Essay on The Role of Women in America

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.

In addition to women becoming a housewife there has been a “direct denunciation”(Doc B Sheg) because they are becoming disrespectful towards their husbands. This is because with them learning about earning their rights they tend to fight for themselves, which just ruins the mindset of how good it is to be a housewife. When the “more fortunate women”(Doc B Sheg) help with the “round of toil”(Doc B Sheg) women they feel as though it will bring them “respect and consideration which form the basis upon, which we more fortunate women build our lives.” (Doc B Sheg) Within this need to become grateful for having such an easy life to the point that they become lazy, all of the other women that need to actually work to make a living can clearly see that it is not as luxurious to have certain rights because then that requires harder

Dating back throughout history woman were often considered to be too soft or docile to work. In the early 1800’s, as well as the 1950’s, it was thought that woman should not only be pure in heart, mind and body, but that they should be submissive to their husbands and not work outside the home, this was known as the Cult of Domesticity (Keister & Southgate, Inequality: a contemporary approach to race, class and gender, 2012, p. 228).

Women in pre-industrialist times and states played a central role in the economic system of the community. Whereas in other places when men were involved in hunting of animals and birds, women played their role as the also gathered fruits and vegetables. This signifies the importance they had in a community. In my opinion, women play an essential role in society as much as men do. They complement men, and together they work as a system (Angela, 2011). If women are left out in community activities, the whole system collapses and fails to work appropriately hence it is imperative that they are working together for the betterment of the community. However, there have been significant changes, and women have been left behind to do less economically profitable works. They are involved in washing dishes, making beds, scrubbing floors and motherly chores that are deemed to be unprofitable. I think that women do essential jobs in homesteads and need to be paid for their work. The way that people associate home chores to be economically unproductive needs to change.

What are two ways women’s domestic duties are affected by those jobs performed outside the home? “Throughout history, women have made major economic contributions to their societies and families through their labor” (Lindsey, 2011, pg. 273). However, there is old rumors that state women clearly were declined the opportunities to bound in any form of clamorous work of any kind. Though, that is no longer the case today, for many women join the men in the fields, to help process the crops in order to provide much needed nutrients for their families; than ever before. “To explain the world of work for women, sociologists focus on four major types of production in which women have traditionally engaged: producing goods or services for consumption

"Throughout much of early American history, men and women were thought of as inhabiting different spheres. According to this philosophy, men spent most their time and energy outside the home. They worked, transacted financial affairs, participated in political matters, and concerned themselves with the world at large. Women, however, were expected to devote themselves to the domestic spheres--not only performing household chores but also imparting morals and virtues to their children and making home a peaceful sanctuary for their husbands. Many Americans believed that this distinct separation and balancing of gender roles was essential to the harmonious functioning of society." (Bender 46) The "home is [woman's] appropriate and appointed sphere of action." (Bender 46) This philosophy, that was predominant throughout colonial and post-Revolutionary America, isolated women from having outside occupations as well as the pursuit of political opportunities, and most

American history is primarily concerned with the evaluation of imperative events affiliated with the primordial American society (Kellogg & William 439). It sheds light of the past on the present hence, establishing a significant correlation between the precedent, present, and future. Slavery, the revolutionary war, the colonial period, and the U.S independence are some of the predominant events that characterize the American history.

     Femininity and masculinity are topics that have been debated over in our society extensively, through psychological research and day to day interaction with people. Children learn from their parents as well as society the concept of “feminine” and “masculine.” The majority of people tend to believe that these conceptions are biological but I believe it is more cultural. From birth, female children are shaped by society as being sweet, caring, loving, and delicate and usually associated with the color pink. While male children are shaped by being tough, aggressive, and competitive and associated with the color blue. As these children grow, the boy is given a football to play with and the girl a

Women and men have had certain roles in society that were understood amongst them to be specified for their particular gender. Males were known to have the leading role as head of the house hold and the bread winner while the woman’s duty was to stay at home and take care of the house and children. While many people years ago deemed this way of life and practice to be the right and ethical thing to do, times have changed and so this kind of treatment towards a woman’s equality must be questioned. Even though times have changed, this mindset of a woman’s ability to be as good as a man has not completely gone away. In today’s society a woman contributes to the economy and her family as equally as that of a man. Therefore, women should share equal rights and opportunities as their gender counterparts.

Even as far back as the United States independence, women did not possess any civil rights. According to Janda, this view is also known as protectionism, the notion that women mush be sheltered from life's harsh realities. Protectionism carried on throughout the general populations view for many decades until the 1920's when the women's movement started. Women finally received the right to vote in the Nineteenth Amendment. The traditional views of protectionism, however, remained in people's minds until the 1970's (Janda et al, 2000: 538-539).

Throughout this paper I will be discussing the role of women in the American society. I will reference the importance of gender and gender inequality. The definition of gender aims to clarify for of all the historical framework of the topic, the role of women in the American society. The paper will lead from the role women were given around World War II and then transition into the role women can now choose in the American society today. Addition to the role of women I will also discuss the differences of how the genders are treated in the same places, for example work place. Men and women are culturally molded when referring to gender in the American society. The gender roles play a lead part into how the model family, education, and liberty are. The reason I chose to write about this topic is due to my strong belief that although I don’t agree with the characteristics society gave to gender, I do believe in gender equality.

Careers in nursing, entertainment, etc. has this essence of the housewife in them. Whether it is tending to another human being regardless if it is their family or not to pleasuring and fulfilling a man's lustful desires. The practices of a housewife is carried over into other careers which make escaping that lifestyle, that stereotypical image of a woman that much more difficult.

Women for years have been automatically given the role of the domestic housewife, where their only job is to cook, clean, and take care of the children. Men have usually taken the primary responsibility for economic support and contact with the rest of society, while women have traditionally taken the role of providing love, nurturing, emotional support, and maintenance of the home. However, in today’s society women over the age of sixteen work outside of the home, and there are more single parent households that are headed by women than at any other time in the history of the United States (Thompson 301.)

Women’s unpaid labor in maintains a systems of oppression in many ways. In Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee’s Women’s Voices Feminist Visions unpaid labor done by many women is, “undervalued as women’s formal productive paid labor in the workforce is prioritized” (Shaw & Lee, 2015, 471). Shaw and Lee are saying that women work at home is devalued because it is viewed as informal and as work that is done out of love or is natural work. Since the work being done is viewed as natural work, it further reinforces gender stereotypes by stating that women are supposed to do the household work which is deemed more as feminine. This thought process follows patriarchal thinking, where women are expected to do the

Women’s role within the household has changed considerably over a period of time. In the later days in the United States women were to attend to the children and to the house and not do much more than that. Children are now being raised by stay at home dads instead of the stereotypical stay at home moms. According to Gardner, "Real-life families have changed considerably since 'Mr. Mom ' appeared, with more men sharing child-rearing and household chores." (Gardner 2010) This is occurring because women’s jobs are no longer labeled as being just for women. Men have gotten a lot of criticism for being stay at