Women’s restriction in the workforce was also because of their forced dependency on men and poor socio-economic status of women. Women were seen to have no intelligence; their higher education was not seen as needed. Only those women who had higher social standings and wealth had a right to higher education. Along with Christian woman’s lack of higher of education, they were highly subordinate to men, meaning their father, brothers, and husband. They were not a loud to own land and also had to pass on their inheritance to their husband.
Abigail Adams was one of the first women to question male superiority and the importance of laws for women which ultimately led to establishment of Women’s Rights. For women in America life in the early 18th century was associated with domestic activities. They were required to take care of household and raise the children while men were expected to support family with food and other common needs in order to survive. Even women who belonged to the upper class and had maids to help around the house were still expected to stay at home and be by the side of their husbands when necessary. Marriages were usually based on economic partnership and cultural believes.
As a result of this, social mobility was limited at this time and people socialised in small circles, with only those of a similar class. Any socialisation out of this was seen as absurd. It was women especially that felt the limitations of the late 18th century/early 19th century, as there were strict expectations of them. Women were seen as possessions of men, and expected to be educated and well behaved, mostly in hope to ensure themselves a husband of wealth in order to further themselves as women did not inherit any land or money from their fathers, this went to the closest male relative. Any kind of acting out of against the expected image of a woman would be seen as shameful and would lead to isolation even further in terms of socialisation and the hope of a husband.
Women, however, usually stayed at home to take care of the children, prepare the food, make clothing and other material products, and the women usually directed indentured servants in the absence of the male dominant. The rise of food supply and wealth enabled the wealthier women to have more children, increasing the population. There was not much involvement with women and trade, and bearing a child would be one of the main reasons. Economic involvement was difficult for women who had to take care of children. The rise of the economy brought colonial America to a more democratic style, which led to changes in the political and religious systems as well.
The women from all three of the countries had to participate in farmworke or some type of work that would benefit the house. The woman’s main role was to take care of the house and the children, and if the husband was not home yet that also meant tending to the farm. And they were not allowed to own any kind of property
“Men made the laws that gave them control over women’s wages and property, that gave husbands authority over their wives, and that deprived women of the children in divorce.”( Nash 11) It was blatant that women were deprived from a majority of their rights during this time period. Women were also not allowed to pursue the professional career they desired. “Education for women in the 1800s was minimal during that period. Schooling was for the male gender,
This story expresses a concern of the role women, particularly within the aspect of marriage, maternity, and domesticity. During the nineteenth century there was a clear, rigid distinction of the domestic function of the female and the active work of the male. The woman of the house was responsible to keep the house in order, by cooking, cleaning, nurturing and making sure the kids were doing well in school. Since women were to remain docile, they were view as second class citizens. This lifestyle kept most women in a child-like state of ignorance, since they were so sheltered from what the real world was actually like.
Elinor’s character ‘cares little for conventional properties and is driven solely by concern for others’. Do you agree ? Conventional is conforming to accepted standards. In the novel ‘Year of Wonder’ written by Geraldine Brooks the patriarchal society of 1666-67 is one of which divides the people according to their financial and social status. For some characters, conventional properties are something they care little for, but instead re driven solely by concern for others.
She no longer has a place in the community or general public other than the wife of a man. The grievance in the Declaration of Independence blames the king for cutting off trade with the rest of the world. Trade is essential to live as a functioning society, and having abolished trade with the rest of the world, the U.S. had no place in it. One of the grievances from the Declaration of Sentiments states that women were not allowed to practice professions such as law or medicine. This they could not do because they were not allowed into any college, as another grievance states.
The only things women were “good for” was taking care of their children and husband. Women has many obligations and very few choices, it was a women’s obligation to take care of her family as well as, clean, cook, sew, knit, and basically do anything and everything her husband asked or demanded. Women were more salves than actual wives. They were owned by men, whether it was her father, brothers, cousins, and/or husbands, they were viewed more as property than actual humans. Girls had to learn this life style at a very early age, if their mothers were busy gathering food; the daughter was to maintain the household.