What Does The West Mean To Women

In the early 1800s, women were second-class citizens. Women were expected to restrict their area of interest to the home and the family. Women were not encouraged to have a real education or pursue a professional career. Also, women were considered unequal to their husbands and all males legally and socially. The day-to day lives of men and women were quite clearly divided during the late 1800s. Woman in the late 1800s were treated inhumane because of society, class, and their rights.

As time progressed, the roles of men and women were more defined by what usefulness they had and what society found appropriate. Women were not allowed to obtain education, travel, or go out in public

Women were an essential contribution towards expanding the West. Womens roles changed and during this time and there was a major shift in women power.

Women, like black slaves, were treated unequally from the male before the nineteenth century. The role of the women played the part of their description, physically and emotionally weak, which during this time period all women did was took care of their household and husband, and followed their orders. Women were classified as the “weaker sex” or below the standards of men in the early part of the century. Soon after the decades unfolded, women gradually surfaced to breathe the air of freedom and self determination, when they were given specific freedoms such as the opportunity for an education, their voting rights, ownership of property, and being employed.

Before the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, women were meant to remain in the household and do all the work there. They were supposed to take raise the children, maintain the house, support the husband, and be overall dependent on men. Women did not often work outside of their homes nor did they have any real independence to say or do whatever they pleased. For the most part, women were very dependent on men for most things in their lives. Women were meant to be meek,

The westward expansion had a huge impact on the role of women in society. Around the time of the Westward Expansion women did not have as many of the rights that they do now. Women’s role helped show that they could do anything that a man could do, they showed that they were not as helpless as many thought they were and it helped themselves gain rights. Before this women and men roles were very separated. Women's roles were specifically private and home based and the men did all the “hard” work. The women had to step up their game from just everyday work around the house to loads of things. They had to cook a lot for their hard working husbands. They also had to wash all their clothes. That alone was a lot of work because most of them

Women from all over the world have been faced with many difficult problems since the beginning of time. Women in the past have had to fight for their rights of education, freedom, sexual choices, and their freedom to work. Women today still face problems because of their gender, but times are slowly but surely changing. Before the Revolution women had no say in any activities they participated in. Women had to obey their husbands, give them sex whenever they wanted, had no choice over reproductive patterns, were strictly in charge of taking care of the house and children, and were not allowed to leave the homestead. Joan R. Gundersen argues that the women of the American Revolution gained more than they had lost. She believed at that time the greatest changes appeared enhancing the lives of everyday women.

In national myth and ideology, the West would long remain a sanctuary for the free American. To many, the settlement and exploitation of the West offered America a chance

This is especially true of the writing by women of the time. It is a long held myth that the gold rush was almost completely male. Yet, most trail diaries mention the presence of women.4 Still, they were quite a minority. The 1860 census reveals that in San Francisco that year, men outnumbered women three to two. Lopsided though this ratio may be, there were enough women in California to have quite an influence, and perhaps they struggled even more with their new freedom than the men. More restraint was expected from women, and it was their duty to keep their husbands and children proper. How they chose to deal with their new surroundings would have greatly impacted their families. Women offer an interesting perspective, as women were traditionally the epitomes of Victorian morality. Historian Lillian Schlissel writes that unlike the men, “...women did not always see the venture in the clear light of the expectation of success. There were often shadows in their minds, dark areas of reservation.”5 Women usually had little say in the matter of going West; therefore, it is logical that they would see things in a different light than their adventure seeking husbands. Still, many women were able to see the positive aspects of California, if not

Today, women are believed to be equal to men however this was not always the case. During colonial times, women did not have the same roles as women do today; men and women had fixed roles in society. Roles between men and women do not exchange due to strict gender roles. Additionally, married women were not exactly considered as companions instead, as the husband’s property. Although gender roles were a significant issue among women in early America, another issue was the background of these women. Factors such as race, religion, geography/region, and social class were substantial to the extent of control a woman had over her own life. These factors significantly shaped the lives of these women. For instance, white women had differences

Some aspects of the lifestyle ancient civilizations lived almost seem appalling or intolerable when compared to the very developed and carefully shaped the world inhabited today. One of these characteristics of previous societies that prove to be rather challenging to conceive in current times consists of the lack of rights, privileges, and equity women had. Society maintained this assumption of a man’s superiority up until the women’s rights movement of the early twentieth century; yet with the two sexes essentially equal in America today, imagining a restricted life as a female proves unfathomable. Looking back at the history of human kind, men almost always subdued women and treated them as property. When focusing on the first

Some of the major contributors of Middle Eastern rejection toward westernization came from the decision to include women in the building of their nation state. This greatly affected their relations of production (labor force) and productive forces (technology and innovation), in an attempt to gain the power and force necessary to keep up with western and non-western countries who also accepted this concept of modernization into their structure, or modes of production. While the more progressive areas adopted the emancipation of women into their culture, the more conservative and Islamic ruled regions rejected this idea because it was thought to be against the Quran and was an “incitement to mortality”. While some leaders of the more secular regions in the middle east realized the emancipation of women would practically double their work force and maintain the economy while the men were fighting in war,

America is the land of opportunity. It is a place of rebirth, hope, and freedom. However, it was not always like that for women. Many times in history women were oppressed, belittled, and deprived of the opportunity to learn and work in their desired profession. Instead, their life was confined to the home and family. While this was a noble role, many females felt that they were being restricted and therefore desired more independence. In America, women started to break the mold in 1848 and continued to push for social, political, educational, and career freedom. By the 1920s, women had experienced significant “liberation”, as they were then allowed to vote, hold public office, gain a higher education, obtain new jobs, drastically change

American history teaches us that, going west has always been a regarded as progression. From the earliest settlers to the “new land” to the idea of Manifest Destiny, progressive movement and thinking has always traveled west. The west is always thought of as being more liberal more free. “True West” A compelling play written by Sam Shepard, developed characters that “struggle to define and assert their identities.” <1702> By using the idea of going west Shepard’s play’s “ present a picture of America torn between its idealistic values and the painful realties of frontier paved over for a parking lot, and cowboys enclosed in a move and television screen.”<1702> By comparing and contrasting the lead characters Austin and Lee, Shepard shows the reader that “going west” does not always mean a change in the right direction.

In the 1800’s a women was suppose to have four things Piety, Purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. These principles shaped the “Cult of True Womanhood” an idea that women were to be seen but not heard. Women had no say when it came to politics, they couldn’t own property, they were not allowed to do many jobs, and they couldn’t even speak in front of men. They had the duty to be a mother and raise their children but even thought they had this responsibility it was the husband who had the complete control and guardianship of the children. Because of these ideas it was very difficult for change to happen. When women started to receive more education they began to ask questions about why they were being denied these rights, which began the