Through Women 's Eyes By Ellen Carol Dubois And Lynn Dumenil

The gender roles in America have changed tremendously since the end of the American Civil War. Women and men, who once lived in separate spheres are now both contributing to American society. Women have gone from the housewife so playing key roles in the country's development in all areas. Though our society widely accepts women and the idea that our society is gender neutral, the issues that women once faced in the late 1860s are still here.

Women’s history in the United States has always been represented as a struggle for rights. Wealth and status were tied to either their fathers or husbands. In the early 1900s, women were afforded the traditional roles of society. The majority of women worked in the home. If they were of the 18% young or poor women, they also worked in factories as laborers, manufacturing items for the booming industrial revolution (U.S. Department of Labor, 1980). During this time period the workplace was not in compliance with current safety standards. There was no minimum wage yet, work conditions were horrible and they worked long hours, “In 1900, the average workweek in manufacturing was 53 hours,” (Fisk, 2003). Women took “pink

Women’s roles in the United States had an apparent change in the antebellum time period. More women were able to receive an education, find work, and gender equality. Women schooling were widely set up so they could improve and strengthen, mostly their literacy skill. The most popular job for women to have in this time period was being a teacher since schools could get away with paying them less than men. Women also began to make an effort to get political, social and economic equality.

At first in the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s, the society had a plethora of discrimination as well as inequality. Women were treated unreasonably, and had far less rights than men. Many of those rights that women fought for excluded them from many opportunities given to men, “...married women could not own property, make contracts, bring suits, or sit on juries,” (Digital History, 2016). Women actions were based on the men’s needs. Women were restricted to work and

Throughout my process of researching information, I had very little problems on this specific task. I had a small struggle on finding out, about Thurgood Marshall’s open and factual opinions on some world events that affected him personally. There weren’t enough interviews he took part in for me to go really into details about him, but there were enough information on how he decreased the popularity of discrimination in the

In the early 1800’s, when the new nation was beginning to form, the young nation’s founding fathers began to shape a new country to free the oppressed Europeans who found a taste of freedom. However that freedom only went so far, for our founding fathers and authors of the U.S Constitution, managed to create a gender biased society and only managed to exclude an entire gender from the new hope they created. By this time, the development in the young country and the expansion of the American economy had begun. This meant that there were jobs available for people who wanted to earn a living to feed their families. Unfortunately, due to the law and what it represented, only Caucasian men could work outside of their homes to bring back some income to feed their families. Unfortunately for the next 200 years, several of the nation’s mothers, sisters and wives were engaged in a battle against society and social norms, as they begun to turn against the status quo, by demanding equal rights, such as the right to vote. Their eyes opened to the oppression around them and they sought change. However they faced obstacles such as social rejection. They were considered too frail and less intelligent to handle jobs and involvement in the government, which were considered ‘a man’s work’. Several influential women such as Alice Paul thought differently and made it their goal to encourage society to rethink about the role of a woman.

Everyday history is evolving and being affected by the past. With history comes questions as to how it came into being, and the fascination that is inscribed with it. Where did I come from, why do wars happen, why is society like this, are all questions that can be explored through the viewing of history. With this in mind, this essay will discuss the possible reasoning’s behind: Why have the roles of American women in society changed since the 1940’s? While this question will not have a distinguished answer, several factors have contributed to forming an answer such as: World War II, Madison Avenue, and contraceptives.

Women in America in the late 1800’s were treated poorly because they did not have any rights to an education or equal marriage, and they eventually started to refute back to overcome the stereotypes men gave women. Women started going to college, getting divorces, and taking stands against men for their rights. The late 1800’s for women was a life changing time. Women were fighting against what society holds of them. “At the Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, there was a Women's Building that displayed items of art, crafts, and inventions by women; this represented an early achievement in the feminist struggle for suffrage and equal rights” (Manning 2013). Women were not just stay at home mothers and housewives. They represented that they can make something of themselves just as men do.

The demand for independence and equality were perhaps the most driving catalysts of the American Revolution, but given that these ideals only applied to white men at the time, I wonder how many women imagined that they would ever enjoy such liberties. In the nineteenth century, it was assumed that the natural order of society dictated that men and women were predestined to live out their lives as they always had. Women were expected to be submissive, obedient, and subservient to the men around them. Women 's struggle for equality has been a long-fought battle and continues into the present time. Those who began the crusade for women’s rights in the mid-1800s courageously defied the status quo of their time to forge the way for women to participate in every way they aspired to do so, standing up for what they believed and showing the world that women were competent, capable, and intelligent. This paper will explore how women’s role in society was transformed during the period leading up to the Civil War, providing a snapshot of the courageous people and events that shaped the futures of women in America.

America has changed over the years in a multitude of way. Women have touched it all, everything from humanities to arts to science to government. When studying history, students usually learn about the fights the men have fought; women are often overlooked. This paper is dedicated to learning about women and their fight to create history; this paper is dedicated to learning about the struggles women have faced that have been overlooked by those that dictate what a history book is supposed to contain. Women's history is just as important as men's history, therefore, this paper will contain just a small portion of history made by two important women.

The war brought enormous changes in American women’s lives. Before the war and for much of the world’s history, Women were seen as second-class citizens. At the start of the struggle women

Women throughout history have almost always been beneath men; unable to pursue an education like men could, unable to do what was labeled as ‘a man’s work’, and unable to have the same rights as men. In the mid-1800’s in the United States those limitations began to decrease due to new technologies and opportunities such as factory developments and even co-ed schooling. Those changes caused a great shift in what women could and couldn’t do while also paving a pathway towards women’s rights.

Women have faced many challenges due to unequal rights in the United States. The time period of these chapters go from roughly 1868 to 1980. During this time there was World War I, multiple court cases such as Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act, World War II, and new technology being made. During these war times women had to step up to take over the mens’ jobs while they were fighting. Rosie the Riveter was a big campaign approach during WWII to get women working in the factories. Women proved that their place wasn’t only in the domestic sphere. Women changed America by accepting challenges, fighting for what they believed in, and taking risks.

In today’s era, women are viewed as independent significant members of society. They are allowed to hold a career, vote, pursue an education wherever they want, have access to birth control, buy homes and so much more. Women have so much more freedom today than they used to. For many years’ women had to fight for the same rights as men. This essay will discuss the oppression society placed on women and how they advanced in social positioning throughout the years. Women’s advancements in society can be seen within the writings of some great American scholars who have lived throughout these eras.

This reading list examines recent United States Women’s History scholarship. The anthologies reveal several themes and agendas. Scholars seek to connect women’s history to larger American narratives. Questions regarding race, class, labor, power, gender roles, and female influence on public policy/politics dominate the discussions. A leading concern is incorporating the histories of women of color and diverse ethnic backgrounds, and working class women, into the prevailing standard narrative of women’s history. Scholars grapple with the racial aspect of the suffrage narrative, and particularly racism as inherent to suffragist leadership, as a political strategy, or both. When considering the “waves” metaphor and standard periodization, many