The Lives Of Women In The Early 100s Analysis

During the early 1800's women were stuck in the Cult of Domesticity. Women had been issued roles as the moral keepers for societies as well as the nonworking house-wives for families. Also, women were considered unequal to their male companions legally and socially. However, women’s efforts during the 1800’s were effective in challenging traditional intellectual, social, economical, and political attitudes about a women’s place in society.

Historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich provides a glimpse of America post Revolutionary war through her critically acclaimed book, A Midwife’s Tale, which is the interpretation of Martha Ballard’s seemingly humble diary—a record of her life as a midwife, mother, wife, and caregiver from 1785 through 1812. The book features Ballard’s account of her average day’s activities, which, in turn, serves to represent the tasks of women in her society; however, Ulrich cross-references the diary with documents such as court transcripts, land records, maps, and other diaries in order to piece together a more detailed account than one gathered solely from Ballard’s words. While popular belief envisions women in this timeframe as being constrained to the home and a litter of children, it is Ballard’s diary that reveals that women played a major role in other aspects of society, including the market economy, medicine and childbirth, versus just being mothers and homemakers.

Towards the end of the 1800s and into the beginning of the 1900s, the roles of women in society and in the family began to change drastically compared to what it had been in the past. Women were now allowed to own land, vote, and do more than cook and clean. Willa Cather and William Faulkner portray the roles of women in the early 1900s in their short stories, “Neighbor Rosicky” and “A Rose for Emily.” These short stories were both published around the year 1930. Because of what was happening in the US at the time, these stories are very good examples of the ways women were treated at this time.

In Document A, the majority of the 10,000 workers were young, unmarried women from farm families. The women took on a significant role in the mills; tending the spinning machine and producing cotton textiles. The owners of the mills offered housing and education to increase the interest for women to work. In document C, Sally Rice, a young woman from Vermont, went to look for her own job away from the farm her family owned. She found work as a domestic servant in New York, and then found another job weaving in a cotton mill in Blackstone Valley. She wished to earn her own money and become more independent. In her letters to her family, she describes how great her work is. She said, “I have one of the best homes and good society which is a good deal better than I can have there [at home].” In both of these examples the women became more independent, accepted more responsibility, and untimely became

women had to stay at home to make household goods to use in the 1700s-1800s

The new republic of the 1830s-1850s was a society that devalued the role of women. By comparing men and women against each other, giving men a superior status, making their differences more evident, and allowing men to demand more rights, to think and do freely, this society has been created to view women as less than. Women are viewed as the weaker vessel and property to their father, or husband that need to be protected and should be wifely, child bearing, motherly and dedicated to their homes instead of viewing women as their own beings.

As hardworking women living of the prairie, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters can relate to Mrs. Wright’s situation. They know personally that long days of doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning can become very tiresome (Hedges 91). They realize that living on the prairie can force a woman to be confined to her own house for weeks at a time, and because Mrs. Wright never had children, the grueling loneliness that she suffered must have been excruciating. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters both experience the constant patronization and sexual discrimination that most women in the early twentieth century lived with. They empathize with the difficulties of Mrs. Wright’s life and almost immediately a bond is formed with a woman they do not even know.

During the 1930s women is not treated equal with men and they are very different with each other. The amount of women actually getting jobs are less likely to men getting jobs. Fashion is also very different, women are in plain dresses while men are in blue denim jackets. Women during the Great Depression are actually depressed because they can not get jobs and their wages are half as as much as men. Men gets good jobs and amazing wages but at least both still got their fashion.

Women of the 1950’s through the 1960’s are ridden with male oppression and self-esteem issues. The book Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates and an episode of Mad Men titled The Shoot have a lot in common. The differences and similarities between the leading women in both of these stories from the 1950’s show that times are different today. The women of the 1950’s had a dream for the future and their dream has finally become a reality for American women. From Mad Men, Betty Draper’s dream of becoming a model and in Revolutionary Road, April Wheeler’s dream of traveling the world are actual realities for women today. Their dreams show similarities, differences and the “American Dream” that every woman has.

The book describes how complex societal dictation dominated the lives of women and left no room for growth as a unique individual with a passion other than homemaking. It called upon women to take a stand against these so called norms and “seek new opportunities for themselves” (“Betty Friedan”). It instantly became sensation and “continues to be regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century” (Michals). It struck a nerve with all women alike, leading to a “feminist explosion” (Kaplan) because of the recognition of themselves in Friedan’s work (Parry) and the familiarity shared between the women created a sense of community. It also brought public awareness to the glamorized domestication of

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.

the house becoming the homemaker once the war was over. The 1950s has also been

The history in the 1800s was really rough then now days because they had the Nez Perce war going on and at the same time, we had problems with woman not being able to vote, and the Immigrants were all looking for jobs. As I said earlier about women not being able to vote was a big step back for woman, not so much for men as they didn’t want women to vote. As the author said in the 1840s, emerging from the broader movement for women's rights”(w.i.t.p.n.). Woman were treated imperfect towards men all because they were a different gender, which is unacceptable back in the 1840s and would be now if it happened because we should all be treated the the same and have the same rights. As it says in the text “In order to earn revenue from their land

The two housewives have a passionate love for gardening and bestow their love and appreciation towards their gardens. In the twentieth century, gardening was advocated as beneficial to one’s life and family. In the New England Quarterly, the journal, “Gardening as ‘Women’s Culture’ in Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s Short Fiction,” states,“The time women spent in

Women in the nineteenth century, for the most part, had to follow the common role presented to them by society. This role can be summed up by what historians call the “cult of domesticity”. The McGuffey Readers does a successful job at illustrating the women’s role in society. Women that took part in the overland trail as described in “Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey” had to try to follow these roles while facing many challenges that made it very difficult to do so.