Preview

The Start of Social Change: Women in the 19th Century Essay Example

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1176 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Start of Social Change: Women in the 19th Century Essay Example
The Start of Social Change: Women in the 19th Century

According to Mintz Professor of History at University of Houston, the 19 the century for the United States was a time without Social Security, Medicare, health insurance, and government regulation. Technology had not played a huge part of society as of yet, they were without airplanes, antibiotics, automobiles, computers, radio, and television. There were telephones but only eight in the entire country. Our government was small and gather majority of their revenues from taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and imports. The average population for century was forty seven million, which is sixth of what we know today.

The beginning of the 19th century tradition versus new, the late 19th century was a century for the beginning of social change. There were many disputed elections, deep worries about the corrupting influence of money in politics, and angry debates over morality and women's roles. This was time where women started to stand up and let their voice be heard, after being suppress for prior centuries.

In 1877, 15 percent of married women had 10 or more children, and another 22 percent had between 7 and 9. The high numbers of children equaled having a big family. This starts the beginning of the women role in society at this time. A woman with a big family is expected to attend to that family and the bigger the family gets the more that a woman must be there, therefore meaning working was out of the question. Majority of the women in the upper class and middle class did not work, but instead the husband worked outside of the home to provide a living and the wife was neatly centered in her home caring for her family in a domestic and orderly fashion, all the while showering her family with love, moral, and spiritual guidance.

In the 19th century, women other than the upper class and middle class began working outside their homes in large numbers. The acceptable occupations for working

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Throughout the 19th century there were many changes across America, one of the most influential were the changes to Women's Rights and the way they were treated. Margaret Sanger stated in her debate on “Free Motherhood” that feminism is an important word in terms of politics(92). The Women's rights have changed drastically. During the 19th century there was the Women's right convention is scenics falls, women were essentially homemakers the Women's rights movement lead way to major changes throughout the 19th century and we'll into the 20th. Women really began to rebel against stereotypes of their lives revolving around being a basic housewife and homemaker.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women in past western society have been seen as the unintelligent, powerless, and insignificant gender. Though something began to change between 1790 and 1860. Economically Women were now able to work, have money, and help their families; Domestically, there was the great admiration for women in the home now instead of just expecting their place to be there.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women did not play a determining role in ranking patterns; took position under the men of the family. By 1840 all of American society had changed. Women were excluded from the new democracy. Women's work outside of the home no longer met with social…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The period from 1820-1850 were the years of change for the American society. It was a period of time when the most important and diversified events that occurred in the American history; it was a period of time to break free from old habits and beliefs that had been left behind. The main goal of the reforms was to make the society a better place for everyone. And the reforms did bring magnificent changes to slavery, women’s rights, and people’s morality.…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As with the upper class, a middle class of doctors, lawyers, small businesses owners, and teachers had existed since the colonial times. However, by the late 1800s the rise of modern corporations had swelled the ranks of the middle class with accountants, clerks, engineers, managers, and salespeople. Despite the demand for middle-class professionals, few women were permitted in professional occupations. Rapid urban growth did provide greater opportunities for women to work outside the home. The rise of big business created a variety of new jobs, such as salesclerks, and secretaries. Business owners increasingly hired young, single women to fill these positions, paying them lower wages than men. By 1910 thirty five percent of the 2 million clerical workers were women. Most married middle-class women worked in their homes. Smaller families, increased reliance on purchased goods, and new household technologies such as running water changed middle-class women’s domestic work. Many women joined reading and social…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Probably, this change was especially true for women’s position. They acquired the voting right by the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, which brought a great deal of freedom for them. This was the time when they made the greatest efforts to break away from the traditional norms of womanhood, and I assert…

    • 1390 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The family life in this time period was changing. As the economy strengthened, the man of a household was able to make enough money to support his family. This allowed many of the women to be able to stay home and care for the children and keep up the house. This became the normality, and women who did not conform to this pattern were looked down upon. The inequality of women’s rights was a pretty big topic in this time period. Feminists made some major victories in the advancements of women’s rights such as the 1882 law that gave English married women the right to own land. With the separation of roles between man and women, the women took control over most of the families domestic and cultural decisions. Married couples in this time…

    • 157 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women's rights during the 1800s changed drastically. In the beginning of the century, a woman had few freedoms, and her identity was linked directly with her husband and his property. She had no right to her own property, money children or any privileges as far as voting or statements in any law making decisions. As things progressed in the 1800s, things moved forward for women. They gained more rights, including the right to vote. Although there were many other major changes for women in the 1800s that were also very important to changing the woman's role in society. The divorce and matrimonial causes act and the custody of children act are both big legislation’s that changed the role of women towards the end of the 19th century.…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    for women. In the 19th century women began working outside of the home in textile…

    • 799 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1800s Women's Reform

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Women’s reform efforts of the early 1800’s helped them achieve equality.Women fought for their rights in America and women have leaded reform effortsthat began to change the way they were viewed by society. Amelia Earhart andElizabeth Blackwell made a huge impact for women by their independence andbravery. Women’s reform efforts created progress towards their equality andeventually helped they gain some rights and opportunities as all men did.Women’s reform efforts of the early 1800’s helped them achieve equality forfuture progress. Women of the early 1800’s wanted to be able to haveindependence aside of marriage and also wanted to start working for a businessinstead of being home all day. Women worked and fought for their rights andaccomplished…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If they were working, it would be a small job, as oppose to today, women can be whatever they want. If a woman did work, she would not get paid equally as a man, she would get paid 59 cent of a man’s dollar. Women were usually seamstresses or teachers if they did make their own living. Unfortunately, if a women was a teacher she was forbidden to be married. After a while, the only jobs available to women were at department stores and factories because they left the heavy duty work to the men. Only five percent of the world’s doctors’ were women. At this day and age, women are paid the same as men and are CEOs, lawyers, judges, business owners, surgeons, engineers, and the list is endless. We make our own money, unlike in the 1900s, when men worked and brought home the pay checks. Now, we have the choice to go out and get ourselves and be just as career filled as men or do it the old fashioned way and be a house wife. Besides having a career or job, women were also discouraged to get an education. They were told that women shouldn’t work or go to school, that was…

    • 1527 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Womenhood 1790-1860

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages

    During the period between 1790 and 1860 the role of women began to change dramatically. In domestic families, women generally sided with the men and were limited to performing such tasks. Economically speaking, women occupations decrease as educated men replace midwifery.…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The early 20th century was a very progressive era. Many businesses and roads were expanding and people were trying to make America's society a better place to live in. Many activists joined efforts to reform local government, public education, medicine, finance and industry.…

    • 199 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Poorer women had to manage families and work in factories at the same time to make ends meet. With the gender roles present, women would be expected to manage the household without any help regardless of whether they also had jobs or outside affairs, since the participation in those activities in addition to the duties she was expected to fulfill would be seen as a choice. Having these…

    • 1678 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Suffrage Movement

    • 1554 Words
    • 7 Pages

    entirely devoted to the domestic sphere as they were either caring or nursing infants or pregnant (Dubois & Dumenil, 2009). Although there was an increasing presence of women in economic and political matters, this was trumped by their roles as housekeepers, wives and mothers. Therefore, the lives of women revolved around home and family life. Childbearing and being a housewife were not perceived as work, but rather as effortless manifestation of the feminine nature of women (Dubois & Dumenil,2009). According to Kleinberg (1999), by 1890, on average, a woman had four children. During this period, men had the ability of suing their wives for neglecting their obligations as wives (Kleinberg, 1999). For instance, an examination of the divorces…

    • 1554 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays