women in the us, 1850-1919 i. the condition of women in the 19th century a. separate spheres-- myth...
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Women in the US, 1850-1919
I. The Condition of Women in the 19th CenturyA. Separate Spheres-- Myth v. FactB. Women and the Law
II. Women’s Political CultureA. Education and ReligionB. Anti-slaveryC. TemperanceD. Consent, Marriage, and DivorceE. LaborF. Racial Justice
III. The Women’s Rights MovementA. LeadersB. MethodsC. ReactionsD. Results
“Separate Spheres” Ideology
Male• Public Sphere• Wage labor
– Physical, dangerous
• Government– Parties, Army
• Conflict– State of Nature
Female• Private Sphere• Housework
– Cooking, cleaning
• Family– Childbirth,
rearing
• Love– Nurture
The Myth of “Separate Spheres”
• Poorer women work for wages– In 1850, ten percent of women
worked for wages– By 1900, 5M (13.4%) work for wages
• Middle class women join churches and reform organizations– Assert authority over education,
health, and welfare by using stereotypes about women’s nature.
Women and the Law
• Coverture (civil death)
• Cannot enter
professions
• Limited Access to
Divorce
• Cannot vote to change
lawsMyra Bradwell
Education and Religion
Oberlin grads, 1855
New York’s
“Burned-over District”
Anti-slavery
• Women are the stalwarts of the abolitionist crusade.
Burning of PA Hall, 1838
Temperance
Sex and Marriage
• Consent – Protect girls against
seduction, rape, premature marriage, & prostitution
• Birthrate– Falls 40% between 1800-
1900• Marriage
– Married women’s property acts
• Divorce– Make habitual drunkenness
and cruelty grounds for suit
Labor
• Child labor• Women’s hours and wages• Factory Inspection
Teen girls in Chicago sweatshop, 1903.
Racial Justice
• Anti-lynching– A Red Record
(1895)
• Suffrage– Chicago's Alpha
Suffrage Club
Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Citizenship• Female
abolitionists want the 15th Amendment to guarantee their right to vote as well
• Male reformers see this as politically impractical
• Some black leaders support– Frederick Douglass
Leaders
Susan B. Anthony Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Moral Suasion
Women Praying outside MN Saloon, 1870s
Protest & Lobbying
• American Equal Rights Association • National Woman Suffrage Association • American Woman Suffrage Association • National American Woman Suffrage Association • Equality League of Self-Supporting Women• Women's Political Union • Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage• Woman's Party
Reaction
Opposing Arguments
• Unnatural• Women don’t want• Women control
men• Republican
Motherhood• Racial analogy
Results