Women’s Rights Research Paper Example

The role of women at the start of the 20th century

The role of women is, perhaps, among the essential subjects in the analysis of the annals of human civilization. In various societies at different times, the gender roles were dictated by a group of historical and cultural traditions and stereotypes, which left men and women within their designated positions with little opportunity of change or diversity. Unsurprisingly, such was the situation in Europe through the entire centuries. Since it was, for a lot of centuries before, the take on the role of ladies in the society remained generally unchanged. Actually , two whole millennia of recorder culture in Europe provide indisputable evidence of the inferior position of a female in the European society as opposed to that of a guy. Nowadays, the perception of the role of women is significantly different from whatever was popular even a decade ago, since the female empowerment continues to take the planet in stride. However , such changes evidently did not occur suddenly and overnight. Women’s struggle for freedom and equality has been going on for a lot of centuries, with countless sacrifices and compromises made in the procedure in order to achieve the best goal of recognition of women as full-fledged members of society with equal rights and opportunities compared to that of men (Lambert). Looking back at modern history, the 20th century has marked a variety of significant changes in the reason for women’s equality, and will be considered as, perhaps, the main century with regards to the improvement of women’s position in society and gaining rights to take part in social, cultural and political life of the society. Therefore , it's important to have a look at the beginning of the 20th century in Europe and measure the way women were perceived in the European society of that period.

The battle for equal rights has always been a vital part of the European society, with notions of equality, diversity, and freedom at the forefront of social and political workings of the European community. However , the fact rarely corresponded to the best image of an egalitarian society, and apparently, it absolutely was women’s role to simply take the brunt of social injustice and start to become regarded as inferior human beings in a men-ruled world. The deeply-ingrained concepts about gender roles in the patriarchal European society have kept the image of a lady mostly the exact same throughout the centuries. The society attributed to a lady a set of tasks which she was needed to undergo so that you can perform her social functions. Namely, these functions on average included marrying into a wealthy family, pregnancy to kiddies and bringing them up. Finally, a lady had to be a faithful companion to her husband and take care of domestic affairs, housekeeping, as well as reception and entertainment of guests.

Even though the awakening and the initial waves of feminism occurred in the 19th century, the changes would end up being slow ahead. At the beginning of the 20th century, women still participate in an inferior group of the population in the European society (Lambert). Starting with childhood, in the house and under control of these fathers, to adulthood, being passed over into the hands of their husbands, the life of women are under the complete power of men. Such as this, women hold absolutely no political or legal power: they don't have the proper to vote, they can maybe not sign any contracts or pursue any kind of political career. In fact , it really is impossible for a woman to work minus the permission of her husband. Such regulations are a reflection the bourgeois patriarchal society which had a particularly strong hold on the European society in the previous 19th century.

When it comes to education, in the beginning of the 20th century, education of young girls from respectable and wealthy house holds consists of such matters as domestic affairs, arts, and crafts, rules of etiquette, etc . The image of a woman of the time gift suggestions a stereotypical perception, nurtured and maintained in the men-ruled society for many centuries prior. In the first place, women’s mental and physical capacities are thought to be inferior to those of men. In terms of faculties and qualities, typical for anyone times, women are usually regarded as prone to weakness and overly emotional and impulsive behavior. As a result, women’s education is left in the hands of their governesses special institutions for young women, all with the same ultimate goal of creating out of these good mothers, keepers of the property and loyal partners for their husbands. You will find, however , exception even to that particular rule. Only those women who remain single after passing age 21, widows and divorced women are emancipated. Nevertheless , in the lingering mentality of the 19th-century European society, for a woman to be unmarried at such age is inconceivable, and so these women are regarded as abnormal.

The start of changes occurred in the 19th century, with the rapid development of feminist ideas over the whole European continent. One of the primary women pioneering for gender equality and women’s emancipation were such activists as Mary Wollstonecraft and Anna Wheeler who valiantly light emitting diode the fight for women’s rights in each and every facet of life in the European society, social, political and cultural alike (Cavedon). In accordance with Cavedon, at the forefront of the fight for women’s rights stood female leader from more industrially developed countries such as Britain and France. Toward the 1900s, these women have already been actively promoting women’s equality and the opportunity for women to be able to vote and benefit from the same work and life opportunities as men. As such, the emancipation of women progressed at a slow pace. The first wave of women’s liberation, which had an impact toward the start of the 20th century was reflected in the women’s labor. While women via wealthy families did not have the necessity to work, women from less privileged families do not have the decision other than to start out working, since the salaries of their husbands are very usually not adequate in order to give the family.

Looking at some of the European societies in the early 20th century, it becomes clear that even despite the progress made through the 19th century, the role of women remains generally stereotypical. For example, in the British society, women were typically observed in the role of wives, staying at home and caring for home affairs and kids, while their husbands work to support the household financially (Trueman). As an alternative, if they're single, they often had to execute such jobs that would provide some kind of service like cooking or serving as waitresses (Trueman). Generally, the typical expectations of the British society for a female was to marry and undertake the roles of mothers and keepers of home (Trueman). Alternatively, in accordance with Trueman, being referred to as a spinster had not been necessarily regarded as slander, but signified a woman was carrying some type of social stigma, seemingly struggling to find a husband due to insufficient this or that quality or skill (Trueman). Eventually, the choices which lay before a young woman were either to marry and live a quiet life of conformity, or go against the society and be an outcast.

In accordance with Trueman, even despite certain improvements in women’s life styles in early 1900s, an astounding number of women had to endure a miserable life in an unhappy marriage. Conversely, those were unmarried or, even worse, divorced, had to bear the brunt to be the outcasts of the society (Trueman). To generalize the situation of women in the British society at the beginning of the 20th century, the image of the prosperous Victorian society, valuing the integrity and the comfort of a household and preaching about the romance and the amenities of home life, was just an idea integral in the minds of the British people and baring very little correspondence to the reality. One of the more notable historical phenomena which helped to advance women’s cause in the British society in the beginning of the 20th century was the emergence of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) (Lambert). On the back of the movement’s development, women started a campaign which will eventually end in their gaining the right to vote (Lambert). It was the ladies who took active part in advancing the goals of the movement came to be known as suffragettes, whose contribution to the struggle of women to achieve equality in the European world would make a difference and turn the tide (Murray). Led by Emmeline Pankhurst, the suffragettes chose not even close to peaceful way of making a statement, resorting to acts of vandalism such as for instance throwing stones, breaking windows, and even willingly sacrificing their lives to really make the men-ruled society finally prize the cause of women (Murray). As a result, it is safe to conclude that in the 1900s, women’s position in the British society has seen major improvements.

Throughout the years during which Europe, just since the rest of the world, was caught in the initial World War, women’s role in society was irreversibly changed. The complete male populace was going to the battlefronts, and neither young nor later years could not prevent men from taking weapons in their hands and leaving their civilian life to aid their country in the war (Grayzel). As a result, a variety of functions in the society concerning the social, political, and economic matters, previously performed by men had to be relegated to women. Alternatively, women were mixed up in military actions at subordinate positions such as for example nurses, ambulance drivers, factory and farm workers, demonstrating that their ability to occupy such perceived masculine positions (Grayzel). But despite such monumental developments in the status of women in the society of the early 1900s’ Europe, the gender stereotypes certainly didn't go away and would end up being almost impossible to erase completely up until the finish of the century. Evidently, women’s contribution during the wartime was awarded the legal acceptance of these right to vote and work alongside men, albeit in a limited amount of professions sufficient reason for significantly lower pay than that of men. Yet, as stated by Grayzel, the centuries-long cultivated mentality of women being the secondary members of the European society prevented the changes from taking root in the community’s mindset (Grayzel). As such, the society accepted some of the inevitable changes in women’s status, but still refused to accept their equal standing with men.

The value of the changes in the women’s position in society that occurred at the conclusion of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century is impossible to overlook. While still under the oppression of the men-ruled society holding straight back every make an effort to claim their rights, women had come a long way in the span of a few decades, creating the grounds for fundamental change in the way the European community perceived the social, cultural and political role of women in the society. Through the first few decades of the 1900s, movements for women empowerment are in full swing, designating the end of the women’s quiet acceptance to perform the roles of subordinacy and lamblike conformity to the standards set for them by the society which places the person on a pedestal while viewing women as inferior and with a lack of too many qualities to be equal to their male counterparts. As it was, gender inequality still thrived even with the coming of the First World War, when social order had to be rebuilt and the conventional roles performed by both genders had to be adjusted in order to cope with the wartime. And yet, although is difficult to compare it to the role of the modern-century woman and the spot she occupies in the social hierarchy across the European in the current times, it is safe to say that the early 1900s mark, perhaps, what is the most crucial period in the history of women empowerment, with 20th-century women slowly but steadily gaining the ability which will later transform the entire world community and provide women an unprecedented amount of influence in social, cultural, political, and economic aspects alike.

Works Cited

Cavedon, Jackie. “Nineteenth-Century European Feminism | Guided History. ” Blogs. bu. edu. Web. 31 Jan. 2018.
Grayzel, Susan. “Changing Lives: Gender Expectations And Roles After and during World War One. ” The British Library. N. p., 2014. Web. 31 Jan. 2018.
Lambert, Tim. “Women In The 20Th Century. ” Localhistories. org. Web. 31 Jan. 2018.
Murray, Jenni. “20Th Century Britain: The Woman’s Hour. ” Bbc. co. uk. N. p., 2011. Web. 31 Jan. 2018.
Trueman, C. N. “Women In 1900. ” History Learning Site. N. p., 2015. Web. 31 Jan. 2018.