1800s Women were Treated or Role in Society; During the early 1800s, women existed generally trapped in their homes and would only perform domestic chaos and duties. Nature and society had given them roles as the home keepers, ethical keepers for the home and the entire society, as well as housewives for their families. The roles as housewives were to bear children, take care of the young ones as well as submit to the husbands. Socially, women lived considered weaker hence unequal to their men counterparts. Some people would compare such a condition to slavery. Women had no control of their lives. Everything existed entirely controlled by the men in the society. How lived women treated in the 1800s? First, their fathers and brothers would control them when they are still young and when they exist married, their husbands would finally control them.
Their key purpose was to look for a husband, give birth, and take care of their husbands throughout their entire lives. It was taboo for a woman to remain single; in fact, single women lived scorned and pitied by society. A woman-owned property when she stood still in her father’s house but after she got married, property ownership shifted to the husband. The husband had a right to access everything that a woman had, as well as her own body.
For these women, marriage was a lifelong commitment. Women existed not supposed to divorce; they lived expected to live with their husbands even if it meant living in miserable marriages. Divorce was highly punishable and the woman would always fall victim. This did not only undermine their physical requirements but also destroyed their opportunities of having any kind of freedom. It subdued their voice of influence thus giving them no hope of attaining social recognition.
Women existed not allowed to venture into any other activities apart from taking care of their families. The husband was the sole breadwinner of the family. The only source of finance was the husband hence the only chance for women to be economically protected was for them to marry financially secure men. This made them more dependent on men and if the man died, they would be left with no source of income apart from her husband’s savings. Society looked at women as asexual beings; people with neither feelings nor a life of their own.
However, during the 1800s, women’s movements became so effective that women began to challenge the social, traditional, economic as well as political intellectuals that had hindered them for a long time. This was the starting point for the turnabout of their roles in society.
Throughout history, women have had fewer legal rights and occupation opportunities, hence less representation compared to their male counterparts. Motherhood and wifehood lived considered as their most major professions. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, however, most women had won the right to vote and had increased their chances to access education and other professions initially considered for men. Marriage existed considered very essential and significant for the sake of the stability of society.
Women stood therefore expected to be very obedient and submissive to have a happy and stable marriage. During these times, education was a disputable topic and it was the first topic that motivated women into protesting. However, not a single feminist could come up with a means through which education would stand equalized between girls and boys. Only the daughters of rich parents would get formal education. Educated girls lived however perceived as unattractive sexually, thus getting married was a big struggle for them.
The only subjects that girls existed taught in school were language; reading and writing. Other courses included wifely responsibilities and activities such as knitting, midwife, cooking, and waving among others. Women began to form “women’s rights movements” which helped them in protesting against slavery as well as men’s dictatorships. These movements led to the revolution which eventually led to the constitutional amendment processes which brought about the eradication of slavery. This was a great achievement in women’s history since they could freely speak out their views.
In the mid-1800s, women became resistant to the oppression by men and they wanted to become independent, treated, or role in society. As a result, they protested for equal education opportunities and religious activism. It was not that easy; women had to fight both men and fellow women. Men, in general, overlooked feminists, and those women who stood still dedicated to the traditional way of life, did not want to hear anything concerning women’s independence. The only place in which women got total support was the church, which also had its interest. Women became successful in these reform movements and for the first time in history, men became challenged by female domination.
Women thus began to perform duties outside their homes. This meant that they would cook, nurse, and educate young people for pay. They also became teachers, nurses, and secretaries; which were the only jobs that society accepted women to pursue. Nevertheless, a woman stood only supposed to work as long as she does not marry, but once married; she existed expected to stop working and take up her role as a wife and mother. During this time, being a housewife necessitated a wide range of multifaceted abilities since almost all items stood homemade. However, their employment opportunities expanded during the industrial revolution period. Many women worked in the new industries to fill the vacant places.
The public school system also expanded thus leading many more women to exist employed as school teachers. Nursing also became a highly regarded job for women in the 1850s following the restructuring in hospitals and the nursing career. The civil war also contributed greatly to the evolution of women’s roles in society.
It resulted in many women getting jobs in the government and other offices, that existed initially held by men, to fill in the positions evacuated by men as they went to fight. After the civil war, women continued to work in the government since they had proved to men that they could work. Another thing that encouraged women into employment was the discovery of a typewriter. The research found out that women would make better typists than men hence women were all over as typists and sales clerks.
By 1870, women learning prospects had improved drastically. There were additional schools for girls and most colleges could also admit women for advanced courses. By the end of 1880, women had made up approximately one-third of the total population of students in the United States. At the same time, women attained more legal rights with the establishment of more movements and acts. For instance, the married women property act allowed married women authority over their properties. Her property was hers and not her husband’s.
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