Why Were Women Treated In The Late 1800's

e history of women in the nineteenth-century United States is extensive. For decades, women were treated as property and the lower class. Society gave women a role as home keepers and child bearers. There are several reasons why women had no rights. In the late 1800’s, women were treated unfairly, because of their social class, race, and education.

The first reason on why women were treated unfairly was because of their social class. Social class played a tremendous part in the way women were treated in the 1800’s. In today’s society, class still is important and will probably be until the end of mankind. Men and women were in three distinct types of classes- the lower class, middle class, and the upper class. The worst part was that even

though women were divided by their classes- they were still considered the lower class compared to men. The middle class women affected marriage, female education, and employment choices, as well as strategies for obtaining women's rights, throughout the nineteenth century. For the majority of women—immigrant women, poor women, black women, working women, and others—this ideal remained beyond their reach. Sadly, the majority of the women belonged in the lower-working class category. Society stereotyped women as “intellectually inferior” to men and believed that respectable middle and upper class women should not be working outside of their homes. “These beliefs became known as the cult of domesticity. Alienated by the cult of domesticity, lower-class women were constructed as amoral and promiscuous, thus they were excluded from the professions and considered well suited for the agricultural and domestic labor in which they predominated.” (“Women,”2000). Lower-class women had to work long hours every single day. People such as Jane Addams helped make a change in the conditions for working-class women at home and at work and established reform vocations. Although there was an apparent difference in classes- women were still viewed as the inferior gender. Women in the nineteenth century, were still meant to stay home and take care of their children. When it came to social class, it did not matter which class women were in, because men were always the superior.
Another important reason most women were treated unfairly was because of their race. As far as time goes back, white Americans have always been the superior race, and that affected women of other races. According to an article, “race offered a symbolic counterpoint to the “true woman.” Representations of women in slavery, for example, swung between two primary stereotypes, the “temptress,” whose sexual corruption justified her sexual abuse during and after slavery, and the “Mammy,” a nonthreatening nurturer of white supremacy.” (“Women,”2000). As class became very important in white American people’s culture, African American women and men had little to no rights. Additionally, African American middle-class women launched their own club movement committed to community service and female sociability, because of being denied access to white-only clubs. They also wanted to put an end to the racial stereotyping of black females as sexually promiscuous. According to research, “many viewed black female’s lack of modesty as a sign of their impaired moral nature and increased sex drive. In fact, representations of other women of color in popular culture were equally negative.”(“Women,”2000). For example, the American empire expanded towards the south which meant that Mexican American women started being used as a sexualized image in nineteenth-century as well. Moreover on the research, “similarly the equation of Chinese women in prostitution in popular media facilitated the passage of the Page Law in 1875, which restricted their immigration on moral grounds. Chinese women did not necessarily enter prostitution voluntarily.”(“Women,”2000). Many had been tricked into sham marriages in China, only to be sold into the trade when they arrived in America. Others had been purchased from their poor parents; still others had been kidnapped by procurers and smuggled into American ports. “Rescue homes” run by white Protestant women attempted to “redeem” Chinese women from prostitution, reform them, and help them marry. Although many women were judged by their racial stereotypes- positive outlooks came along. For example, both white and African American women directly engaged in antislavery activity. Sarah and Angelina Grimké, two of the most active and best-known abolitionist speakers, grew up on a plantation in South Carolina and traveled north to speak to others about the horrors of slavery. Less-well-known women organized petition drives for abolition, campaigned for antislavery candidates, embarked on lecture tours, and formed abolitionist societies. In 1833, African American women founded the nation's first women's antislavery society, in Salem, Massachusetts. Correspondingly, the fugitive slave Harriet Tubman placed her life at risk helping others escape to freedom, and the former slave Sojourner Truth joined white women abolitionists in their effort to achieve the emancipation of slaves and women. Their actions provoked widespread outrage, and the female abolitionists were told that they were out of their “place” or “sphere” and behaving in an “unwomanly” manner.(“Women’s Movement,”2016). Putting aside race, women came together to fight for what they strongly believed in. However, just because there were some women of different races coming together- did not mean that all women felt the same. Society still looked at women of different races as a lower class to the white all American women. Changes were being made, but not enough to change society all throughout America. (“Women,”2000).
The final reason why women were treated unfairly was because of their education.

Women in the 1800’s were never encouraged to obtain a real education or pursue a professional career. The idealized middle-class white marriage emphasized the valuable task that mothers performed in educating their children to be productive and moral citizens; therefore women's education became increasingly important.(“Women,”2000). A marked improvement in the education of girls occurred around the end of the eighteenth century. In the 1800s, as more girls attended primary school, female literacy rose, but secondary education existed mostly for the daughters of wealthy white men and reinforced upper-class women's domestic talents. Inspired by their education, some middle-class women took their mission outside the home. As the first quarter of the century gave way to the second, women expanded their reform efforts to include education reform, the abolition of slavery, and, rights for themselves. Both as reformers and as teachers, women played a significant role in education. Not to mention, all northern states provided some public education for blacks in 1860. Although some rural areas, especially in the southern portions of the Midwest, refused to fund schools for blacks and maintained segregated schools for whites. By the 1850’s most teachers—especially in white schools—were women, in part because women could be paid less than men. Female education still emphasized moral and religious education, domestic science, and teacher training. Even though the educational opportunities for women dramatically expanded, universities often trained women for homemaking, thus dissuading them from higher intellectual pursuits. In addition, the role women played in education- men were still in control of how the system went about. Colleges required female students to wash male students' clothing, clean their rooms, and serve them at meals. (“Women’s Movement,”2016). On the bright side, women were

making a big step with their education into more freedom outside their homes.
Despite obstacles, women of the nineteenth century fought for their place in any industry they were passionate about. Women have struggled for decades to receive any kind of recognition. After years of being seen as the inferior to men- women have discovered a bit of freedom outside of their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons. Over time, women learned to look passed the limits that were set, because of their social class, race, and education.