That this woman could offer so much reform and understanding for individuals without having a degree in this field is remarkable beyond words. She was an individual who did not want expressions of praise or gratitude for her work. She refused to have hospitals named after her; she desired that her achievements “rest in silence”. This remarkable woman has touched the lives of so many and it is because of her that we can not only thank for the humanity that she brought to the mentally ill but also gives us the knowledge that living conditions can determine the state of one’s
115). There are special advantages to privilege, like who gets taken seriously, who receives attention, who is accountable to whom and for what. It also grants a presumption of superiority and social permission to act on that presumption without having to worry about being challenged. ( Johnson pg. 115).
In many ancient Chinese artworks, women are often depicted as weak, home-oriented and obedient individuals. As in several other ancient civilizations such as Egyptian and Mesopotamian, women in China remained submissive to man. Starting from the mid- Zhou dynasty in 1000 B.C.E. until the Sui dynasty in 600 C.E., Chinese civilization evolved under the heavy influence of the patriarchal view of pre- and neo-Confucianism. Due to physical disparity, occupation difference, and the gaining popularity of Confucian beliefs, Women in this time period were subjected to the hostility of men and suffered from the declining influence of their social status.
Like most other societies, it is deeply thought that the birth of a female child rather than male, was a disappointment. With the Hindu's we see a new aspect that developed rituals to avoid having a daughter. They also dedicated gods to pray to, so that their daughter may find a husband and be taken from them. The practice of marrying girls off young also was passed from the Greeks, but as Clay describes they take the age difference to a further level when she writes, "By the Gupta period, prepubescent marriages had become more common, girls as young as eight years old were married off to men and even sometimes three times their age. In the Gupta society, the women also were forced to be much more trapped than in any other societies.
This isolation was an attempt to raise her as an anchoress, a religious recluse who kept to herself. This lifestyle included the obvious confinement in a cell and the personal choice from the woman of a noble family to commit herself to this way of living as well as a covenant to sexual abstinence. (Steward 26) Hildegard had no choice because she was basically born into this lifestyle and made it obligatory to cooperate by her family. In her cell, Hildegard began to learn the extremely strict methodology of an anchoress and, without an alternative, embraced this practice in her life. Soon after, word about Hildegard’s lifestyle spread and reached other noble families who applauded her and decided to send their young female daughters to live the same way.
Gender Stereotypes in Elizabethan Times and in ‘Much ado About Nothing’ During Elizabethan times, there was an unmarried woman on the throne in England, and yet the roles of women in society were extremely limited. An example of this limitation was that only women of nobility were allowed a standard education, whereas if you were deemed not worthy of this by not being born into nobility, then you would be destined to stay at home and learn how to run the household. This would include such skills as cooking, cleaning and sewing. Those women considered to be appropriate for a ‘normal’ education, would be given the knowledge of several languages including Latin, Greek, Italian and French, however this education would cease when they reached the stage of university as it didn’t matter how noble the woman was, they would still not be allowed to attend university and so if they wished to continue their education, they would have to be taught from home. A large amount of restrictions on the life of women were in the field of profession.
The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour: Roles of Women The roles of women, not only in the American society but in many other societies too, from the early 19th throughout the 20th centuries are in fact diverse from how it’s viewed today. Women during that era barely had any freedom whatsoever. In fact, the submissive role of the woman in a marriage or other relationship was a common problem constantly during that time. The male dominance goes as far back as the beginning of the human race, so the accommodating role was merely expected of the female because of how universal it was. Women in the early 19th throughout the 20th centuries had utterly no independence at all.
ANCIENT ROMAN WOMEN Roman aristocratic women influenced politics, but they could not serve as magistrates, senators, or military commanders. During the empire, the wives of emperors began to wield more power than women had ever held before. Livia, the wife of Augustus, advised her husband for 51 years of marriage before living her last 15 years under the rule of her son, Tiberius. She was deeply devoted to her husband and family and only appeared in public to display the virtues of a Roman matron, which included chastity, modesty, frugality, loyalty, and dignity. Behind the scenes, Livia and Augustus were extremely close, and she played a part in his important decisions, although some sources unfairly portray her as the
This is also a great example because women were supposed to manage the household and have children. She did not do either of the two so that is an example of her rebelling. Another great example of Antigone rebelling and standing up for what she believes in is when she says, “I dared. / It was not God’s proclamation. That final Justice/ That rules the world below makes no such laws” (2.65-67).
In the Victorian age, women were perceived as physically and emotionally inferior to the male-dominated society and this was illustrated by the rest cure. Famed nerve specialist Dr. S. Weir Mitchell developed the rest cure to treat neurasthenia, or “nervous exhaustion” in both men and women. However, the causes and treatment of neurasthenia depended on gender. Author