Oppression Of Women

3338 Words14 Pages
Marriage, Social Conventions, The Bible, and the Oppression of Women Marital status helped define the social role and legal rights of women. These social roles created an oppression of women that had unseen repercussions. Some liberated women of the antebellum period were beginning to define themselves as intellectual and political creatures outside of their domestic roles. But, these women were few. They were not large enough in number to make any severe impact on the antebellum period. Their vivacity gave hope to the women of the future. Men used the Bible as a source of control over women. Some of the women tried to defend themselves with a more liberal interpretation of the Good Book, but were futile. Certainly there is the plight of…show more content…
All that she owned became her husband’s property and all that she gained during her marriage automatically became her husband’s property. Women of the time did not understand this, because it was ludicrous and unfair. Antebellum women saw no hope of escaping this common law. Women’s caliber of oppression was not as acute as slaves, and they were only allowed a certain amount of bravery, if they wanted to be socially acceptable. Good women of the ear were afraid of the world and of being alone.21 A social convention of the time period was dependent and fearful women made for an appropriate…show more content…
Even so, there were two prominent women that regenerated an uproar regarding the political and social status of women. The Grimké sisters were beginning the shift back to female liberty. Angelina and Sarah Grimké were two prominent pro-active women for their time period. Politically, they were decades ahead of the antebellum ideology. They called for women to rise up against slavery together, and in doing so, would be exalting themselves, as a gender, into a role of authority.25 They used the Christian religion to help give them credibility when they discussed the equality of women and men. The sisters’ arguments were that if God views men and women equally, which he does, according to the Bible, then men should view women equally also. The Bible was an important part to their argument for women’s
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