The 18th century was an age of change and enlightenment. For America it was the time of social change which ultimately led to American Revolution and establishment of the new democratic country where all people were equal by the law. These changes dramatically affected the role of women from been nurturing parent to also becoming a teacher and companion of the husband. However, the changes that occurred inside the families weren’t reflected into social world where men were still dominating force. 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.
350,000 women were in unions in 1914, but 600,000 by 1918. Although many women found themselves earning good wages for the first time during the war, women were always paid less than men, and were not promoted as often as their male colleagues. The war did lead to real changes in social attitudes. Women had more freedom after the war. Their clothing became much simpler, with shorter skirts and sleeves.
Women DBQ Between the American Revolution and the outbreak of the Civil War, the ideals of womanhood were changed-not necessarily significantly-and evolved into a more “positive” image for woman. The idea of Republican Motherhood that took root during the American Revolution, which basically labeled women as having the job to train their children (especially male), eventually transformed into the idea of a Cult of Domesticity, which gave women the sole task of caring for the home and leaving real jobs and politics to the men. These ideas of Republican Motherhood and a Cult of Domesticity, along with the household traditions of women long-established over history, greatly influenced the lives of women during this period. The concept of Republican Motherhood began around the start of the Revolutionary War. The main concept of this role of women was that their purpose was to educate their sons properly and to make sure that when they grew up, they would be functional and hopefully upstanding members of society.
Shorter says this indicates that industrialization offered a wide scope of opportunities outside of the home causing an increase for independence. On the other side of this debate is Louise A. Tilly, Joan W. Scott and Miriam Cohen, who argue it was not that women sought independence from their traditional settings, rather that the the age of industrialism caused women to work out of need. Thus, the rise was due more to a breakdown of tradition that included a lack of support from family, community and the church. Edward Shorter opens up suggesting that the position of women within the family underwent a radical shift starting late in the eighteenth century , proposing that their roles went from powerlessness and dependency, to independence. He points out that early on social ideology made the husband supreme over the woman in the household, his only obligation was to respect her, hers, to serve and obey him1.
It is hard to imagine the suppression and adversity women lived with only a few centuries ago. Our history has alluded to an inequality of women among men, telling us that women did not deserve the same inalienable rights; the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In Stanton’s “Declaration of Sentiments’, these are spelled out quite specifically and are drawn on by her own personal experience which speak loudly for the voice of women in the mid 1800’s. It is through the work of Stanton and her supporters that women today have the rights and choices they do and through the writings of Chopin and Wollstonecraft which provide an insightful look into the suppressed yet intellectual nature of the women of their day. The contemporary
It would have been simply unreasonable to deny women the right to vote, especially now that women had more of a presence in society. However, some historians argue that the war was not actually as important as previously assumed because the women that were enfranchised were not the women who had been working for the war effort. Rex Pope, when discussing changing attitudes towards women says “Attitudes to
This provides your essay with a clear, structured argument. In 1918, the Representation of the People Act gave women over 30 the vote, if they owned property or were married to a property owner. The major reason for women receiving the vote has been a fundamental source of debate amongst historians. Whilst traditional schools of thought argue that women’s work during WWI radically changed male ideas about their role in society with traditional historians such as Ray suggesting that giving women the vote in 1918 was almost a ‘thank you’ for their efforts, revisionist historians, however, find this analysis too simplistic. AJP Taylor, for example, argues that the war ‘smoothed the way for democracy’ and so there are other factors of significance, such as, suffrage campaign groups (WSPU & NUWSS) and growing equality with men.
HY203-007 Will Rall Women’s Rights in 19th Century America The early 19th Century ushered in a new era of liberties and freedom. Although the United States Constitution stated that all man is created equal, it seemed to leave out women. Women were always seen as inferior to man because of their lack of education, masculinity and political knowledge. Women’s rights only seem to get worse after the Revolution, as America’s political parties started to gain national power. In Sarah Grimke’s Letters on the Equality of the Sexes we can see that she supports Rosemarie Zagarri’s Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic book, because of the views they shared about religion and women’s rights.
Women played a very significant part in the United States in the nineteenth-century. During this time the industrial economy was growing throughout America, mainly in the New England region. Many of the young men traveled westward to have better profitable opportunities. Therefore factory owners had to allocate a new source of labor, which they found in unmarried women between fifteen and thirty years old. The women were treated very badly and were paid very poorly.
Equal rights for women Running head: EQUAL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN Equal Rights for Women Cheryl Neale Grand Canyon University Equal Rights for Women When you think of equal rights for women I think of who started it all, Mary Wollstonecraft the first feminist or as they call her mother of feminism. It goes back to 1792, her first book Vindication of the Rights of Woman. She bought up some good points that woman did not have the same rights as man did, We was subject to what ever they said for us to do. She spoke out on family, religion, education as well as politics. I am going to touch on abuse since that is close to home.