The Liberation Of Women During The 18th And The 19th Century

In the nineteenth century, society believed that women were physically weak, timid, and dependent on their husbands. Many people viewed women as domestic workers caring for their husband and children. Men had to go out and do physical labor all day to provide for their family. During the 1840 to the late 1860s, an era of westward expansion took place in the United States. Many families wanted to go west because there were unclaimed land in Oregon. Many families packed their belongings on a covered wagon and followed the dangerous routes and trails to the west. Despite the dangerous journey, many families wanted to claim vast land and farm in the fertile lands to get rich. Different women had very different life experiences during the period of Westward Expansion. In the book “Covered Wagon Women Diaries and Letters From The Western Trails, 1840-1849”, many women wrote diaries reflecting their experiences that they had to face and give up on the journey to Oregon. There were many obstacles facing their way such as terrains, Indian attacks, illness, and weather. Women had a hard life during the westward expansion however, women’s role during the westward expansion was very important in developing the new territory.

“Women rights are human rights, and human rights are women's rights,” (Hillary Clinton). The year was 1648 at the time the law stated that anyone who owned land was permitted to vote, although despite the fact that Margaret Brent was a landowner at the time she was denied the right to vote simply because she was a women. It was 1848 when the battle for equal rights fighting to bring an end to women's suffrage began. In 1870 the 15th amendment was passed which gave African Americans the right to vote, this served as a realization to women that they were not being treated equally. For decades in the early 20th century, women have been in a battle to gain equal rights for self identity, which influenced them during times of war by leading them to gaining jobs, and during

The beginning of the Nineteenth Century was very difficult for most people in Baltimore. If you owned land, were white, and a male, then most likely you were well off with a job and had financial stability in the household. Free African American women, white women, white males, enslaved African American, and free African American males all faced similar, yet different obstacles. This did not really allow any of these groups to prosper in this time of history, but some did prosper more than others. Times were very tough for the people of Baltimore. Seth Rockman discusses in his book, Scraping By, the many different groups of Baltimore citizens. He elaborates on what it was like trying to make a living in New England and their triumphs to obtain

Women rights has been a major ongoing minority concern to many within the world within the last few centuries. The struggles, concerns and overall hard work it took to get the level of respect they have been entitled to today will be later discussed. The paper will take a deeper look into what these women had to go through to give us these rights that we often take advantage of. Understanding and exploring the possibilities and suffrage from these women. This paper will examine the history of both the individuals and actions taken throughout this process.

It is more than clear that the women from the nineteenth century were revolutionary human beings who fought for what they wanted and believed. They made history on their own terms; what is more fascinating is that they were not looking for recognition, but to participate and contribute to the Civil War. It was not in vain because there are records and documentation of their participation. Some were recognized and received military honors, while others’ stories seem to be more myths than reality, but still they are all remembered and appreciated. They had their motives to participate, some wanted to get out of the domestic life, others had to maintain themselves somehow, and there were those who felt the need to collaborate. The women who decided

The late 19th century has been a tumultuous time for USA. The country’s scientific, cultural, and social landscape undergone radical changes. The theories of evolution by Darwin and the natural selection had called into question and had established views with regards to the origins of humans; along with the restoration and urbanization of the country after the Civil War, which ushered women and men towards a new social identity. More significant than anything is that organizations fighting for women’s rights had been gathering momentum since the year 1848, wherein the first conference concerning women’s rights has been held in Seneca Fall, NY.

Simone de Beauvoir defines the lived experience of women as one of “otherness,” and from this stems the oppression of women. De Beauvoir explains the lived experiences of women when she states that “he is the Subject; he is the Absolute. She is the other.” The man constitutes himself at the “subject” and the “absolute,” both descriptors place complete emphasis and importance on the man, the women are only relevant in their existence as the “other.” Since women are presently regulated to the category of the other, “humanity is male, and man defines women, not in herself, but in relation to himself; she is not considered an autonomous being.” Without a form of autonomy women have no basis for understanding themselves as women. If women must identify themselves through men, there is no way to escape a society in which men are the center of society and women are merely peripheral beings that conflate themselves to the wills and wishes of the more relevant man.

Back in the 19th century, women were nothing more than maids and caretakers. Breaking their limitations was not a factor in their everyday lives. However Dorothea Dix had other beliefs. She believed that women could do more if they were as independent as their opposite sex. She perceived the idea that women could do so much more than just cleaning and cooking. With her powerful beliefs as her shield, Dix battled in the path to improved institutions as a humanitarian. She explored and encountered all types of institutions of the insane. She exchanged her thoughts and beliefs with her peers. The fierce and famous nurse struggled so that troubled people could find peace.

The gender roles for women were defined by their anatomy, yet the male gender was not forced to define or consider their own anatomy. It was ignored. (Beauvoir, 2) Males considered their bodies to be a normal connection to the Earth. (Beauvoir, 2) However the woman’s body is viewed as a burden because women lack the male glands that men define as superior and natural. Women were considered incomplete and defective. (Beauvoir, 2) Men extrapolated the idea that women were inferior and unable to make rational decisions due to their anatomical structure. This banal and bigoted ideology originated from the book of Genesis in the bible. Because Eve was created from the bones of Adams; she was considered to be inferior to him.

Since the dawn of time it seems women have been mistreated, gone unheard and underestimated, for the longest time we have been pursuing equality. The 19th amendment “Women's’ Right to Vote” was implemented in 1920 it was in incredibly large step on a very long rough road to equal rights for women. The female population has been fighting for basic human respect as long as there has been one. Even in modern america and the rest of the world still face struggle, challenge and obstacles. Discrimination against women is still very much alive, impacts our society every day, and prevents millions from achieving their full potential.

Of the first person to attempt to view history through the eyes of feminism, Simone de Beauvoir asserts that man is the great subject and woman is the other – man is seen as essential, woman is not. Her primary argument is that men fundamentally oppress women by characterizing them as the ‘other’. The author also believes that women’s inferiority in society is not a result of natural, sexual differences but rather of differences in the societal development of men and women. She argues that women are not born passive; rather, “kept in a situation of inferiority”, one becomes used to the fact that she “is inferior” (xxiv).

Simone de Beauvoir asserts that “one is not born, but, rather, becomes a woman (Bailey, Alison, and Cuomo 97).” In this analytical paper, I will attempt to relate to this to my “becoming a man,” as well as comparing and contrasting this claim with other feminist philosophers’ ideas. Also, I will try to explain how de Beauvoir’s ideas are beneficial to society and to individual people.

Why did men underestimate women’s capacities in the 18th century? Men didn’t believe in the wisdom for women to vote and to discuss important topics. In the Colonial America Society men were taught to “Be a Man”, meaning to control the behavior of their families. Wives were thought as the “weaker sex” and need to be controlled by their husbands. All what women were taught to do from a very young age was to obey their father, and later their husband. The concept of women in the 18th century was to simply reproduce and obey the order of their husbands, now the 20th and 21st-century women fight for the equal rights with men.

(WFL). The groups’ common aim was to achieve the right to vote as they believed

My academic interest in gender and kinship studies was triggered by my encounter with one of the greatest minds in our history. I was fascinated by Simone de Beauvoir in her The Second Sex, both by her insightful existential analysis of women’s situation and the interdisciplinary approach which she takes. She approaches gender from manifold perspectives including the biological, the psychoanalytic, the historical, the literary and the anthropological, leading to a powerful revelation of how women are socially constructed and how the myth of the “Eternal Feminine” is perpetuated.