedom, but sometimes the restrictions can help protect rights to preserve freedom.
During the late nineteenth century, the notion of ?separate spheres? dictated that the women?s world was limited to the home, taking care of domestic concerns. Women were considered to be in the private sphere of society. Men on the other hand were assigned the role of the public sphere, consisting in the participation of politics, law and economics. Women in the meantime were to preserve religious and moral ideals within the home, placing children on the proper path while applying valuable influence on men. The idea was that the typical middle class woman would teach children middle class values so that they too will enjoy the luxuries and benefits in the future that the middle class has to offer (Lecture, 10/17).
Throughout most of recorded history, women generally have endured significantly fewer career opportunities and choices, and even less legal rights, than that of men. The “weaker sex,” women were long considered naturally, both physically and mentally, inferior to men. Delicate and feeble minded, women were unable to perform any task that required muscular or intellectual development. This idea of women being inherently weaker, coupled with their natural biological role of the child bearer, resulted in the stereotype that “a woman’s place is in the home.” Therefore, wife and mother were the major social roles and significant professions assigned to women, and were the ways in which women identified and expressed themselves. However, women’s history has also seen many instances in which these ideas were challenged-where women (and some men) fought for, and to a large degree accomplished, a re-evaluation of traditional views of their role in society.
Through out history, Americans have fought for the rights of freedom in their country, freedoms that have been passed down through dozen’s of generations. Freedom’s such as religion, speech, press, slavery and the right to vote. Americans, though very aware of their freedoms, often take them for granted and forget the struggles that their ancestors went through to obtain them. One example of this struggle is a woman’s right to be treated and looked upon by the government as equals. This was not an easy battle to win, and it took a strong few to begin to bring the struggle that women had faced for centuries to an end.
Women in this era had just begun to secure some freedom from their typical cultural expectations. They were expected to take care of the children, cook, clean, sew and be presentable to society. As jobs were made available to women, only a low percentage of these women started to work outside of the home. This means that many women had chosen to stay inside the home to remain in the role of “house keeper”. Even though the woman attained some freedom they were still considered inferior to men. Men still had the most authority in the household and
Yet, as the years advanced toward the Civil War and Reconstruction, the public, monetary matters, and political functions for women started to transform. Women’s attire became chic, even for countryside and lower-class women. Their outfits, which began to “show the details bodies to their benefit,” showed the passion and power of women to rid themselves from the harsh commands of the male-dominated society. While most married women performed labors in the home—and their “inconveniences growing heavily” in regards to the expansion of non-farming jobs for men—it was not unusual for women mainly those who lost their husbands during the Civil War, to earn income. Even though the social and financial transformations brought about many rights for women, possibly the most important change during the 19th and early 20th centuries was made of the political transformations brought about by the numerous number of reform groups in regards to women’s liberties, such as ending slavery, voting rights , self-control, and education.
The right to vote went to the land holding male of the family, all-though in many instances women were capable of swaying their husband’s opinions. Women were not the furthest from liberty, though they were still subject to man’s will. “As factories began to do many of the things women had done at home previously, such as spinning and weaving, women were left with a little time to devote to other projects.” Other projects, including: education, protection of women and later women’s suffrage. Laws did not protect women from their husband’s the way they act today; when a woman married, she lost control of her rights, under coverture: “that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband: under whose wing… she performs everything.” Safeguards did exist, that kept men from treating women outside of their station, however women had no protection, financially, from their husband’s poor decisions. Unmarried women were starting to become a common occurrence in the years leading up to the civil war. “They had the legal right to live where they pleased, and
Many ancient laws and beliefs show that women from all around the world have always been considered inferior to men. However, as time went on, ideas of equality circulated around and women started to demand equality. Many women fought for equality and succeeded in bringing some rights. However, full equality for women has yet to be fulfilled. This issue is important because many women believe that the rights of a person should not be infringed no matter what their gender is, and by not giving them equality, their rights are being limited. During the periods 1840 to 1968, total equality for women did not become a reality due to inadequate political representation, economic discrepancy, and commercial objectification.
Sixty- nine years after the Declaration of Independence, one group of women gathered together and formed the Seneca Falls Convention. Prior and subsequent to the convention, women were not allowed to vote because they were not considered equal to men. During the convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton delivered the “Declaration of Sentiments.” It intentionally resembles the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal…” (Stanton, 466). She replaced the “men” with “men and women” to represent that women and men should be treated equally. Stanton and the other women in the convention tried to fight for voting rights. Dismally, when the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced to the Congress, the act failed to be passed. Even though women voiced their opinions out and urged for justice, they could not get 2/3 of the states to agree to pass the amendment. Women wanted to tackle on the voting inequalities, but was resulted with more inequalities because people failed to listen to them. One reason why women did not achieve their goals was because the image of the traditional roles of women was difficult to break through. During this time period, many people believed that women should remain as traditional housewives.
A house is not a home if no one lives there. During the nineteenth century, the same could be said about a woman concerning her role within both society and marriage. The ideology of the Cult of Domesticity, especially prevalent during the late 1800’s, emphasized the notion that a woman’s role falls within the domestic sphere and that females must act in submission to males. One of the expected jobs of a woman included bearing children, despite the fact that new mothers frequently experienced post-partum depression. If a woman were sterile, her purposefulness diminished. While the Cult of Domesticity intended to create obliging and competent wives, women frequently reported feeling trapped or imprisoned within the home and within societal expectations put forward by husbands, fathers, and brothers.
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.
Although many stereotypes exist today about women, they were even worse back in the nineteenth century. Women were seen as delicate and unable to work for their own incomes; therefore, they were seen as the “weaker” sex. Because women did not have the brazenness to stand up for themselves, they continues to do what their husbands said. Society’s cultured view on women was t...
Due to the idealization of domesticity in media, there was a significantly stagnant period of time for women’s rights between 1945 and 1959. Women took over the roles for men in the workplace who were fighting abroad during the early 1940s, and a strong, feminist movement rose in the 1960s. However, in between these time periods, there was a time in which women returned to the home, focusing their attention to taking care of the children and waiting on their husband’s every need. This was perpetuated due to the increasing popularity of media’s involvement in the lives of housewives, such as the increasing sales of televisions and the increase in the number of sexist toys.
The industrialization of the nineteenth century was a tremendous social change in which Britain initially took the lead on. This meant for the middle class a new opening for change which has been continuing on for generations. Sex and gender roles have become one of the main focuses for many people in this Victorian period. Sarah Stickney Ellis was a writer who argued that it was the religious duty of women to improve society. Ellis felt domestic duties were not the only duties women should be focusing on and thus wrote a book entitled “The Women of England.” The primary document of Sarah Stickney Ellis’s “The Women of England” examines how a change in attitude is greatly needed for the way women were perceived during the nineteenth century. Today women have the freedom to have an education, and make their own career choice. She discusses a range of topics to help her female readers to cultivate their “highest attributes” as pillars of family life#. While looking at Sarah Stickney Ellis as a writer and by also looking at women of the nineteenth century, we will be able to understand the duties of women throughout this century. Throughout this paper I will discuss the duties which Ellis refers to and why she wanted a great change.
The late nineteenth century was a critical time in reshaping the rights of women. Commonly this era is considered to be the beginning of what is know to western feminists as “first-wave feminism.” First-wave feminism predominately fought for legal rights such as suffrage, and property rights. A major hallmark of first-wave feminism is the concept of the “New Woman.” The phrase New Woman described educated, independent, career oriented women who stood in response to the idea of the “Cult of Domesticity,” that is the idea that women are meant to be domestic and submissive (Stevens 27). Though the concept of the New Woman was empowering to many, some women did not want to give up their roles as housewives. These women felt there was a great dignity in the lifestyle of the housewife, and that raising children was not a job to scoff at. Mary Freeman's short story “The Revolt of 'Mother',” tells the story of such a domestic woman, Sarah, who has no interest in leaving her position as mother, but still wishes to have her voice heard in the private sphere of her home. Freeman's “Revolt of Mother,” illustrates an alternative means of resistance for women who rejected the oppression of patriarchy without a withdrawal from the domestic lifestyle.
In the past, many people believed that women’s exclusive responsibilities were to serve their husband, to be great mothers and to be the perfect wives. Those people considered women to be more appropriate for homemaking rather than to be involved in business or politics. This meant that women were not allowed to have a job, to own property or to enjoy the same major rights as men. The world is changing and so is the role of women in society. In today’s society, women have rights that they never had before and higher opportunities to succeed.