19th Century Gender Roles

Up until the early 1900’s, women were seen by society as people with household roles that consisted of cooking, cleaning, and tending their children. As time progressed, the view of women in society gradually changed, but their opinions still did not seem to matter. It wasn’t until 1920, that women gained suffrage with the 19th amendment. This amendment was a huge step in gaining full and equal rights for women, but unfortunately discrimination against them still happens today. There are various different situations in which the issue of gender inequality occurs. Although the law states that everyone has equal opportunities and rights, women are highly discriminated against in everyday roles such as employment, extracurricular activities, military, and in the government.

Women for years have been automatically given the role of the domestic housewife, where their only job is to cook, clean, and take care of the children. Men have usually taken the primary responsibility for economic support and contact with the rest of society, while women have traditionally taken the role of providing love, nurturing, emotional support, and maintenance of the home. However, in today’s society women over the age of sixteen work outside of the home, and there are more single parent households that are headed by women than at any other time in the history of the United States (Thompson 301.)

Throughout the history of this country especially beginning in the 1800s with the women's suffrage movement, women have fought for equality. It is no secret that the role of men versus women have change immensely over the last century however some things have not changed. As a result of the unchanging or slowly evolution of equality feminism has arise.

All throughout history, women have been thought of to be “weaker” and “not as capable” as men have always been thought to be. Due to this, gender roles were

Our streets are plagued with billboards promoting health and more often than not are showcasing men or make the men look fitter. Healthier and stronger than women. However I find this advertising displeasing and offensive. Health promotion should illustrate equality in order to promote healthy living and exercise for genders and motivate

Throughout history, gender roles have proven to be a persistent characteristic of societies, forcing predetermined structure upon the lives of both men and women. Even in the New World of America, gender roles followed close behind the ships of the first settlers, making an impact on the creation of the American colonies. By the late 18th century, New England’s gender roles had tightened on the coattails of both the Great Awakening, which promoted religious structure and hierarchy, and the further development of the American colonies into a more successful society. Although the opposite may be argued, including more women becoming educated and having a more important role at home, such as in will and testaments, these portraits clearly demonstrate that gender roles of the 18th century continued to be incredibly relevant and impactful. Through analysis of Dr. and Mrs. Hezekiah Beardsleys’ portraits it is apparent that gender roles were of major importance in the New England society implementing the predetermined molds of which society demanded, however, deviations from these roles were also present and significant in contradicting the usual structure of gender roles.

When thinking of gender roles in society, stereotypes generally come to mind. Throughout history these stereotypes have only proven to be true. Major historical events have had a huge impact on the way men and women are seen and treated. In this way, women have always been secondary to males and seen as the fragile counterparts whose job is to take care of the household and most importantly, be loyal to her husband no matter the circumstance. Gender roles throughout history have greatly influenced society. The slow progress of woman’s rights throughout humanities led to an explosion of woman’s rights throughout the 20th century and that trend will only continue on into the rest of the 21st century.

For centuries women have always strived to be as equal and superior as men. From shifting themselves as the careful house wife attending to the children, to helping out in factories and serving in war during the early 1900’s. Then eventually women received the right to vote. Women then began to receive and further their education, becoming professionals like men were. The past century has been a century where women have been catching up to men proving to be just as superior as men.

At the end of the 18th century and during the 19th century, there were many changes to public ideology that affected the way that women perceived their roles in society. Prior to these changes, women had adopted the beliefs of separate “spheres” separating work into public life and their duties as mothers at home1. Women stayed at home to take care of the children and provide a warm, welcoming home for their husbands to take refuge from public life. Women became aware of their lack of legal and political power after the American Revolutionary War ended as they were denied the right to the same freedoms that granted the right to vote to the white, property-owning male population2. Despite granting women more liberty to run businesses, farms,

Gender roles were sharply defined in the 19th century. Women were expected to stay at home and carry out the domestic duties as well as taking care of the children and educate them and provide a peaceful home for their husband. Women were seen as loving and caring. On the other hand, men were expected to work and earn money for the family. They would fight wars and were seen as strong and powerful. Men had more freedom and rights, such as the right to vote, than women in the 19th century. Society had created two completely separate spheres. In the medical field, men were doctors. There were laws in many states, such as, that prohibited women from becoming doctors. Women, who decided to practice medicine in the 19th century had to struggle with much opposition because it went against prevailing ideas about women’s role in society. Women belonged in the private and domestic sphere. Men belonged to competitive and immoral public sphere of industry and commerce. The women in medicine would face accusations that they were abandoning their sphere and threatening society. Due to these arguments and the fear of economic competition from female practitioner, male medical schools and hospitals denied women access to institutions. However, Elizabeth Blackwell, changed this idea of separate spheres when she decided to take on the medical field and become a doctor. Although Elizabeth Black had a natural aversion to the medical field, her

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. I want to thank you for your feedback on my annotated bibliography and unit 5 discussion post. Im embarrassed since I always seem to struggle with transitions and grammatical mistakes but I have been reviewing your comments so that I can make myself a better writer. For my research essay my focus is on gender roles in Victorian society. Some points I am covering are on how women are treated as children, the way women are treated like prisoners and lastly how they are “domestic slaves” to their husband. Please let me know any suggestions you have.

Feminism is the belief that women should have economic political and social equality with men. This term also refers to a political movement that works to gain equality within a male and female relationship. In a male and female relationship both the roles of the male and female should be equal. Equal in many ways ten one: they should trust each other, share responsibilities, listen to one another, respect each other, and of course love one another equally.

Feminism is the public support for or recommendation of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. In a more simple way of stating it, women rights equivalent to those of men. Before suffrage begun, women were strictly to act as women should, or what they were expected to act like. They were expected to take care of the children, cook, and clean. Not only were they supposed to do house work, but they also couldn’t vote or own any property. On August 26th, 1920, after 72 long-lasting years of fighting, and prolonged anticipation, women finally won their rights to be treated equally. There have been, and still are, many feminists in this world. One very prominent feminist is Crystal Eastman.

Ibsen may have meant Nora to be the heart of the play, but she is not the only character he uses to show the negative affects of Victorian gender roles. He also uses Nora’s husband to do this. Torvald, though not having a revelation that perhaps the gender roles imposed upon him are restrictive, is still negatively affected by Victorian ideals of masculinity. Even though like Torvald in the 19th century weren’t subject to the same gender roles as women, they still had their own defined gender roles in society and marriage that were just as strict that created unhealthy behaviors.

Feminism is an individual’s dedication to a political, social, and economic movement for equality (Haslanger 1). Globally, tons of women are still being denied the right to go to school and do not have the privileges to other basic rights (Yousafzai 327). Women should be able to speak for themselves and enjoy life to whatever extent that means to each lady (Nelson 2). Feminism is a positive movement that fights for all women's rights, empowers other females, and raises awareness about discrimination to adolescents.