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The Expectation of Women in British Society in the Nineteenth Century
19th century Victorian era gender roles
19th century Victorian era gender roles
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Why Women Did Not Gain the Vote in 1914
In 1914 women could work as highly respected members of society. They
could be teachers, moulding the minds of future generations, doctors
or nurses caring for the sick and injured and of course mothers
possibly the most important role in society. Yet, they had no say in
how the world around them was run. This essay will explain why women
were blocked from the right to vote, why their say was disregarded,
and why they were seen as inferior, in early 20th centaury society.
Firstly, this male dominated society viewed women as weak, overly
emotional and under educated. The common women, the working class,
were not considered to be intellectual enough to vote in the
elections. They tended to miss school when they were younger to help
out at home with the laundry, sewing, cooking and looking after
siblings. This reflects how the males viewed their position in later
life, they should apparently only be thinking about the days chores,
not who would be the next leader of their country. It was societies
belief that the women's place was to support the man, and that women
should not try and become as important as him in society.
On the other hand the upper class women was educated, just not on the
right subject matter. Women with more riches and property were mainly
educated in etiquette, and all they seemed to want out of life was to
get married and have children. This of course meant that they didn’t
think about the policies for the country very much, and were more
concerned with chocolate, puppies, babies, hats, letters and dresses,
or so the men thought. Proof that the women of the middle classes
really were concerned with politics came with the suffragette and
suffragist movements.
Although these two campaign groups are much heard about, they did a
lot more harm for the cause than good, making men believe that women
were reckless creatures that needed to be controlled, rather than the
human beings that they were.
The women’s job in that era are meant keep her house clean and feed her children (Doc C). They are also dependent on the city administration to make their lives decent (Doc C). The women’s suffrage movement fought because woman needed to fulfil her traditional responsibilities in the house and to her children, which makes it a must to use the ballot and have the home safe (Doc C). All women needs to have a chance to voice their opinion to help the community strive, and one way to do that is making them able to vote.
Women were trying to get the vote for many years before 1900, however this was not a serious concern and they were not doing much to achieve this. However in 1900 this all changed. The NUWSS (Suffragists) and the WSPU (Suffragettes) were set up in the early years of 1900; their goal was to allow women to get the vote. Their reason was that women were already allowed to work on city councils and become doctors, some notable ones too such as Florence Nightingale. The NUWSS believed that if women were house owners and had respectable jobs they should be allowed to vote. This is because men who were allowed to vote could be white slave owners and lunatics so why could these men vote and women could not? Notably however Queen Elizabeth herself proclaimed that women should not get muddled up with the world of politics.
In the years after 1870 there were many reasons for the development of the women’s suffrage movement. The main reasons were changes in the law. Some affecting directly affecting women, and some not, but they all added to the momentum of Women’s campaign for the vote.
Men on the other hand were assigned the role of the public sphere, consisting in the participation of politics, law and economics. Women in the meantime were to preserve religious and moral ideals within the home, placing children on the proper path while applying valuable influence on men. The idea was that the typical middle class woman would teach children middle class values so that they too will enjoy the luxuries and benefits in the future that the middle class has to offer (Lecture, 10/17). One can argue that Jane Addams did comply with the ideal middle class women, that she remained in?her sphere? of the society. This can be seen through her work with both children and the poor.... ...
Women’s role in society changed quite a bit during WWI and throughout the 1920s. During the 1910s women were very short or liberty and equality, life was like an endless rulebook. Women were expected to behave modestly and wear long dresses. Long hair was obligatory, however it always had to be up. It was unacceptable for them to smoke and they were expected to always be accompanied by an older woman or a married woman when outing. Women were usually employed with jobs that were usually associated with their genders, such as servants, seamstresses, secretaries and nursing. However during the war, women started becoming employed in different types of jobs such as factory work, replacing the men who had gone to fight in the war in Europe. In the late 1910s The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) had been fighting for decades to get the vote for women. As women had contributed so much to the war effort, it was difficult to refuse their demands for political equality. As a result, the Nineteenth Amendment to the constitution became law in 19...
to vote the same way as their husbands did, or used to if they had
In the early 20th century, many Americans perceived woman as unskilled and deficient, due to this woman have never gotten the chance to prove how they can positively affect society. Document A, Supports Woman states; “They still love their homes and their children just the same as ever, and are better able to protect themselves and their children because of the ballot”. If woman were given the right to vote it would not only have helped the society by having more opinions, but it would have also helped women protect themselves and their children by voting for things like better education. Supports Woman explains how giving woman the right ...
During the early 20th century, women were highly subject to discrimination and lack of rights in such settings, being determined as guilty without fair trial (Grayzel, Susan R.2002). Brion acknowledges this as due to her inferiority and inability to vote within French society, and subjects heavily to the concept of exclusion of women in the decision making process in France. This exclusion is something she believes to be one of the main causes for the severe suffering being expereinced by the French, and many other countries across Europe at that current point of time. She illustrates that if women were given the right to vote, such as men, then the likelihood of France participating in the Great war would have been lessened, as feminism would have prevailed and used other means - “moral strength and intellectual values” rather than the violence and suffering that accompanied the conflict and the beast-like nature of men. Many other feminists across Europe highlighted a similar point during this time, illustrating the lack of compensation and the extent of the wars consequences on all of the nations citizens, half of which had had no input into its occurrence due to their lack of political rights. (Grayzel, Susan R.2002) Brion also mentions this particular point, but does do by forcing her target audience to question their logic
"Leeds Express: 4 March 1868 I wonder, Mr Editor, Why I can't have the vote; And I will not be contented Till I've found the reason out I am a working woman, My voting half is dead, I hold a house, and want to know Why I can't vote instead I pay my rates in person, Under protest tho, it's true; But I pay them, and I'm qualified To vote as well as you. " Sarah Ann Jackson The purpose of this investigation is to analyse the issues surrounding the eventual enfranchisement of women in 1918, to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the militant Suffragette campaign in the early years of the twentieth century and to decide whether the outbreak of war was instrumental in achieving enfranchisement, or merely a fortunate coincidence. The poem written by Sarah Ann Jackson underlines the fact that many middle class women had, throughout the reign of Queen Victoria, taken issue with men's dominance over their lives and had worked hard throughout these years to draw attention to women's right to equality. For these women, enfranchisement was not their sole aim.
Mainly because women weren’t fully exposed to the happenings outside of the home, which led to the male figure believing that it was impossible for women to vote if they didn’t know the facts. Men thought that if women were able to vote, that they would reach a power, that they could not take away and they didn’t want that. Men wanted to be the head of the household and everything else in between. There were many women, who thought the fact of not being able to vote was outrageous. They wanted the same rights as men, and nothing was going to stop them.
The women suffrage movement spanning across the 19th century up to 1920 was a movement that advocated for a women’s right to vote. The movement decisively failed during the 19th century without seeing much fruition of women’s suffrage; it then eventually gained success in the early 20th century and realizing its ultimate goal in 1920. The women’s suffrage movement failure during the 19th century largely due to the lack of unity and the strategic miscalculations. The movement made great strides towards success upon solving the unity problems by the early 1900s, which provides for the basis for later success. Their strategic turn towards more aggressive and pressing actions afterwards had finally led to success of the movement.
Although they were fighting for a worthy cause, many did not agree with these women’s radical views. These conservative thinkers caused a great road-block on the way to enfranchisement. Most of them were men, who were set in their thoughts about women’s roles, who couldn’t understand why a woman would deserve to vote, let alone want to vote. But there were also many women who were not concerned with their fundamental right to vote. Because some women were indifferent in regards to suffrage, they set back those who were working towards the greater good of the nation. However, the suffragettes were able to overcome these obstacles by altering their tactics, while still maintaining their objective.
One argument in favour of women shows pictures of what men could be: A convict, lunatic, owner of white slaves, unfit for service and a drunkard. This portrayed men as being responsible, but they still could vote. Then it shows what women could achieve: Mayor, nurse, mother doctor or teacher or a factory hand, which showed them as responsible but they still couldn't the vote.1 Men's attitude towards women during the First World War was still negative. The ability of women to take on the roles of men meant that increasing numbers of men were vulnerable to conscription.2 The women were told that they couldn't vote because they weren't fighting for their country. They couldn't fight because they weren't allowed to.
Women were excluded from political activity but that didn 't stop them from having civil issues and views. During this time both man and women were dealing with women rights and duties and took their views to writing. They wrote about stuff such as reevaluating “...courtships, marriage, and motherhood in light of republican ideals. Tyrannical power in the ruler, whether king or husband, was declared a thing of the past.” (Roark 219) Views on the roles of men and women and the ideals held for both genders were different including public virtue for man and sexual chastity for women. All these views were being challenged from not only women but also many men who saw the injustice and unfairness with the traditional views set in place for both men and women and who could see the positive outcomes of rearranging our views and to place more importance in the hands of women, including education. These ideas were listened to but only in the ways to help women put their families first and use their new knowledge and skills in raising their families rather than contributing more to the country. However, despite these views not getting the full result they intended at the time it was a good stepping stone along the way for a young
The Industrial Revolution and the Suffrage of woman it’s an “earth- shaking revolution” in every aspect of a person faces trying to balance family and work in modern life. In the early 1920s, the Industrial Revolution transformed America society, created a middle class; but social conditions did not always get better and in many cases they got worse. Instead of going to school, children were expected to work more than ever and for very little pay. Parent was not much concern of providing them with education or stability. Before, laws were passed to regulate industry many of the conditions inside factoring could be both dangerous and exploitation of child. While, traditionally a woman’s role in society was to stay at home and care for her family. Often, woman weren’t considered educated enough in local or national affairs touted.