Women in Society Throughout History

Women in Society throughout History Throughout history, women have been seen in many different lights. From a woman’s perspective she is strong, smart, helpful and equal to men. In the eyes of men, she is seen as the weaker being, the housewife, and the caretaker. By looking at the following pieces of writing, one can see that through the centuries, women have struggled to break out of the mold that man had put her in and make themselves known in society as important.
In Utopia written by Sir Thomas More, he talks about the idea of a perfect world, if it could ever be possible, and what it would be like. The reader is given a chance to think for himself about what his own ideas would be for his “perfect world”. For women who read this during More’s time, they could have been dreaming of a perfect world where women were allowed better jobs, and were given the right to vote. For those women who read it now, they may be dreaming of a world where a woman is president and both men and women gain equal wages in the workplace. After reading Utopia it is revealed that More’s world is only concerned with men, and what men can gain from it. In More’s own utopia he believes that, “Everything is shared equally, and all men live in plenty.” (More 81) This proves that men would be the only one to gain something from the world.
More’s main concern was with the way a government was run. He didn’t believe that a nation could “be governed justly or happily”. (More 80) The same goes for the way women perceive today’s government. This has been an issue since the time of More. Most women disagree with the way in which the government is run, but it seems that it is not up to them to change it no matter how hard they try.
Of Domesticall Duties by William Goudge explains that even if a woman’s husband is “a man of lewd and beastly conditions”, “a drunkard, a glutton, a profane swaggerer”, or a “blasphemer” (Goudge 195) she still must take care of him. In the time of Goudge, during the

Cited: Page James M. Brophy, Joshua Cole, Steven Epstein et al., Perspectives from the Past: Primary Sources in Western Civilizations: From the Age of Absolutism through Contemporary Times (Third Edition), New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, 2005 Goudge, William, “From Of Domesticall Duties,” in Brophy et al., ed., Perspectives from the Past, 195. Wollstonecraft, Mary, “From A Vindication of the Rights of Women,” in Brophy et al., ed., Perspectives from the Past, 332-337. Jefferson, Thomas, “From The Declaration of Independence,” in Brophy et al., ed., Perspectives from the Past, 354- 356. Sanford, Elizabeth Poole, “From Women in Her Social and Domestic Character,” in Brophy et al., ed., Perspectives from the Past, 487-489. More, Thomas, “From Utopia,” in Brophy et al., ed., Perspectives from the Past, 80-84. De Gouge, Olympe, “From Declaration of the Rights of Women,” in Brophy et al., ed., Perspectives from the Past, 372-374 Kollontai, Alexandra, “From The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman,” in Brophy et al., ed., Perspectives from the Past, 668-671.