Self-Moralism And Social Criticism In Jane Addams

Addams, Jane. The modern city and the municipal franchise for women. Baltimore, Maryland: National American Women Suffrage Association, 1906. (Jane Addams Article from Moodle Site)

Jane Addams, a pioneering social worker, helped bring attention to the possibility of revolutionizing America’s attitude toward the poor. Not only does she remain a rich source of provocative social theory to this day, her accomplishments affected the philosophical, sociological, and political thought. Addams was an activist of courage and a thinker of originality. Jane Addams embodied the purest moral standards of society which were best demonstrated by her founding of the Hull-House and her societal contributions, culminating with the winning of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1915 Jane Addams wrote the document Why Women Should Vote. In this document Addams spoke on why she felt women should have a voice and be able to vote for who they believed was fit for office. Jane Addams was a very influential woman, she was able to become an advocate for women. She opened hull houses which allowed women and children immigrants a place to stay and even take classes to become educated. Jane Addams wanted what was best for women and she wanted them to be able to become more independent. Addams also wanted women to be allowed to have their opinions heard because the Presidential decisions affected women’s responsibilities equally if not more than that of a man.

Jane Addams is a well-known historical feminist, activist, social worker, and leader in women’s suffrage whose legacy still lives on today. Although she was considered radical for her time, she thought of ways to push for social and political reforms in socially acceptable ways. Her achievements created an abundance of opportunities for women that would change their roles in society.

The analysis will cover three aspects. First of all, in her book, Jane Austen expresses the view that both genders possess equal creative and intellectual qualities, and thus women are born to be equal to men. Second, she expresses her skepticism towards the degree of rationality and justice of the common social norms about female behavior. The third aspect is that Austen also insists that women should act for themselves in a rational way rather than merely trying to impress or to please the other sex.

Jane Addams revolutionized many aspects in the Progressive Era from the movements of suffrage, child labor, welfare, settlement houses, and other aspects in social reform. Adams recognized the problem of child labor while she was over the Hull House. In Addams book Twenty Year at

Women worked in factories that had poor working conditions that were unsafe to workers. Unions, fought for safer and better working conditions for sweatshop workers. It brought the legislation to set factory safety standards and the fire codes. Many children worked for low wages to help at home. Jane Addams was a reformer for woman’s rights, ending child labor in Chicago helped improve life through self-help.

Jane Addams was a major influence during the Progressive Era. As a progressive reformer she had attempted to eliminate the corruption of the government while trying to promote women’s suffrage. Throughout her life Jane Addams had assisted immigrants from all over the world, regardless of their color, and established the Hull House as a result of her efforts. Throughout her life, Jane had been noticed for her achievements and became an important figure for those around her. As a result she became the first female president of the National Conference of Social Work.

In the short term, both reform efforts wanted legal protections. Women like Sanger and Addams encouraged those they educated to use their knowledge to make a change in the system bigger than educating one woman. Sanger asked for legislation that raised the age of consent and fought human trafficking, and Addams asked women to demand equal pay and overall better conditions for working women and children. Both knew that a legal change would allow for their education based efforts to be all the more successful. Similarly, labor unions knew it would be better if laws mandated every industry and company met certain standards, as they would not have to strike against company, allowing them to strike less and work more. But, more long term, both efforts just wanted equality. Women wanted to rights that men have had for as long as our nation has had men, and workers merely wanted to move up the social ladder. Both of these movements were never going to happen on their own, so action had to be

Jane Addams was an upper class woman who thought it was her job to help others. Addams was an advocate of immigrants, the poor, women, and peace. In 1889, she created the hull house. The Hull house was created to help female immigrants become assimilated to the American life style by helping get them a job, learn the language, and receive an education. So it was no surprise that in in 1915, Jane Addams wrote the life-changing article “Why Women Should Vote”.

At the beginning of the chapter, the author raises questions that were prevalent a century ago and that are still important today.  The one question I found most interesting is, “Can white, native-born, economically secure Americans ever really understand, much less help, those who are struggling to survive?” (1).  Much of the prevalent political culture emphasized Aryan superiority, as well as the concern a changing society would suffer from massive immigration.  Even authors, such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, recognized the oppression she suffered from as a woman.  However, she did not recognize the oppression others suffered in her embracing of anti-immigration as well as racist beliefs.  Reactionary to the massive immigration of this time, Charlotte Perkins Gilman also supported eugenics to improve the human race.  Yet Addams did not argue immigrants were inferior to the Aryan people.  In fact, three-quarters of her residents at Hull-House were first and second generation immigrants.  Not only was Addams sympathetic to the poor, but she also was sympathetic to the plight of immigrants.

Hi, did you know that I knew Jane Addams? I did, and she was a very inspirational person. She did lots of good things in her life time. Jane Addams first opened Hull House in Chicago in 1889. She opened it because she new it would be a good thing for not only the people in Chicago but all over the world. At Hull House she provided a vital service to a community that was generally neglected. In the early days of Hull House Jane Addams and her friend Ellen Gates were just planing on teaching art and literary classes. But when neighborhood residents requested that Hull House expand its offerings her and her friend started teaching classes like English, along with practical skills.

“Jane Eyre” is a book centred around female duality. In a time when females were still expected to fulfill their “womanly duties,” Charlotte Bronte wrote a novel dealing with a woman’s view on morality & sexuality, passion & sensibility, and conformity & insanity, among other themes. This motif of duality plays a strong part in the dynamism that makes up the book, and is not limited to the themes, but is also used to relate many of the characters to the titular Jane. In “The Mystery at Thornfield,” Valerie Beattie makes claims that the character Bertha Mason’s insanity is a representation of rebellion toward the limitations of Victorian women. Not only is

The nineteenth century Victorian era woman needed wealth or position to avoid a life of drudgery.  Women were viewed as trophies or possessions men owned.  They were not permitted to develop nor expected to, and even venturing out on their own was considered inappropriate.  During the era in which Jane Eyre was published the home and family were seen as the basic unit of stability in society.  At the middle of this foundation stood a wife and mother representing the sum total of all morality - a Madonna-like image.  This image was reinforced by social institutions such as mainstream religious and political beliefs.  Women were steered away from independence, confidence, and

The bigger her reputation became, the more she got involved in civic responsibilities (Butler, "Jane Addams - Biographical"). She dedicated much of her time to ethical treatment of all people. She always pushed to make the community and those living in poverty better in any way she could. “Addams believed that science could guide social reform by discovering how urban industrial society could be rationally reorganized for the public good ("A View of Jane Addams 's Hull House as a Feminist Initiative" n.d.).” Addams was opposed to World War I, so she founded the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She served as the president from 1919 until she died on May 21,