The Unwritten Rules Of Woman In The 19th Century

Throughout all of history there has a been a very important question that many have tried to answer. What is the role of women in society? In the 19th century, the Cult of Domesticity, also known as the Cult of True Womanhood, was introduced as an attempt to answer this question. The Cult of True Womanhood introduced a set of beliefs about gender roles that became so widely popular they could be found in magazines, newspapers, and throughout all of the famous cultures. Our modern 21st century still recognizes and practices the three factors of purity, submissiveness, and domesticity, which were greatly upheld by the cult.

I have to let the readers know how I stumbled upon this topic to introduce where I get my ideas from. It all started in the archive located on the second floor of the library in a dark corner behind a clear glass doors at the Hunter College. I have been attending Hunter College for four years and never have I stumbled on such an amazing place full of live history. I say live history because all the documents and books that are held in the archive are all preserved originals, which fascinated me. Thinking how people who lived more than century ago wrote and read the same things I’m writing and reading about excited me to my very soul. Archive research though fascinating is not an easy task that can be done in within fifteen minutes like how researches are done these days using convenient technologies at hand.

A house is not a home if no one lives there. During the nineteenth century, the same could be said about a woman concerning her role within both society and marriage. The ideology of the Cult of Domesticity, especially prevalent during the late 1800’s, emphasized the notion that a woman’s role falls within the domestic sphere and that females must act in submission to males. One of the expected jobs of a woman included bearing children, despite the fact that new mothers frequently experienced post-partum depression. If a woman were sterile, her purposefulness diminished. While the Cult of Domesticity intended to create obliging and competent wives, women frequently reported feeling trapped or imprisoned within the home and within societal

For centuries the patriarchy was perpetuated by uneducated middleclass men, upper crust scholars and dutiful women. The emergence of liberalism in the 19th century resulted in the dismantlement of the patriarchy resulting in violence against women as a response. 19th Century liberalism acted as a catalyst for Patriarchal dismantlement and its resulting gender based violence, as it harnessed education as a means for empowerment and freedom. By raising social awareness and mobilizing free thought, the liberal movement disassembled the misogynistic train of thought. Liberalism introduced contemporary thought at the price of acrimony of men.

Racial and gender stereotypes are vague assumptions that are generally negative in the novel, Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins. They are false beliefs abstracted by judgmental people based on a person’s gender or ethnicity. Each person has their respective thoughts, ambitions and passions despite their gender or race. These stereotypes are ignorant and do not define every single person. Most people realize that stereotypes are inaccurate, however they continue to make presumptions based on ethnicity or gender. The author of Forbidden, challenges racial and gender stereotypes by explaining how they are only crude generalizations which cause disruptions in society because of people’s belief that as long as they exist that they must follow them.

In the late nineteenth century, women were beginning to take a stand for their equal rights in society. The term “new woman” was used to describe these women, openly proclaiming their independence from men. It was a woman’s way to threaten the conventional ideas of society, and to bring about their own changes (Buzwell). Following their well-known suffrage movement, women claimed their freedom sexually, physically, and in the workplace. For many years’ prior, women were expected to be the typical housewife, watching over the house, cooking, and cleaning. They were property of their husbands. During their equal rights revolution, women pursued careers like doctors or lawyers and fulfilling their sexual desires for purposes other than bearing children. As today’s society may never know the struggles and misfortunes during the Victorian era, Dracula leaves a time capsule behind to elaborate on the realities during such a prominent generation (Podonsky). Considering this given criteria, a new woman comes in a variety of forms; some women represent a stronger sexual desire while others demonstrate character traits on equality in work and education. In the case of Dracula, the two main female characters take two different forms; one blatantly sexual and one chaste (Humphrey). Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula portrays the ideas of a “new woman” in a modern society, utilizing Mina’s and Lucy’s characters to display opposite characteristics of the feminist movement which draw attention to

The way European women were treated in the nineteenth century is very different than the way women are treated in the twentieth century today. Women in the nineteenth century were thought more of as objects or something to look at instead of people. Men were always superior to women. It is not the same in the United States during twentieth century as it was in Europe during the nineteenth century. Race and sexuality plays a huge role in the superiority of genders. By the end of the nineteenth century there were multiple challenges toward sending gender norms.

At the end of the 18th century and during the 19th century, there were many changes to public ideology that affected the way that women perceived their roles in society. Prior to these changes, women had adopted the beliefs of separate “spheres” separating work into public life and their duties as mothers at home1. Women stayed at home to take care of the children and provide a warm, welcoming home for their husbands to take refuge from public life. Women became aware of their lack of legal and political power after the American Revolutionary War ended as they were denied the right to the same freedoms that granted the right to vote to the white, property-owning male population2. Despite granting women more liberty to run businesses, farms,

From the early beginnings of civilization to the 19th century, women were viewed as breeding objects to their husbands, and they were caretakers of the house who were responsible for the cooking and cleaning in the residence. They were also accountable for taking care of children, making dinner for her husband, and throwing lavish parties that others envied. When the American Revolution began in 1765, women 's roles began to change drastically. Men had to fight against the British, so women left the safety and security of their traditional roles to serve their country, and perform their usual duties. During the Revolution, women were given roles in the military as “camp followers”, snuck into the army disguised as a man, and some women

Today citizens of the United States all have the essential rights to vote in a democracy, regardless of their skin color or gender. This, however, was not the case many years ago prior to 1920. In fact, women or people of color were not allowed the right to vote. Nevertheless, over time the roles of women began to change and with changing roles, women began to be more aware of their rights, thus began to fight for equality. Without the beginning of woman’s suffrage and early women reforms done in the early 19th century, the right of women to vote could have never been successful; changing roles of women from the beginning of the colonization age lead up to the idea of woman’s suffrage.

In the last decades of the nineteenth century, United Stated encountered an urban migration; it was something different and never experienced before. As factories began to open up across the Midwestern and Northern countryside, cities grew up around them. A whole new world was introduced, bringing a mixture of both positive and negative effects into the American society. While the new elite, big businesses, and the American economy in general, enjoyed the benefits of industrialization, many Americans were not so fortunate. Immigrants and former soldiers moved to the cities in search of jobs, money, and new opportunities. This created scarcity in employment and other resources. Cities grew and developed quickly, which caused women to work outside of their homes and farmers felt the difference in urban living. United State was changing because of industrialization. For example, the roles for women had changed greatly in the society because of industrialization. Women who once were caring mothers and housewives became a part of the working class. They didn’t have the time to stay home during the day and take care of their husband and making sure that their children acted properly and were respectful with high moral values. On the other hand, wealthy women considered to be lucky if they were able to stay at home and devote themselves totally to their families. Another example, farmers who were dependent on their skill in farming and the land grew their crops. However, throughout

Gender roles were sharply defined in the 19th century. Women were expected to stay at home and carry out the domestic duties as well as taking care of the children and educate them and provide a peaceful home for their husband. Women were seen as loving and caring. On the other hand, men were expected to work and earn money for the family. They would fight wars and were seen as strong and powerful. Men had more freedom and rights, such as the right to vote, than women in the 19th century. Society had created two completely separate spheres. In the medical field, men were doctors. There were laws in many states, such as, that prohibited women from becoming doctors. Women, who decided to practice medicine in the 19th century had to struggle with much opposition because it went against prevailing ideas about women’s role in society. Women belonged in the private and domestic sphere. Men belonged to competitive and immoral public sphere of industry and commerce. The women in medicine would face accusations that they were abandoning their sphere and threatening society. Due to these arguments and the fear of economic competition from female practitioner, male medical schools and hospitals denied women access to institutions. However, Elizabeth Blackwell, changed this idea of separate spheres when she decided to take on the medical field and become a doctor. Although Elizabeth Black had a natural aversion to the medical field, her

Women’s status in the late 19th and early 20th century was still confined to race and religion. Women were expected to be house wives and to be seen but not heard. With the growth of feminism and the Suffrage Movement women were becoming political and demanding equal rights under the law. Feminism was first introduced in 1914 at a mass meeting in New York that debated “WHAT IS FEMINISM”. Researching I found the first meeting that addressed the issues of women in America was the Women Right’s Conventions in 1848 were over 300 people came to discuss Gender Inequality, how to mobilize women around the country and to discuss women’s rights in the current laws. Feminism was meant to be emancipation from human being and sex-being. This was women

Women. Men. Two simple words that hold so much meaning, belonging to one universal term: Human. In the society we live in today gender is typically no longer viewed in the way that it once was - So in 2018 and a member of that very society, we consider if gender should affect us like it has in the past, historically and should we truly try and fit into the ‘traditional’ gender norms that were once widely socially accepted. Men and women onced lived in the norm of what we today view as ‘stereotypes’ but there are still people who adopt this stereotypical prejudice.

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.