Stereotypes Of Mormon Women In The 1800's

Originally, the rights of American women were minor. Women could not vote, serve on juries, or attend colleges among other restrictions. Women like Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought long and hard for civil, religious, and social rights of American women. Stanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence. This declaration demanded equality of men and women. Women’s suffrage, or the right to vote, was another struggle for the women to overcome. These women did win some small victories such as convincing New York to pass a law protecting women’s property rights, and some states even began to allow married women to keep their wages. Education also improved for women. American schools were focused on educating boys, who would grow up to be voters, so Emma Willard started The Troy Female Seminary. Eventually, Mary Lyon built Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which was the first college for women, although it was not called a college at the time. Even though education improved for women, it would not be until 1920 that a constitutional amendment would be made to allow women to vote. The Women’s Rights Movement was a very major and important improvement for American

In “Mormon Masculinity Changing Gender Expectations in the Era of Transition from Polygamy to Monogamy, 1890–1920,” Amy Hoyt and Sara M. Patterson argue that during the era of transition from polygamy to monogamy, there was a perceived crisis in the lives of Mormon boys. These events together resulted in a change in the notion of masculinity in the LDS church. Their thesis was “..during the period from 1890 to 1920, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) perceived a crisis in the lives of their boys. That sense of crisis lay at the surface of an even deeper cultural upheaval taking place within Mormondom....With the transition from polygamy to monogamy, church members had to construct a new model for understanding marriage, family and sexuality...they were also forced to reconstruct their notions of masculinity (Hoyt and Patterson 72-73).”

Walker, Turley, and Leonard explain the reasons for high tension in Utah a different way. Instead of focusing about problems with the church like Denton, they explain about things happening around the church. They focus on how news of a coming U.S. army puts fear in the people. They quote Heber C. Kimball as saying “that the army wanted to take Mormon women back to the States” (Walker, Turley, Leonard 44). Also, the authors describe how Brigham Young also makes it seem like the second coming, where Christ comes to destroy the wicked, is near and that the people need to prepare for it. They also mention Brigham Young’s strict war policy. Within this war policy, they were to be frugal with all their supplies, and not sell or trade any of it to those of

How often do you hear your friends, family, or acquaintances say they would like to go back to simpler times such as the 1950s - the era where you could wear fancy poodle skirts, drive big cars, eat at your favorite diner, or catch a movie at the drive in. Americans tend to think of the positive aspects of the 1950’s. Unfortunately during that era women were treated unfairly. Even though women had rights, they were still unequal to men. Fortunately feminism has progressed since then. Today, women comprise over 50% of the workforce. Nonetheless, men still cling to stereotypes that should have been destroyed long ago, whether in the workplace, at home, or in society.

(Ulrich p. 5) Her research clearly establishes that despite the hierarchal and patriarchal nature of their society, women during this time contributed in essential and complex ways not only to their households and their communities, but the story of women is a central and crucial part of our American history. Ulrich supports her thesis by showing women adeptly performed any job necessary that benefited the family including that of deputy husband; “women played a central part in the communications network” which connected neighborhoods; women controlled sexual behavior; women engaged in and controlled significant trade; women exercised “considerable influence in the churches” and “enlarged the meaning of their own lives” as Christians; and women demonstrated heroic qualities “in the face of hardships of

In the world today, women have a say in what they want to do and things that they desire to do. Back in the day, before the 1800’s, women had to be submissive to their male counterparts and do according to what was required of them. In the end, this led to the demeaning of the woman and the concept that women were inferior to men. Even though this concept and perception changed, there have been some countries and regions of the world that have not yet recognized the equality that women deserve. Such areas do not allow women to vote, attend school, have a say in the community, and the women are at the mercy of their husbands, fathers or male superiors (Hartmann, Susan M).

In 1844, Joseph Smith, ecclesiastical leader of the Latter-day Saints and presidential candidate, was murdered by an angry mob. This mob was fostered by the release of a newspaper questioning Smith’s practices (including polygamy), qualifications, and intentions for his potential presidency. More than 150 years later, Mitt Romney, a member of the LDS Church, launched a presidential campaign and garnered forty-two percent of the popular vote. Although these two candidates share a faith, their political roles and views are substantially different. This is representative of the significant changes in the relationship between the Mormon church and the U.S. government.

Mormonism, the largest church to originate on American soil is not without its own burdens to bear. As one of the younger religions, one that strayed from the foundations of the other already established religions in the United States, it is often viewed with negativity and mockery. Modern day social media, television, news articles and movies often exploit Mormon beliefs. They twist and exaggerated certain facets of the Mormon way of life. This framing of their belief system by the media leads the public opinion toward viewing this representation as a true depiction of the Mormons. Some of the more extreme behaviors exhibited by members that have separated from the main group are used against the entire faith by the media, so in turn this extremist view has become a Mormon stereotype.

vote for women on a state­by­state basis. Wyoming became the first territory to give women the

Many people believe that marriage is important in this day and age, but it holds little significance compared to the importance of marriage in the Victorian era. In the Victorian era women were to get married to a man of the same or a better social status, be good wives, and be a mother to her husband's children. Very few marriages started with love, but a woman's life is not complete without being married. Over time, the role of married women has evolved a great deal and they now have rights and privileges. John Stuart Mill was one of the great thinkers of the Victorian era, and his essay The Subjection of Women tells how few privileges women had and that they were slaves to their husbands. He also says that women are their own people and

In the summer of eighteen forty-eight two women Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony who founded the National Women’s Suffrage Association in eighteen sixty-nine met with a small group of people determined to give women a larger sphere of action than the laws and customs of that day allowed (Taylor 13). At this time in our country women were denied the right to vote, made to give their husbands the land and property which they may have control of, plus nearly no say in legal or professional matters. To give you an idea of what the women were up against on July thirtieth, eighteen sixty-eight a group lead by T.H. Mundine wrote a declaration stating that all persons meeting age, residences, and citizenship requirements be deemed qualified electors “without distinction of sex” (Taylor 14). This motion was referred to the state of Texas and in January eighteen sixty-nine, it was rejected on a vote of fifty-two – thirteen. The motion that was shot down was not anything to major by today’s standards. It was a simple bill to allow women to have a more reasonable portion of the burdens of government (Taylor 14). As this example illustrates women had a huge wall to climb of they wanted to be even with men in societies eyes.

At first, women were expected to only do housework and take care of children. Though in the Antebellum period, all of this had changed by many movements. During this time, Missouri had passed a bill for the Married Women’s Property Act which is an act where if a woman’s husband dies, the woman thus obtains the husband’s land. The National Women’s Suffrage Association which was created by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, had helped to provide more rights for all women. The movement had tried to get women the right to vote. It had succeeded in its goal in 1896 with Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho making all voting a right for women. Because of the Antebellum period, women had been given the chance to stand up for themselves and get themselves new rights and privileges men had. Another political change during this time was with the way Slavery was

Other influential women in women suffrage history, such as Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell, formed the American Woman Suffrage Association in late 1869. This group’s goal was to continue Anthony’s and Stanton’s goal and gain voting rights for women through amendments to individual state constitutions. The territory of Wyoming was later the first to pass the women’s suffrage law; and women began to serve on juries there as early as the following year.

According to the article “Rights for woman”, in the 1800 women were treated as subsequent class citizens, and they did not have many rights at all. They were not able to vote and were not encouraged to get an education, or even get a job that they enjoyed (Rights for Women, Par. 1). Women were expected to clean, cook, and find a husband. According to Juliet Levy, Marriage is an agreement that over all comes with substantial financial upbringing. (Levy, 427) As previously stated woman were worth less than men during that time, so the men were basically able to treat them however they wanted. Men were able to send their wives to insane asylums if they did not follow the rules or live up to the expectations of women of that time. According to an article on woman

Not only were women voting for their nation’s officials, they were some of the ones being elected. Starting in as early as 1866, women had been running for various public offices and in some rare cases they won the election. For example, Susanna Salter was elected mayor of Argonia, Kansas in 1887; Martha Hughes Cannon was elected to the Utah State Senate in 1896; and Jeannette Rankin entered the United States House of Representatives in 1917. By the 1920s, women had become more involved in government and were being elected in greater numbers. They had the opportunity and power to organize laws and bills that they had