Hunter Elzy
Hodges
English 113
October 2017
Literature Research Paper
Throughout history, gender roles of both men and women have changed in many ways, they are almost constantly evolving and changing. Over the years, starting with the original Sherlock Holmes books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle set in the 19th century all the way through the most recent version of Sherlock Holmes stories such as the BBC show Sherlock that is set in present day all show a good representation of how the gender roles of both men and women were during the time and how they played a role in each of the characters in each version of the stories.
Starting in the 18th century, the idea that men and women have natural distinct characteristics from each other was universal. The distinction between men and women came from Christian ideology, classical thought, and science. Men were viewed as the stronger, smarter, determined and more aggressive of the two sexes. While women were viewed as emotional, compassionate,
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In The Sign of the Four, the female character is miss Mary Morstan who is introduced as the classic woman of the late 19th century. Miss Morstan is a pale, quiet, blonde that is dressed in nice clothes. At first, she is timid as shown by the fact that her father disappeared years ago, and she is just now coming forward with the case but as the book goes on, you can see the change in her personality and the role she plays. Not only does she take initiative by bringing the case to Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson but she then decides that she is going to be involved in solving the case which was very unlikely for a woman to do in the Victorian era because women were still viewed as more fragile and not as smart as men. This is a good demonstration on how as time goes on women have become more comfortable and confident in what they’re
Gender binary is a classification system that people use to identify as maleness and femaleness. In the Colonial and Industrial era, the gender binary that one identified themselves with, played an important role in how society shaped their lives. For generations, society has separated the duties of males and females. Men are usually higher on the power spectrum, whereas women are inferior . However, over the course of the colonial and industrial eras, there were many changes in the role of genders.
From colonial times to the late 19th century women were treated as weak and inferior to men. Over the years and several events such as the American Revolution and Great Awakening women worked on gaining rights and opportunities such as men. How did gender roles from colonial times to early 19th century define men and women’s political and economic life? During the year’s women had little to no role in politics because they were seen as weak, unintelligent, inferior, and property. As for men, it was socially and morally acceptable to work for a money and play a part in politics.
Women in the 1800’s Women had no rights in the 1800’s and were put through abuse, violence and rape. Servant women were frequently raped in their master’s house. There was major inequality with men and women and there were very heavy gender roles set that made it almost impossible for these women to escape these homes. Professor Chloe W. Smith, and author Jone J. Lewis, talk about these struggles and how some women tried to combat the struggles. The life of a woman throughout the 1800’s was challenging because of domestic abuse and rape at their workplace, and home and the inequality issues with men and women in society.
In the nineteenth century many changes were happening in American. American just twenty-four years before got their freedom from Great Britain. This freedom helped shaped the country in the nineteenth century to what was known as the Market Revolution. Market Revolution shifted from self sufficient farms and communities to commercial farms and manufacturing interests. The Market Revolution reshaped the economy by the Industrial, the Transportation, Communication Revolution as well as the regional differences in America and the shift in gender roles in the nineteenth century.
The context of the changing roles of women between the periods of 1890-1920 and 1960-1980 are voting rights and equal pay in the workplace. Women's roles have changed a lot over the many years women have gone from being housewives to working in the factories. The roles of women changed from 1890-1920 to 1960-1980 and one of the big changes from 1890 to 1980 is women's voting rights because women couldn't vote in 1890 but they could in 1980. Another one is women in the workforce because in 1890 women were expected to provide for their homes and not work but by 1980 most women worked.
Men were very unfair and weren’t very kind. In comparison, men were treated like royalty and they got to do what they wanted and no one controlled their decisions but women were controlled by the unruly men in the world. Women were treated very differently because they weren’t the same as
The 1920s were an era of exciting social reforms and deep cultural struggles. During this decade, time became progressive for women in America. Women were allowed to experience freedom on a more personal level. This didn’t hold back all the sexism that caused quite the controversy. Women from rural parts of the country started moving to the urban areas in search of jobs.
Women and men from the 2000’s differ from the women and men of the 1800’s. They play many different roles now than, they did back then. Women and men have always been separated by certain standards until recent times. They have very little to no similarities between the two times in history. Women and men of the 1800’s often played different roles and were treated differently.
From 1815 to 1850, many issues occurred including the racial prejudice of African Americans and unfairness towards women. Starting at the beginning of this time period, African Americans were either born into, or later sold into slavery. On the other hand, women were treated unfairly because they had much less rights than men had. For example, women were deprived of their natural rights and were unable to vote, work in the fields, or own property. The U.S. did not fulfill the ideals of the Declaration of Independence for all people by 1850 because, slavery was still going on and women's rights were not fully accepted into the society.
Looking in from the outside, the journey of Women’s rights was a lengthy one, and it has come a significant way from what it began as. It was a long road to freedom that started with just a few women protesting together for change in the mid 1800’s to the large movement it is today. What started only as an effort to put women on equal footing with men in the voting realm blossomed into a full on fight against gender norms and independence through protesting, speeches, and gatherings. Gender norms or ‘roles’ are (as defined by Webster’s dictionary) “a set of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex” and they are one thing that modern feminist have set their sights on to change for the better. Traditional gender roles have continued to exist for hundreds of years through perpetrators such as religion, government and society, and its effects have been felt by every woman, whether they realize it or not.
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes from 1760 to sometime in between 1820 and 1840. It was a major turning point in history that influenced almost every aspect of daily life. Before the Industrial Revolution women and men had jobs inside of the household. Some men worked outside and were getting paid to do so. Many were self-employed farmers, craftsmen, and other occupations.
The women’s rights movement of the 19th century took place all over America. Some states were more severe than others, but in the end women were able to achieve what they wanted most, equality. Women could contribute to society, and now had a chance to represent themselves. They had more educational opportunities, and entered into male professions. Their salaries increased and could hold leadership positions.
A historian by the name of Ed Ayers once said “The exploitative natures of women’s work throughout history has been enormous.” I believe that this statement is true because after looking at history it shows that there were so many things that they had to overcome to get to the rights that they have today. Women during the 1700’s and 1800’s were challenged with expressing themselves in a social system that refused to grant women the right to express their views. Many events during these centuries which included things such as social and political movements that increased attention to women's issues like education reform. By the end of the 1800’s women were finally able to speak out against the injustices aimed at them.
Although gender roles have changed over time, where males and females have become more equivalent , a certain level of behaviors and tasks which are acceptable for men and women still exist today. Alternatively of women and men steadily playing the gender roles they always play, they should change it around and try to do something divergent when being defined in a category of gender roles. However, women are becoming equal to men in our generation. For instance , would be men can take supervision of the children when the women go to work. Women are more maverick that they don’t need to depend on a man.
In the early modern era it was a man’s world. Men were said to be smarter than woman. There are many different reasons why men are more important in society. One of the reasons would be that a woman’s purpose in life was to be a virgin until marriage and then have children. A woman that wasn’t married in society had no purpose because women were meant to live under the authority of men.