Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History Summary

The author of “The Lessons for Woman” was Ban Zhao. From what I have read in this writing, it is telling us that she is a mother and she is concerned about humility in women. The way she is influences the story by the fact that she cares about humility in herself and the others in the story. She was writing as Ban Zhao as a Chinese scholar during the time of A.D. 45-120. The author was writing this piece under history and classical writing. The author’s purpose of this writing was to inform the women to better prepare them for the things that they may experience in Chinese culture. The reason that she wanted to inform them was so that she could make their husbands happy and please them. She wanted people to read her writing to take all the

“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” This is a quote that was taken from a scholarly article written by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. The article for this assignment discusses how this single line ignited a fire within the female population across the nation. Ulrich published her article that was titled with this line in 1976. From there, it was used in 1995, when journalist Kay Mills used it as an epigraph for her informal history of American women, From Pocahontas to Power Suits.

After studying women and gender history in early America for the past semester, my views about American history have changed tremendously. Having very little prior experience with history, I had many assumptions and preconceived notions from high school history classes. Women were never even mentioned in my previous learning about U.S. history, so I assumed they took on unimportant roles and had little, if any, impact on shaping our country’s history. However, after this semester of delving deeply into the women of early America, I could not have been more incorrect. Although they were not typically in the public realm, we cannot fully understand history without studying women. The following readings uncovered the roles of women in the private sphere and were crucial to my new understanding of the importance of women in American history by bringing women to the forefront.

In Joan Scott’s article Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis, she analyzes the root of gender and its relation to power. Gender is assumed to be directly linked with sex, but Scott asserts that sex and gender are quite distinct; while sex is a biological phenomenon, gender is a socially constructed power hierarchy and it is not biologically predetermined. Gender is used to create and enforce hierarchical relations of power between men and women, and as a result, women become subordinate to men. The hierarchies tend to be accepted as natural, but in actuality, they are socially determined relations that have no relation with sexuality. For Scott (1986), there are four important components of defining gender: 1) culturally common

Feminism is a prominent controversy in present times and is relevant through literary works. In the article, “Throwing like a Girl,” James Fallows analyzes that saying exactly for what it means in our society, and more importantly if there’s any truth to the stereotype. In the article, “Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History,” Laurel Thatcher Ulrich shows how feminist historians, by challenging traditional accounts of both men's and women's histories, have prompted more vibrant accounts of the past. While Fallows analyzes the styles of throwing to identify a possible theory of the stereotypical saying, “throwing like a girl,” Ulrich discusses and encourages women to be strong and accomplish their goals, by using her phrase “well behaved women seldom make history.”

The next requirement for being a “true woman” was submissiveness. According to society men were superior to women by “God’s appointment.” If they acted otherwise they “tampered with the order of the Universe” (Welter 105). A “true woman” would not question this idea because she already understands her place. Grace Greenwood explained to the women of the Nineteenth Century, “True feminine genius is ever timid, doubtful, and clingingly dependant; a perpetual childhood.” Even in the case of an abusive husband, women were sometimes told to stay quiet

Author Barbara Welter in her article, The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860 discusses what one may argue is true womanhood and why it is necessary for woman of society. There are multiple ways that one may look at Welter’s text, the first, being within the time frame that it was written, and what it says about society at the time the text was written. The other, is out of context and discussing it as a whole within the feminist movement.

“History is not just what happened in the past. It is what later generations choose to remember” (Ulrich 659). This quote stuck out because, there is many events that have happened in the past, but for some reason we are only told about certain ones. Who decides what is remembered in history? In the article Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, she discusses how rarely women are remembered in history. Women are only remembered in history if they did something such as break the law.

In Anne’s Elegy, “In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess, Queen ELIZABETH”, the narrator takes the role of a woman “who identifies with a feminist view of the wrongs done to women.” (Rosenmeier, 44) Through a posthumous celebration of the Queen and her accomplishments, the speaker argues of women’s worth beyond simple housework and child-rearing. The speaker argues that Elizabeth’s triumphs in war and diplomacy are “argument enough to make” naysayers “mute” (Poem, 18). To further her statement, the speaker reminds us that to “say our sex is void of reason” was once punishable by death (Poem, 81). “It is not too much to suggest that in the prospect of Eliza 's return lies the implicit promise that this poor, loyal, simple speaker will be restored to wholeness and power.” (Rosenmeier, 45) It is entirely possible for a Christian Queen to “play the Rex” (Poem, 12). If a woman can rule over men justly and have the kingdom prosper, anything is possible. (Gordon, 194) This includes a Godly Puritan woman writing poetry and being successful among male poets

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, in a scholarly article written in 1976, wrote that “well-behaved women seldom make history” (Ulrich XIII). Over time, that phrase has became a slogan for feminists around the world. It appears on many products and media, like shirts, jewelry, and even wine glasses. At the time she wrote it, she meant for it to mean that women who are well-behaved do not get their stories told, even if they did something extraordinary or heroic, though now, people interpret it in many different ways.

Modernism is the term of deviating from the norm. In the early 1900s, modernism influenced women’s role in society by providing more opportunities, jobs, and role models for girls today, in society.

November 24, 1922 12pm.: Ever since I cut my hair I’ve never felt so free. I refuse to wear the corsets that I have been obligated to use since childhood. You cannot believe how relived I am to not have to wear those tight close fitting undergarments. So instead I have started wearing loose dresses that I feel more comfortable in. My mother always told me that men liked women with a slim waist and emphasized breast and with my new look no man will want to marry me. Of course she is livid. Not only at the fact that I cut the “beautiful long cascade of never ending long dark hair” as she says, but mostly because I’m rebelling against society’s norm. I’ve decided that it is time to take a stand for my rights and fight for my independence. I refuse to comply too these social norms. The submissive woman, restricted from freedom due to her traditional modest, accustomed, womanly gender roles. I will not be that woman. I will be the change. I’ve seen my mother, grandmother do it for years and I’ve had it. We have been repressed, and made slaves of the household generating a perspective that all we have to offer is pleasing our men and doing chores. But these social conventions will finally come to an end. Thanks too many women who have decided to be the change for today’s society. The Voting right for women has already commenced. And I can’t find the words to describe how incredibly joyful I am that now we have the right to vote. As of now we have a whole new sector of power and

Throughout history and today, we women are constant victims of stereotyping from our society. Certain “rules” have to be followed and certain “ideal” women images have to be kept. We are raised in a way to fill certain position where the society wants us to be and as a result, the opportunities are always limited for us and ideas of our importance in the society are diminishing. Even though women gained some independence, where women can work and take various position in society, the society’s idea of typical role of women never seem to change.

Imagine a world of endless wonder, where historical artifacts actually contain powers beyond our control. If something like this were to occur who would you picture protecting said artifacts? Most people would say men because in our society men are deemed the protectors and leaders. In SyFy’s Warehouse 13, there are powerful artifacts but in season one out “of the six principle characters, four of them are women, including the boss” (Atchley, 2014, para. 4). In the show “masculine attributes are given to women and feminine qualities are given to men” (Atchley, 2014, para. 4). Overall the characters are treated as just people. Gender is more often than not thrown aside unless it is something that only that specific gender goes through, such as ovarian cancer. In fact, “all of the women are presented as intelligent, strong and more capable than their male counterparts” and the same goes for Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer (McMillian, 2010, para. 6).” Which is why the females in Warehouse 13 are not only great feminist characters but also highly influenced by Buffy. Because of this, in this paper I will discuss why these female characters in Warehouse 13 are feminist along with the similarities between them and the characters in Buffy followed by a discussion on why Warehouse 13 is important to science fiction programing. This essay draws from Stephanie Genz’s Singled Out (2010), A. Susan Owen’s Vampires, Postmodernity, and Postfeminism (2010) and Sharon Ross’s

Throughout history, women have been seen in many different lights. From a woman’s perspective she is strong, smart, helpful and equal to men. In the eyes of men, she is seen as the weaker being, the housewife, and the caretaker. By looking at the following pieces of writing, one can see that through the centuries, women have struggled to break out of the mold that man had put her in and make themselves known in society as important.