Julia Ward Howe: Leader, Social Activist, and Her Success as a Woman in the Late 1800s The post Civil War-era was an extremely pivotal point in the way women in the United States were treated. African-American women were slaves, and most were treated as such by their fathers, brothers, and ultimately their husbands. No women had the right to vote, the right to an education, or the right to serve in the military; all of which are inherent rights women are born with present day. Women were expected to obey their husbands and reproduce as an ‘obligation’. Any inheritance the woman may have goes directly to their husband. Single women were shunned and ridiculed in society in the 1800s. Divorce was punishable by law if the wife wanted to flee (Historical Brief-Lives of Women in the early 1800s; Kelley Smith). Julia Ward Howe was, of course, a victim of this unfair treatment and she went to writing to spread her ideas about women's suffrage, feminism, and independence as a woman. Howe was born in New York City in 1819 as Julia Ward; her father was a successful banker, and her mother died when she was five years old. Her family was very strict Episcopalian Calvinist. She was the fourth out of seven children, and after her mother died, her father limited her social interactions to only inside the family and sent her off to live with her aunt (JuliasVoice.org). In her teens she had more freedom and was introduced to New York culture. She had an air about her that made her fit in
Women between 1600 - 1877 had a tough time with having no political rights with not being able to vote and struggled economically with not being able to work or get paid as much as men did. This showed how women were not treated equally as men were, however during the Civil War men had to leave their jobs so women took their place. This was a break through and push for women’s rights. Women had never had their rights starting with the writing of the Constitution. When the Constitution was written it stated that all men are created equal, not including women in the Constitution instated that they had no rights. Martha Washington asked her husband if he would include women in the writing allowing them to have right, but he said no. Adding women to the Constitution would have allowed women the right to vote from early on, and could have changed the decision of some elections. With women being not given rights politically they could have changed the aspect of America. Women also had not economic rights either, their paychecks were ½ or ¼ of what men earned.
Women in the nineteenth century lived in a time characterized by gender inequality. At the beginning of the century, women could not vote, could not be sued, were extremely limited over personal property after marriage, and were expected to remain obedient to their husbands and fathers.( women’s suffrage movement 1) In most situations, the men would have to go to work and bring home the money, and the women would have no choice but to stay home, clean the
The 1930 time period was not equal for women compared to men. They had different roles of what women were expected to do in their jobs and at their homes. . Women were expected to come home and do everything like cleaning and making dinner. If they had children, then they were expected to take care of them after they finished working. They had to make sure that dinner was made for the whole family. They had to make sure that the house was clean. The women were treated unfairly in the 1930’s compared to now in the 2000’s.People like Abagail Adams felt like the women were not treated as equal as the men. "Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If
Women did not have many rights during 1616-1768, these three prominent women Pocahontas, Anne Hutchinson and Hannah Griffitts, will show many changes for women symbols from the Colony America, American Christianity to Boycotting British Goods. All three were involved in religious, political and cultural aspects during there time, making many changes and history. There are three documents that will be used to compare these three women Pocahontas Engraving (1616), Simon Van De Passee, The Examination of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson at the Court at Newton (1637), David D. Hall and Women’s Role In Boycotting English Goods, Hannah Griffits (1768), The Female Patriots.
During the pre-revolutionary period, more and more men worked outside the home in workshops, factories or offices. Many women stayed at home and performed domestic labor. The emerging values of nineteenth-century America, which involves the eighteenth-century, increasingly placed great emphasis upon a man's ability to earn enough wages or salary to make his wife's labor unnecessary, but this devaluation of women's labor left women searching for a new understanding of themselves. Judith Sargent Murray, who was among America's earliest writers of female equality, education, and economic independence, strongly advocated equal opportunities for women. She wrote many essays in order to empower young women in the new republic to stand up against
Before the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, women were meant to remain in the household and do all the work there. They were supposed to take raise the children, maintain the house, support the husband, and be overall dependent on men. Women did not often work outside of their homes nor did they have any real independence to say or do whatever they pleased. For the most part, women were very dependent on men for most things in their lives. Women were meant to be meek,
1. The first essay clearly shows the impact that an ideology of domesticity on women in New England in the 1830’s. The writer at first calls this time period a “paradox in the “progress” of women’s history in the United States”. During this time apparently two contradictory views on women’s relations to society clashed, unusually, those two being domesticity, which essentially limited women, giving them a “sex-specific” role that they must abide to, this mostly being present at the home with their husbands and whatever kids they may or may not have had at that time, and feminism, which essentially tried to remove this domesticity, trying to remove sex-specific limits on women’s opportunities and
Women have been fighting for equality since the early 1700’s. Abigail Adams was one of the first advocates to bring up the topic in Massachusetts on March 31st. (5-1) Abigail writes a letter in response to her husband John Adams. In her letter she tells her husband to “Remember the ladies” when drawing a new federal government. Another case of equality came about in the early 1800’s with Deborah Sampson. Sampson pretended to be a man named Robert Shutlif and was shot twice in the Revolutionary War. (5-9) At the time of the Revolutionary War women were consider to be inferior to men. Even the first ladies had a number of privileges they could not receive because they were female. The Revolutionary War increased people 's attention to political things and made issues of liberty and equality very important. During the time of the Revolutionary War people began rethinking of the rules for society which also led to some reconsideration of the relationship between men and women. In the North, where states abolished slavery after the Revolution, black women attained rights to marry, to have custody of their children, and to own their own property. Only on paper they had the same rights as white women. In the Southern states, lawmakers continued to reject enslaved women these simple human rights. But even in the South, a larger number of freed black women enjoyed the same privileges under the law as white women.
As the years progressed from the 1700s into the 1800s, women started to see that they were not treated as equal as men even though they could do anything men could. During the late 1800s was when women first started to fight for more rights and equality. They started forming more and more women groups, and even went on labor strikes to protest the diversity. Although it seemed that as hard as they tried to gain this equality, the harder it was for them to obtain it. They were treated horribly and unequally to men. While African American men received the power to vote in 1870, women still did not have a chance at that right. Even though many people disagree that women were treated fairly, the studies show that they were discriminated against. The treatment of women in the late 1800s was discriminatory because they
Throughout history, it is seen that women were always treated like they were less than a male. While a great amount of women hid and did what they were told, some women fought for their rights and took a stand. For some women, this included getting a medical degree, or doing public speaking. During the 1800’s, there were multiple women that fought for women's rights by sticking up for themselves and not letting people down grade them for being female.
In the mid to late 1700's, the women of the United States of America had practically no rights. When they were married, the men represented the family, and the woman could not do anything without consulting the men. Women were expected to be housewives, to raise their children, and thinking of a job in a factory was a dream that was never thought impossible. But, as years passed, women such as Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Elizabeth Blackwell began to question why they were at home all day raising the children, and why they did not have jobs like the men. This happened between the years of 1776 and 1876, when the lives and status of Northern middle-class woman was changed forever. Women began to
In the 19th century, expectations were very different for men and women. Men were expected to be more in the public view such as going to work and socializing with other men in clubs, meetings or in bars. Women were expected to live their lives mostly in their home cooking, cleaning, and child rearing. For women they were not to socialize in their free time, they were expected to do other things to “better” the home such as sewing socks or doing laundry. Very few women had the same educational opportunities as men. “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A New England Nun” are very good examples of how things were for women and the American culture at the turn of the century and in each of these stories the women were able to defeat the patriarchal culture represented in their husband and soon to be husband.
Women’s roles in the American household had been the same since the discovery of America to 1848. Women in the simplest of terms were meant to run the household, raise the children, cook, clean, etc. This began changing in 1848 when women wanted to break free from the social norms and develop a social role outside of the household. Women felt that their lives would be completely transformed if they earned the right to vote; once they earned the vote then they would earn equality across the board. This desire for social change began boiling many years before 1848 when women began reading and writing domestic novels expressing anger towards women’s dependency on men. They began attending women’s academies and formed ladies’ benevolent societies where they pursued their own personal interest and activities. Then in 1848 approximately 200 women gathered together to hold the first women’s rights convention in the United States. This convention discussed the social, civil, religious condition and rights of women. There would go on to be 10 National Women’s Rights Conventions and The National Women’s Suffrage Association along with the National Women’s Party. “Although social change was a constant in the American Republic, women were expected to be the stable unchanging element in a changing world.” Although the Women's rights movement allowed the equal treatment of men and women it did cause so much pain for so many women. The Women's rights movement created equality and justice,
The history in the 1800s was really rough then now days because they had the Nez Perce war going on and at the same time, we had problems with woman not being able to vote, and the Immigrants were all looking for jobs. As I said earlier about women not being able to vote was a big step back for woman, not so much for men as they didn’t want women to vote. As the author said in the 1840s, emerging from the broader movement for women's rights”(w.i.t.p.n.). Woman were treated imperfect towards men all because they were a different gender, which is unacceptable back in the 1840s and would be now if it happened because we should all be treated the the same and have the same rights. As it says in the text “In order to earn revenue from their land
In the 1800’s a women was suppose to have four things Piety, Purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. These principles shaped the “Cult of True Womanhood” an idea that women were to be seen but not heard. Women had no say when it came to politics, they couldn’t own property, they were not allowed to do many jobs, and they couldn’t even speak in front of men. They had the duty to be a mother and raise their children but even thought they had this responsibility it was the husband who had the complete control and guardianship of the children. Because of these ideas it was very difficult for change to happen. When women started to receive more education they began to ask questions about why they were being denied these rights, which began the