Discuss The Effects Of The Civil War On African American Women

The societal norms that dictate the acceptable behaviors based on gender have both drastically changed and have stayed fundamentally the same in United States history. Throughout the time period given, women in the United States fought for equality in education, work, and rights, while men remained essentially unchanged in the consistent patriarchal society.
Civil wars in a nation destroy the previous society and lead to tremendous changes in social and cultural norms. Despite all the other changes caused by the Civil War, many of the standard gender patriarchal remained the same: women took care of the cleaning and children, men worked and were breadwinners. African American men adopted the gender roles of Caucasian men and began the fight
Women of the New South tended not to understand the politics of the time, and men who supported woman’s suffrage received hostile attitudes. The majority of women in the South were raised and socialized to believe that men were superior, and women were to be wives and mothers. However, during the Civil War, southern women ran the plantation and had power over the slaves while the men were in battle. When the men returned, women lost their authority and turned to organizations to gain rights and independence. Industrialization allowed women to earn money in the work force, and explore society by joining women’s organizations that linked private home life to the public sphere. Most women were denied jobs due to the fact that the majority of men believed their masculinity was being diminished. Regardless of one’s race or class, a woman’s most important job was household work. The majority of women from all ethnic groups had to perform some sort of field labor, and they made up a significant portion of the labor force prior to World War
Women were unable to vote or hold office. There were more education opportunities in the Gilded Age than in previous eras, though women had little career variety. It was commonly believed that women were neither physically nor intellectually suitable for the demands of the workplace despite the millions of working class women employed in factories. In 1890, the Nation American Woman Suffrage Association was established with the purpose of gaining basic human rights for women including the right to vote. The Gibson Girl began appearing in the 1890s and was the personification of the feminine ideal of attractiveness depicted by the satirical pen-and-ink artworks of illustrator Charles Dana Gibson. The Gibson Girl crossed many societal barriers opening the way for women to partake in things they had never been open to before. She was exceedingly competent and confident, while upholding her lady-like manners and etiquette at all time. The Gibson Girl was eventually replaced by flappers during the Roaring Twenties and was seen as too