Clara Wieck Schumann and the Struggle for Equality in Nineteenth-Century Germany The place of women before and during the nineteenth century is well summarized by a Bavarian statute book, which states that “by marriage, the wife comes under the authority of the husband and the law allows him to chastise her moderately” (Gay 177). These ideas are similarly echoed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen and the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The former did not afford women any of the rights provided for men, such as liberty, property, resistance to oppression, voting, free speech, etc.; the latter reasoned that because women were the weaker sex, they should not (and moreover could not) be a part of society
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Also during this period, nationalism was on the rise and encompassed nearly all aspects of universities, which increasingly allowed women access to an education, opening the door for their liberation (Gay 48).
Very often during this period, women experienced great monotony in their lives and became jaded with the tasks they performed day after day. While some women put up with this hackneyed life, others struggled to free themselves from it. Many not only fought for rights but against injustices their sex had sustained in previous centuries (Gay 172). The end of the nineteenth century saw an increased activism by women, who argued against their dominated position and for fundamental changes in laws (Gay 177). While there did exist some men who supported women and believed their deprivation of many rights was unjust, many more were disheartened with the advancing woman. Because men had come to relax in their domineering role, they became uncomfortable, if not fearful, when women showed their independence. This led to a bourgeois culture which can be summed up in a single word: uncertainty (Gay 48, 171). Changes were occurring at a rapid pace, and many older, more conservative citizens saw this as a time of frenzied disregard for the concrete, sustained values and morals with which they had been raised. The nineteenth century was a time when all facets of life—religious, political, sexual—were being questioned
However, the revolution didn’t encourage both sexes to reevaluate the women’s right. It very little changed happen women still had the same basic rights like before. However, Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, became an early supporter of women's rights when she prompted her husband to "REMEMBER THE LADIES" when starting up a new government. Even though Adams passed a new law that protects some women from bad husband this new law did not protect the single women. Also, women need and wanted to have the same right as men. Women have the same capacity and the same intellectual as men, there is no difference. The only difference between women and men that men have access to education and have more power than women before the American Revolution, this changed after women started to realize that they could have the same rights as men. Furthermore, American women deserve to have the same right. If the republic were to succeed, women must be educated in quality so they could teach their children how
Women also had the right to vote, but some women didn’t use that right because they had believed it was for men. Though other women saw this as a chance to get involved with politics. Women
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 considered to be the “weaker vessels ,” not as strong physically or mentally as men and less emotionally stable. Legally they could neither vote, hold public office, nor participate in legal matters on their own behalf, and opportunities for them outside the home were frequently limited .
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.
During the first World War I women were left at home to try and figure out how they were going to care for their families. Their husband, father, and brothers were sent off to war. Many companies around the United States were left with production needs and little to no employees to do the job. In a time period, where women are expected to be confident and independent, they had to also realize they had little to no power in society. They had societal rules that they must stay at home to cook, clean, and care for the children. With the men who were prominent in their lives coming and going from war. These factors caused the birth of a new era. This is the era where women were emerging. Women were changing by being more independent sexually and expressing their emotions through music, poetry, and movies.
Throughout time women and their rights have varied among where they are living and the people that surround them. Some of the major changes with women’s rights is giving them the right to vote, reproductive rights, and the right to work for equal pay. Another thing that varies throughout time is women’s roles. For example 100 years ago the only jobs that women could have was to either be a housewife, nurse, or a teacher. Until about 1910, women didn’t really fight for their rights and what they could do. In 1910, women started to voice their opinions in society and fought for the right to vote. Though things have changed greatly today, there are still women in the world that believe in the “traditional way” and prefer to still wait on
There were also women who believed that women’s suffrage was a bad idea. They believed that, because they knew first had that women were emotional and quick to jump to conclusions, women would make quick and rash decisions that would not be good for the government (Document 7). There were also the people who believed that women were the inferior gender and were therefore weak and unable to handle the stress and difficulty involved in politics and the government (Document 11). Some people also argued that women were not supposed to be involved in politics because it was not socially acceptable. They said that women were supposed to be loved and kissed and not forced to handle the struggles of making hard political decisions (Document 12). People who argued against women’s suffrage believed that women were too weak and delicate to handle the ups and downs of political involvement.
Starting in the nineteenth century women’s rights was a very hushed subject, it wasn’t really talked about because everyone thought of women as being the homemakers, taking care of the family and making meals while the men went out and worked. During
Society has long since considered women the lessor gender and one of the most highly debated topics in society through the years has been that of women’s equality. The debates began over the meaning between a man and woman’s morality and a woman’s rights and obligations in society. After the 19th Amendment was sanctioned around 1920, the ball started rolling on women’s suffrage. Modern times have brought about the union of these causes, but due to the differences between the genetic makeup and socio demographics, the battle over women’s equality issue still continues to exist. While men have always held the covenant role of the dominant sex, it was only since the end of the 19th century that the movement for women’s equality and the
rights and people saw them as the property of their husband. This is a new historicism literary
Around the end of the century, nineteenth-century women composers extended their topic, moving past highlighting the lives and hardships endured by ladies secured household detainment prisons. Rather, they progressively communicated their independence and requested more equivalent accomplice ships—in marriage, public life, law, and legislative issues—with
In comparison with men, women didn’t have a lot of rights and freedom. Some argued that men and women were different species and that men were similar to gods and women were similar to animals. Men could vote but women couldn’t,
Despite being under the rule of a female monarch, women faced many inequalities and suffering during the Victorian age. Examples of these inequalities include not having the right to vote, unequal educational and employment opportunities. Women were even denied the legal right to divorce in most cases. As the Norton Anthology states, these debates over women’s rights and their roles came to be known as the “woman question” by the Victorians. This lead to many conflicting struggles, such as the desire by all for women to be educated, yet they are denied the same opportunities afforded to men. While these women faced these difficulties, there was also the notion that women should be domestic and feminine. There was an ideal that women should be submissive and pure because they are naturally different. The industrial revolution introduced women into the labor workforce, but there was still a conflict between the two identities; one of an employed woman, and one of a domestic housewife.
During the 19th century, women were controlled by a male dominated society. The women were in pure agony knowing that there was no faith for them to have a crucial change in civilization. This could often lead to “clinical depression” in which a human could feel lonely, empty, confounded and miserable. In this time period, women’s role in society was to be simply mothers and wives. A world where women had rights, control, and power was a fantasy. According to Hall, he states, “Key to all feminist methodologies is the belief that patriarchal oppression of women through history has been profound and multifaceted” (Hall 202). In other words, it is known that the male takes complete cruel supremacy over the years in our history. In The