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Women S Role

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"What was life like for American middle- to upper-class women in the mid- to late-
nineteenth century and early twentieth century?"
During the nineteenth century, traits were characterized according to gender, masculine or
feminine. If a particular characteristic was associated with one gender, the other was required to
possess the opposite of the trait (Buechler). In that era equality between the sexes wasn’t an idea
that people readily took up. Many people had the notion that men were superior to women.
Women were viewed as only meant to be wives whose work was to stay at home and care for
children.
An article in the Harper’s New monthly magazine in 1854 tried to elucidate the “rights and
wrongs” of women (Godey). The article serves to prove that women are not equal to men and
that they have their place in society. The article tries to portray women who would partake in
jobs that are a reserve for men as not indulging in their womanhood. The women of the mid- to
late the nineteenth century were not allowed to vote since there was no gender equality. The
society of that time viewed women as being of lower statuses and those women who would dare
break the social norm would be seen as outcasts, “She might be very estimable as a human being,
honorable, brave, and generous, but she would not be a woman: she would not fulfill one
condition of womanhood, and therefore she would be unfit and imperfect, unsuited to her place
and unequal to her functions (Godey).”

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Women were viewed to be dependent on men hence it was ‘required of a female to be married.
Single women didn’t get the respect and honor that they deserve. Women were not allowed by
society to be ambitious (Rights and Wrongs of Women). Society expected women to be content
with having a marriage and children hence most girls were not taken to school and ended up
having no jobs to fend for themselves. Being a wife was a prestigious thing that was valued by
all in society. A woman who was a model wife was held with high regards in society.
Women were denied the opportunity to pursue knowledge in schools as men sort to maintain
their dominance. In the nineteenth century domesticity especially in the literature by women was
romanticized. The freedom of expression by women was largely curtailed since there were many
topics deemed taboo for open discussion (Corbett). Women like Kate Chopin, writer of “The
Awakening,” and Charlotte Perkins defied the constrains put by society on the roles of women.
Such women ventured into a male dominated field of literature then and went against the
domesticity by addressing the issues affecting women in society. They led to the incidence of
novels which broke the traditional family structure whereby women’s role was that of a wife.
In the hearing of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Mrs. Charlotte Perkins
addressed the issue of gender equality whereby women are treated equally to men. She raised
some matters affecting the women in society in the nineteenth century. Notably, she said, “for
unnumbered thousands of years women have suffered from repression, and it has hurt them and
hindered them, limited them and interfered with their development, and in checking the
development of the mothers of the race you restrict the development of the race (Buechler).”
The women of the nineteenth century suffered massive repression by not having the right to vote.
They also didn’t have a voice in society to be able to express their opinions and also to point out
their problems. The society was run by men who dominated most of the systems as women were

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Name1 First Last Name Instructor’s name Course Date "What was life like for American middle- to upper-class women in the mid- to latenineteenth century and early twentieth century?" During the nineteenth century, traits were characterized according to gender, masculine or feminine. If a particular characteristic was associated with one gender, the other was required to possess the opposite of the trait (Buechler). In that era equality between the sexes wasn’t an idea that people readily took up. Many people had the notion that men were superior to women. Women were viewed as only meant to be wives whose work was to stay at home and care for children. An article in the Harper’s New monthly magazine in 1854 tried to elucidate the “rights and wrongs” of women (Godey). The article serves to prove that women are not equal to men and that they have their place in society. The articl ...
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