Women's Rights in the Nineteenth Century

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In the Nineteenth Century, women were not given the rights that they are able to experience today, one woman in particular was said to, “possess more influence upon the thought of American women than any woman previous to her time” (Norton Anthology 740). Margaret Fuller was an accomplished writer of many essays and also the author of a book that talked about women’s rights before the time of women’s suffrage movements. During a time when women were not supposed to have the education that men were, Fuller was taught by her father many different languages and carried a great understanding of that a student from a university would have. Moreover, Fuller devoted much of her time to being a columnist for a newspaper and argued for women’s equality to men. Fuller’s works showed how education, career, and marriage were the major issues that women faced in their fight for equality.

Women in the early days of America, even the world, were not shown the same treatment as a man would have been given, they were beneath them. Women were always seen as the care giver and food preparer of the house, while the man would find work or get an education at a university. According to Susan Cruea, “Women had the opportunity to attend female seminaries and colleges, the curriculum at these schools was limited to religious instruction and basic "book learning" which would enable a mother to later educate her children. Intellectual pursuits were strongly discouraged; instead, a True Woman was expected "to fulfill herself in the 'instinctive' arts of child rearing, domestic pursuits, and spiritual comfort".” So women could attend school to help their children, but could not take their education any higher because of being a woman and that would make the...

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... of America to now, the women that started the movements for women’s rights would be grateful for what has and is still being accomplished because that is what they wanted for themselves.

Works Cited:

• Cruea, Susan M. “Changing Ideals of Womanhood during the Nineteenth-Century Woman Movement.” ATQ: 19th century American Literature and Culture 19.3. 2005. 187+. Literature Resources for Gale. Web 28 March 2014.

• Fest, Kerstin. “Angels In The House Or Girl Power: Working Women In the Nineteenth-Century Novels And Contemporary Chick Lit.” Women’s Studies 38.1.2009. 43-62. Academic Search Premier. Web 28 March 2014.

• Fuller, Margaret. Women in the Nineteenth Century. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1971. Print.

• Baym, Nina, and Levine, Robert S., Eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: Julia Reidhead, 2012. 740-777. Print.

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