How The Role Of Women Has Changed History Essay

How The Role Of Women Has Changed History Essay The role of women has greatly changed since 1840. One of the most significant changes for women has been with the power to have control over their bodies. In the 1840s women had the idea that they were only housewives and that was their duty. This idea is significantly different from that of the 20th century. The ideology of true womanhood was a widespread idea that women and men were complete opposites with almost no common traits that transcended the differences of gender in 1800s. There were two separate spheres; women were in charge of the private sphere, or the family sphere, while the men controlled the public sphere, which contained all the politics. Women had the responsibility of teaching their young children, especially educating their young sons to be prominent members of society. This mainly was an ideology that was embraced by the middle-class white women. Working class women did not fit into this category. Some women began to work in factories instead of doing domestic housework, such as the mill girls of Lowell. Black slave women were also exempt from this category. Slave women were not allowed to live with their families, be educated, marry, or raise children-all of which are some of the basic needs to fulfill the ideology of true womanhood. Even though the ideology of tru e womanhood was a widespread idea, it does not include all women. 1843 saw the beginning of the westward movement of Americans. The role of women has not changed in recent years. On the trail, women had the responsibilities of childbearing and childrearing. These women lived out of wagons for half a year or longer, where they cooked and cleaned and raised the children as best they could. This decision to uproot and make the journey to the west caused a great deal of domestic tensions. One woman, Keturah Belknap, recorded a fight between a wife and a husband from a near-by wagon, She wants to turn back and he wont, so she says he will go and leave him . . . with that crying baby. She wrote, [I heard a] muffled cry and a heavy thud as if something was thrown against the wagon box. She then heard the woman cry. Oh youve killed it, to which the husband replied, he would give her more of the same. When women had to deviate from their distinct responsibilities, such as keeping house, and help the men with their responsibilities, they were reluctant rathe r than seizing the chance to show that they could do a mans job. Women did not complain that the work was difficult, but more that it was unladylike. White women were not the only women that suffered along these journeys. Mexican women that were living in the south were pushed aside as American women moved their way into their lands. These self-identified respectable white women shunned prostitutes and female adventurers. Indian women were degraded to the status of domestic servants and at the time of the outbreak of the civil war, Mexican women were beginning to be of the same status. Womens sexuality was heavily suppressed during these time periods. The average period between births for whit women specifically in 1850 was twenty-nine months, it is a reasonable assumption that many, possibly most, women were either pregnant, nursing or caring for infants while living on the wagons. However, pregnancy was not discussed publicly even though confinement of the pregnant women was not possible while living on the wagons. Historians can only deduct that a woman was pregnant was through a womans references to getting sick, followed soon afterward by mention of a new child. An example of this comes from the writing of Amelia Stewart Knight in her 1853 trail diary. She wrote, Got my washing and cooking done and started on again . . . (here I was sick all night, caused by my washing and working too hard). Then, within two weeks and her trip almost to an end, she gave birth to her eighth child. The entire time she had been pregnant and had not directly referred to it in her diary. Once the journey was at an end and the white Americans begin their lives in the West, the Native Women and Mexican citizens were not fairing so well. They were pushed aside in the beginning were violently pushed to the side, were now experiencing conquest and displacement. This expansion set women against each other on the basis of race, culture and ethnicity. Hunger and diseases that were brought by the emigrating white Americans were spreading through the Plains Indian tribes. The Indian women were forced to beg for food and money. Many Native women began to hang around US Army forts and trade posts where they had informal sexual and domestic unions with white men. Unfortunately, these relations never worked out. Once the white men found a white woman he wanted to marry, he abandoned the Native woman. In many cases this happened and the womans Native communities would not allow them to return, so they ended up on the edge of white culture, serving as domestic servants to white wome n and prostitutes to white men. As prostitutes, these women were often met with scorn and called a black dirty squaw. The word squaw was originally used as a name for Indian Woman but had come to have a negative implication of sexual degradation and unrelenting, unrewarded, and unskilled female labor. The Antebellum reforms came in 1840 and continued up until the Civil War. These reformers pushed beyond established social and cultural norms in their attempts to improve, even perfect, both the individual and society. Women played a prominent role in these reforms. Their modest efforts on behalf of their communitys welfare were compatible with domesticity and female respectability. Over time their dedication to moral and social causes pushed them beyond their homebound roles and allotted sphere. Some women even made the step into new gender territory. Womens enthusiasm for moral reforms suggests that family and sexual life were important concerns to women antebellum reformers. The nuclear family that was central to the idea of domesticity was also a place of domestic violence, sexual abuse and female disempowerment. Many women antebellum reformers called for more radical changes in womens sexual and reproductive lives. Womens menstrual, reproductive and sexual dissatisfaction made t hem eager advocates and consumers of health reform. These women did not trust the questionable diagnoses of regular physicians so many health activists developed alternative therapeutic methods to increase body vitality using only natural and non-evasive approaches. They also urged women to take cold water baths and wear loose-fitting clothing which would offer comfort to those women who were worn out from too many and too frequent pregnancies. Mary Gove Nichols was an outspoken critic of the sexual abuses hidden with in marital life. She gave speeches about womens sexuality, their frustrations and sufferings in marriage. Few nineteenth century women ever encountered such direct speech about female sexuality. Womens rights were talking a big stride during this time period and women were being more outspoken about their bodies and their sexual well-being. There was a great reconstruction period from 1865 until the 1900. During this time there came a great change in womens lives. In the North, women were challenging the government and looking for equal rights for women. Black women in the South were confronting the challenges and dangers of their newfound freedom. After the defeat of the Confederacy in the Civil War, slaves were beginning to become educated and have families of their own. However, there were many racial conflicts in the aftermath of slavery. Whites charged that black men were sexual predators seeking access to white women. The irony to these accusations was that under slavery, it was the white man who took advantage of their slaves and had unrestricted access to black women. Middle class and upper class women created today what is called the Womens Era as they pursued new opportunities in education, civic organization and public authority. As the industrial society grew, more women wage earners entered the system and brought with them their determination to join in the efforts to bring democracy to American class relations. Immigration was a big change that came in the nineteenth century as well. Immigrant mothers stayed at home while teenage daughters became their familys secondary wage earners. Young daughters tried to move toward modern society while their mothers tried to keep them in the Old-World traditions. These women also often became domestic servants for white women and they had no choice but to do this degrading work because of poverty. In 1914, there was a great surfacing of feminism. As the votes-for-women campaign gained momentum, the idea of modernizing womanhood and feminism began to grow. The agenda of these feminists, who were suffragists-but not all suffragists, were feminists- was to embrace female individuality, sexual freedom and birth control. This feminism was more of a cultural development rather than a movement. Rheta Childe Dorr wrote, Feminism was something with dynamite in it. It is the state of mind of women who realize that their whole position in the social order is antiquated . . . made of old materials, worn out laws, customs, conventions, fetishes, traditions and taboos. This feminism brought along with it the birth control movement. Earlier womens rights campaigns had urged women to undertake pregnancy only voluntarily. Harriot Stanton Blach said in her speech in 1891 that, Motherhood is sacred-that is, voluntary motherhood; but the woman who bears unwelcome children is outraging every duty she owes the race . . . [Women] should refuse to prostitute their creative powers, and so jeopardize the progress of the human race. (pg.349). Margaret Sanger, a daughter of Irish immigrants, opened the first American birth control clinic. Days after it opened she was arrested for promoting birth control. When she was released, she continued to dedicate herself to the cause. Contraception became more acceptable and more widely advertised in the 1920s. But in the prewar years, birth control was a radical idea that challenged traditional ideas of womens sexuality and reproduction. During the Cold War years, another great emphasis was put on domesticity and family life because of the red scare, or the scare of communists. During this time the idea of feminine mystique was brought about. One woman, Betty Friedan, captured this idea. She attacked mass media for encouraging women to gain a sense of personal creativity through the use of cake mixes and floor waxes. She criticized popular magazines for psychologists for prescribing tranquilizers for neurotic women instead of examining the social bases of their unhappiness. In her book, The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan wrote, . . .the problem that has no name stirring in the minds of so many American women today is not a matter of loss of femininity or too much education, or the demands of domesticity. . . It was in these women that I first began to notice the tell-tale signs of the problem that has no name; their voices were full and flat, or nervous and jittery; they were listless and bored, or frantically busy around the house or community. They talked about fulfillment in the wife-and-mother terms of the mystique, but they were desperately eager to talk about this other problem with which they seemed to be familiar with. The ideology of feminine mystique is best understood as a prescription for female behavior indicted by those Americans eager to reinforce strict gender roles, and therefore find a means of social order. The feminist movement also encouraged women to exercise control over their bodies. Women liberation groups particularly addressed womens health and reproduction along with the issues of abuse and violence. A major concern was rape and other sorts of violence towards women and to bring it to the attention of the public. Before womens liberation groups, rape victims were accused of dressing provocatively and asking for it. As they women brought this problem forward, it came clear how many sexual assaults went unreported. This campaign by women liberators gave women more control over their bodies and focalized also on womens quest for sexual self-determination and its relationship to abortion. As you can see, the idea of control over a womans body and its reproductive rights has greatly changed over since the 1840s. Women used to believe that their only responsibility was childbearing, childrearing and keeping house. Also, that they were subject to their husbands and had no voice. Reforms that began at the beginning of the century allowed women to have a voice and gain the control they rightly deserved over their own bodies. If these women were not brave enough to make the steps toward individualism, we would not be where we women are today.

English characters Essay

Adela can be paralleled to Kurtz in Conrad’s novella, who like her is in some ways also aware of the power of imperialism and its negative effects, as well as the changes it forces upon those living under its influence. Kurtz was a bright ambitious man drawn to the Congo by imperialism’s force, however unlike the Anglo-Indians such as Ronnie and Mr Turton, it can be interpreted he became aware of the negative effect imperialism was having upon him, and as a result his â€Å"soul [is] mad. † For me Kurtz’s dying words on his deathbed: â€Å"The Horror. The Horror. † have great significance these final words are open to any number of interpretations, from meaning the horror of the things he has witnessed, to the horror of the Congo environment itself. My own interpretation is that this shows Kurtz’s realization of his own â€Å"Heart of Darkness† and the shocking deeds he has done under its corrupting influence. Perhaps the only real difference between a Kurtz and a Ronnie or a Turton, is that Kurtz has recognised the effect imperialism has had on him and has seemingly made a conscious decision to go along with this corruption completely, with devastating consequences. While characters such as Kurtz and Adela are somewhat aware of their changes and the negative consequences, the majority of characters in Forster’s novel (or at least – the imperialist Anglo-Indians) are also aware of the changes which occur in English people once under the influence of the Raj, but are hypocritical and do not see themselves as corrupted or racist. They simply believe that this is the only proper way for them to act. Ronnie himself who was once nice to the Indians, after just a brief period under the influence of imperialism in India, now aspires to be like Mr Turton who he sees a character of the utmost wisdom, and as a result has copied his behaviour. Conrad paints a harsh, brutal portrait of imperialism in his novella, giving little or no characterisation to any of the African slaves/natives. He seems to present the slaves merely as objects or machines or even in one instance â€Å"angles†. He does not name any characters but gives them a title according to their job or characteristics, characters such as The Helmsman, who had been educated by Marlowe’s poor predecessor only to perform one task, and that was to steer the boat. Compared to Conrad, Forster might appear tame. Conrad depicts the brutality of imperialism in a shocking way, showing the black slaves being made to perform meaningless hard-labour tasks such as digging holes and describing the physical state of their bodies in disturbingly graphic detail; Marlowe the narrator can see â€Å"every rib†. In Forster’s novel however perhaps the most shocking incident is the alleged assault of Adela which probably didn’t even happen. However Conrad does show some compassion in his novel, the slaves or ‘Hollowmen’, are pitied by Conrad’s protagonist Marlowe: he offers a biscuit to a dying slave and also saves the helmsmen’s corpse from being eaten by cannibals. Added to this are Marlowe’s views on imperialism itself, apparently similar to Forster’s: â€Å"This conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion [†¦ ] than ourselves, is not a pretty thing. † Forster, it has been argued â€Å"looks dispassionately at the phenomenon of imperialism† (John Beer), and indeed, unlike Conrad, Forster in many ways shows imperialism in a much less obviously brutal light. However, I would argue that he does indicate a great dislike of people’s inner â€Å"Heart of Darkness†, which allows for the negative effects of imperialism, and he does so more gradually, through the in-depth characterisation of his characters. He particularly achieves this through those he is sympathetic with, such as Aziz, in whom he shows both the good points and bad (he is not afraid to show racism present in his Indian characters)- making the Indians, unlike Conrad’s slaves, real people, who we as readers can empathise with, rather than simply be horrified by. Forster’s sympathetic characterisation of the Indians makes the acts of racism against them all the more sad, and by this he does paint, like Conrad, a brutal picture of Imperialism, through use of characters who have had their ‘hearts of darkness’ triggered by imperialism and make such shockingly racist, not to mention patronising, remarks as â€Å"The kindest thing one can do to a native is to let it die† (Mrs Callendar). Forster also gets us to sympathise with English characters who do not look â€Å"dispassionately at the phenomenon of imperialism,† such as Fielding (Indeed Fielding is believed by many to be Forster’s representation of himself in the book). He through Fielding attempts to show the good in people, and like Conrad’s Marlowe, but to a much greater extent, shows acts of compassion and liberal mindedness in Fielding: he is the first English professor to teach Indians in his university and has Indian friends such as Godbole, and becomes a friend to Aziz. However Forster makes it all too clear that Fielding is a on his own, a man swimming in a sea of racists, such as the Turtons and Callandars. The act which sets Fielding most apart from his fellow Englishmen is of course his support of Aziz in the Marabar affair; but even he shows his inner â€Å"heart of darkness† when he deserts Aziz at the train station and at the end of the trial.

Changes in the American Federal Government from 1876 to the New Deal

On numerous occasions since the end of Reconstruction, the American political system has demonstrated its ability to adapt to changing domestic and foreign policy requirements, often by extending the reach of its power. An examination of the actions of the federal government during three periods (the Progressive Era, World War I, and the New Deal) reveals some of the new functions and responsibilities that the federal government assumed. In the years directly following Reconstruction, attention was necessarily focused on domestic matters.A shift from an agrarian economy to an industrial one created new sets of needs and expectations for the American population. Progressive era reformers, notably Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Wilson, responded to these needs by calling for reform: breaking-up monopolies; addressing corruption; enacting laws to protect women, children, and the large immigrant population; overseeing food and drug safety; and establishing regulations for sanitation a nd hygiene.These reforms often required the establishment of new governmental institutions (for example, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Labor ). Many of these institutions are still in operation today. Beginning with the United States’ involvement in World War I, attention was redirected to foreign matters. Americans became increasingly involved in world affairs, not only through their involvement in the war efforts but also through the expansion of imperialist endeavors.Though these campaigns had begun earlier, they rapidly increased following the acquisition of Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico in 1898. These actions extended the reach of the federal government to overseas territories. With the Great Depression, attention once again necessarily shifted to domestic matters. In order to alleviate the effects of the Depression, Franklin Roosevelt instituted massive changes referred to collectively as the New Deal.These policies included massive rel ief efforts for the employed, the establishment of a minimum wage, the creation of Social Security, and the expansion of federal regulation of agriculture, industry, finance, and labor relations. One major result of FDR’s administration was the government gained the legal power to regulate the economy. During much of his administration, FDR kept the federal government’s focus on domestic matters as he sought to enact neutrality legislation to keep America out of the war in Europe.vi It is significant that in times of economic crisis (such as those that directly preceded the Progressive era reforms and the New Deal), the federal government of this country turns its attention to combating corruption, regulating the economy, instituting public works projects, and enacting legislation that directly affects the lives of American citizens. In so doing, Wilson and F. D. Roosevelt focused their attentions primarily on domestic policy at the expensive of foreign policy.

Love in twelfth night Essay - 714 Words

Love in twelfth night In the play twelfth night, Shakespeare covered three types of love : Lust, true love and brotherly love. Love is one of the most confusing and most misunderstood emotions that we as humans posses. Love is an extremely diverse emotion which is why it was used as the main topic in twelfth night. Lust, which is probably one of the most confusing types of love was an apparent subject in twelfth night.There are many reasons why one would lust, one could be because you are attracted to a specific quality of a person or could maybe only like there looks or even just thing like there charisma. Shakespeare showed lust between Orsino and Olivia. Even though Orsino had not met or even seen Olivia, he was still madly in love†¦show more content†¦Malvolio?s conceitedness was broken and then he sees that he did not truly love Olivia, but was only flattered that he had been loved by someone so beautiful and young. True love is extremely different then lust, and was also present through out the play. True love is obviously one of the strongest forms of love and is an extremely powerful emotion that one would perhaps do many things for. Shakespeare showed various forms of true love in twelfth night especially through Viola (Cesario) and Orsino. Even though Orsino did not know it, Olivia was falling in love with him. She saw qualities in him that she appreciated and liked. Unlike lust, true love is usually developed, and grows stronger as you get to know and understand the person better. In this case, Viola only began to like Orsino after she had gotten to know him. It grew more and more and finally in the end when her true identity was revealed she married him. Another example of true love was with Sir. Toby and Maria. When you are in love you would always try to do things for the best interest?s for that person, and would try to protect them from harm. Throughout the play there are numerous tim es where Maria tries to warn and protect Sir Toby from Malvolio and Olivia, so that he would not get in trouble. If you care for someone that much to keep them out of harms way, then that is a strong sing of true love. True love was also present when you will forgive orShow MoreRelatedTheme Of Love In Twelfth Night767 Words   |  4 PagesLove in Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night explores the various representations of love that are universal to the human experience. In the play Twelfth Night, written by William Shakespeare, covers three types of love, Lust, true love and superficial. Love is one of the most confusing and most misunderstood emotions that we as humans possess. Love is an extremely diverse emotion and allows for multiple opinions on what it truly is which is why it was used as the main topic in twelfth night. True loveRead MoreTwelfth Night Love Essay1610 Words   |  7 Pages William Shakespeare has written a number of romantic comedies. 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