Women's Wives In The 19th-20th Century

Women could not spend their money. They had no control over how they spent money. In the article “Women in ancient Athens”, the author says “A respectable woman’s main role in ancient Athens was to stay home, keep pretty, and bear children” to show that if women were expected to these things they surely couldn’t have been able to spend money or things like that. Women could not earn money. If a women was supposed to stay home and clean the house and knit, they wouldn’t have had been able

A Woman Lost in a Patriarchal Society Feminism and gender differences contribute a major role in the works of authors from the 18th and 19th century. During that point in history, women were essentially treated as second-class citizens without the ability to do anything less they faced judgment and ostracization from members of society. Women were not allowed to vote, own property nor be accepted into prominent leading positions. Instead, many were required to stay in the home and care for the family which mainly included the well being of their husband. Women lacked the freedom and independence they not only wanted but needed due to a society run patriarchal views that hindered the growth of women.

Gender is changing indeed, but should the values of Wellesley College change as well? A college of many that went through tough times to even be able to give education solely to women. Education was not only limited to certain people because of their financial situations, but women were especially denied the right to education because of the stereotype to stay at home and take care of their family. It was not until the twentieth century that women started attempting to have equal rights to education. Before the American Civil War few colleges admitted women and even then, the same curriculum was not offered.

Women struggled with the limited clothing options, few job opportunities, had unrealistic beauty standards, and did not have the ability to achieve a higher education. The women’s rights movement improved women’s lives by breaking stereotypes and changing women’s ideals. The women of the 20th century, often struggled with beauty and fashion restricting their clothing options. Women were often described to be weak and a symbol of being delicate and fragile. In the 50’s, women were simply expected to get married to a wealthy man, stay at home, and raise children while her husband worked to provide for the family.

This paper will examine how women lived in the 19th century compared to today’s women, in particular focusing on the English novel Jane Eyre. For many years, women have been considered inferior to men and, as a consequence, they have been subservient to men and to their own families. In the 19th century, for instance, they had to be obedient, sympathetic, powerless, they could not go out when they wanted or dressed as they liked, but they were supposed to stay at home and dedicated themselves to the domestic cleaning and to the education of children. In the history of the United Kingdom, an important period that contributed to the subsequent independence of women was the Victorian Age. During this era, we can identify three types of women: - Upper class women; they were educated and they had the opportunity to enjoy a luxurious life.

Before modern times, women did not have as much freedom. They would be forced to marry a man they more than likely did not love, and have to listen to his every will for the rest of her life. Some may think that the women should not have married anyone, but women who were not married could rarely even leave the house. Some women were lucky, or unlucky, if their husbands died, and the wives became widowed. Mrs. Mallard in “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin was one of these lucky few.

During the early years of this country, women were not entitled to the same rights and privileges as men. Women were not allowed to vote and were usually required to surrender control of their property to their husband upon marriage. Moreover, their educational and occupational opportunities were severely limited. It was commonly believed that a woman 's place was in the home, raising children and tending to domestic affairs. The first real efforts to achieve equality for women occurred in the 1800s.

Women wanted to have the same right rights, laws and to be treated as the other sex. Early in the period, matters such as politics was of small concern for the Victorian woman since she was disallowed to own either property nor money. She was always supported by her family and husband. In some cases, she had to go to her husband’s family for support. When a woman successfully divorced her husband, she was forbidden to see her children.

In history and today’s world, why don’t men understand women? Why is it hard for women’s voices to be heard? Women have not been appreciated for decades. (This statement is too vague and very biased) Many historical events have happened that have affected women having no say in anything. Women have always been told by taking care of the house or doing everything their partner tells them to do.

Older times were not always the best and most people back then had it harder than those today. “To fill the gap left by a generation of fighting men, more than a million women took the chance to join the workforce…,” according to Kate Adie. Before the 1900s, women tended to household chores and stayed home to watch the children rather than being in the workforce because those jobs were for men only; however, they were fighting for equality and wanted to join the workforce. Once World War One began women were the only ones around to be in the workforce because all the men were off fighting in the war. Women in the 1960’s fought hard to get their rights in the workforce and were successful at doing so.