Women were not typically presented as being inferior to men and having more leadership qualities. Education was regarded as important for both genders, but men typically had more accessible access to education since they were regarded as being people who can own land and make most of the decisions. Needless to say, this was disheartening for the women because they were typically stuck pursuing the same roles on a day to day basis. Education during this time period came a long way from what it used to be, and women were finally able to become educated citizens Education of women during this time helped reduce the gender barriers, gave women the ability to become educated and functional members of society, and it gave women a sense of hope that things could become better.
Gender barriers were always prevalent in American society. Men were viewed as being the financial supporters of the family and usually provided for the family by farming or purchasing land while women were typically viewed as the care takers and the people who took care of the family. Since women primarily focused on the family, they were not seen as being the main source of the income for the family even though they had qualifications for something better. Women’s perception differed depending on their social class. According to the summary about the book “Confederate Daughters: Coming of Age during the Civil War”, elite white women tried to maintain their status and were trained to become wives and
Women, although were able to vote, did not have much authority over many aspects of their lives. They were not given a voice to express or represent themselves. They were not considered equivalent to men. The Persons Case allowed them to run for public positions, attend university and get better a education. They were finally able to control their life, make decisions and were given more opportunities, as to what they want to become, rather than always teachers, nurses, and other “women suitable” jobs.
Their actions proved that they were mentally capable of more than previously believed. Now women were expected to keep the morale of the household intact by supporting her husband (Berkin 154). A woman was also expected to educate her children in the same values of the republic, a role that use to belong to a male. However, now she was able to learn enough about government, politics and philosophy in order to teach her children to become good citizens (Berkin 155). 5)
Leading up to the 19th century women beginning to want a new change in the system. Not only just for women’s rights but for equality to be made to everyone. The era of this new decade allowed for so many changes to be made, both good and bad depending on who you asked. Women taught traditions passed down, never being able to branch out on their own were finally able to have new freedoms. These are the women who caused a difference in history and helped fight for right to be equal.
The educated women were able to build off of the ideas and achievements women who came before them and work
Another was that women wanted to step in and help their country wherever possible. Lastly was when the women in this era gained
As women became more involved their ability to further improve their societal standing increased as they gained more power through reform. Women became more involved in the workforce. They were paid more, better protected, and more well respected. World War One showed the nation that women could fill the role of men and produce on a level that made them important. Women also changed the progressive era by focusing on the welfare of the poor and low class.
During this time, people believed that women were only good at cooking, cleaning, or nurturing their children and couldn’t do much else. Because people thought this way, women were uneducated unless they were in the upper class. Wealthy women would sometimes have private tutors that would teach them.
1. Conditions before the 19th amendment In order to understand the following information, it is important to examine the conditions before the 19th amendment was passed. This also helps us to understand the resistance that the women’s suffrage movement faced. Prior to the amendment, women were not legally allowed to vote.
The Unnamed Woman Up until the 1900’s woman had few rights, thus they relied heavily on men. Women could not vote, they could not own their own property, and very few worked. Women’s jobs were solely to care for children and take care of the home. Women during this time, typically accepted their roles in society and the economy ( “Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1909”).
The life of Women in the late 1800s. Life for women in the 1800s began to change as they pushed for more rights and equality. Still, men were seen as better than women, this way of thinking pushed women to break out from the limitations imposed on their sex. In the early 1800s women had virtually no rights and ultimately were not seen as people but they rather seen as items of possession, it wasn’t until the late 1800s that women started to gain more rights. The Civil War actually opened opportunities for women to gain more rights, because with many of the men gone to war women were left with the responsibilities that men usually fulfilled during that time period.
Boydston writes, “But if middle-class women were encased in the image of the nurturant (and non laboring) mother, working-class women found that their visible inability to replicate that model worked equally hard against them.” The standard during the Antebellum period was a woman that didn’t do any kind of laborious task other than housework which was thought as being an enriching and awarding process. However, wage-earning women visibly were unable to live up to these new standards because they were forced out of their own gender sphere of domesticity just to find work. During the Antebellum period, it was believed to be a men’s sphere to work and men masculinity was based on the fact of being the main “breadwinner” for the family. By a woman going into this sphere they went against the formation of the two gender spheres.
Women were subject to a wide-ranging discrimination that marked them as secondary citizens, which is what gilderlehrman.org says. “She had no right to own property in her own name or to pursue career of her choice.” In addition, the article states, “Women could not vote, serve on juries, or hold public office.” Women didn’t have any rights that they wanted and were mostly not allowed to do anything which is unfair. A married woman had no separate legal identity from that of her husband.
The women were expected to create a happy home, guard the religion, and the morality of her family. The unmarried and married women who tried to seek work outside the home faced limited employment opportunities because of their gender. Women were expected to only focus on domestic duties and her role were limited to continue living in the man’s world. Women roles were expected to be in line with the culture and norms set by the society. The American culture perceived that women were not intellectually and emotionally stable to be involved in the complex world of work and, therefore, women did not take up leadership and political roles.
There was no benefit for women during this period. Their role in society even regressed at this period in time. Some of the ways that women’s roles in society regressed are that they had no power, they were seen at property, they had little to no access to education or culture. A woman’s main role was to be a housewife and to have children. The first point of women having now power is that men had control over their women.
Raisin in the Sun: Gender Roles Defied Following the event of World War Two, America during the 1950s was an era of economic prosperity. Male soldiers had just returned home from war to see America “at the summit of the world”(Churchill). Many Americans were confident that the future held nothing other than peace and prosperity, so they decided to start families. However, the 1950s was also a time of radical changes. Because most of the men in the family had departed to fight in the war, women were left at home to do the housework.