“In this invisibility they were something like black slaves. It seems that their physical characteristics became a convenience for men, who could use, exploit, and cherish someone who was at the same time servant, sex mate, companion, and bearer-teacher-warden of his children.” (Zinn 81) As a wife, the woman’s property, life estate, and any income belonged to the husband. (Zinn 83) “The woman’s job was to keep the home cheerful, maintain religion, be nurse, cook, cleaner, seamstress, flower arranger. A woman shouldn’t read too much, and certain books should be avoided.” (Zinn 87) I think the men feared women from being more educated because it was too dangerous to the idea of “the woman’s place”. Women would realize there was more to just being classified as someone’s wife and men would have trouble controlling women. I think Howard Zinn said it best in when he said women were something like black slaves. Women may have been free by law but once married they were someone’s property.
In 1851, Amelia Bloomer suggested that women wear a kind of short skirt and pants, to free themselves from the encumbrances of traditional dress. (Zinn 87) Women activists adopted it in place of the old whale-boned bodice, the corsets and petticoats. The Reverend John Todd commented “Some have tried to become semi-men by putting on the Bloomer dress. Let me tell you in a word why it can never be done. It is this: woman, robed and folded in her long dress, is beautiful. She walks gracefully…. If she attempts to run, the charm is gone…. Take off the robes, and put on pants, and show the limbs, and grace and mystery are all gone.” (Zinn 91) This comment proves that men thought of women as beautiful innocent fragile dolls and nothing more. Men wanted to dictate what women wore, what they owned, what they read or weren’t allowed to read, and what they thought or weren’t allowed to think at all. Men thought women had no brains and were only good for pleasing men.
Women rarely participated openly in public affairs. “A woman’s relationship to the larger society was mediated through her relationship with her husband.” (Foner 231) Occasionally it was possible for women on the southern and western frontiers. Only during the Revolution women formed patriotic groups, carried out anti-British actions, and wrote articles for independence. (Zinn 85) “Woman participated by boycotting British goods, producing goods for soldiers, spying on the British, following armies as they marched, washing and cooking for the soldiers, delivering secret messages, and fighting disguised as men.” (Wikipedia.org) In preindustrial America, women worked at important jobs by publishing newspapers, managing tanneries, keeping taverns, and engaging in skilled work. (Zinn 86) “Between the American Revolution and the Civil War, so many elements of American society were being transformed that changes were bound to take place in the situation of women.” (Zinn 86) Due to the Revolution, women finally had a higher purpose other than being a housewife. The Revolution transformed the ideas of what women were capable of and revealed a stronger woman.
Sarah Grimke said “All I ask of our brethren is that they will take their feet from off our necks, and permit us to stand upright on the ground which God has designed us to occupy…. To me it is perfectly clear that whatsoever it is morally right for a man to do, it is morally right for a woman to do.” (Zinn 92) I think there will always be some form of sexism in the world as there is racism. I think you can never escape it due to the fact that some fear the unknown or something being different. Women still struggle to prove their intelligence and their worth to men and women. I think we will always struggle to obtain equality in the world for sex and race.
- Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States.
- Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History.
- "Women in the American Revolution".
Hello, I enjoyed reading your blog. The subject of women’s equality has always been a controversial topic. It's something that I'm not necessarily an authority in, but its safe to say, I understand what women back then were coming from and what they needed to break free.
ReplyDeleteThe treatment of women during the 1800s simply disgusted me. Native Indians had already been near extinction and black slaves were being pushed around like money. Now reading through Zinn’s views of women’s rights, it goes to show how greedy and selfish many people (mainly men) were at the time. But the fact the women were able to persevere and eventually find their rights would always be a high point to look back upon.
As a man, I will never fully understand sexism though the eyes of a female. But what I do understand is deprivation of rights and how helpless one can feel. I agree with is the fact that we will always struggle to find equality between sexes and race. It’s hard to agree with, but that’s how the world turns, regardless of who is involved.
Hey, I enjoyed reading your blog about women and how they were mistreated. In my eyes the way women were treated back then was very wrong and I agree with you completely when you said that Howard Zinn said it best when he compared women to black slaves. In many ways women were treated like slaves/someone else's property. I also agree with what you said when you stated that men feared women being more educated. They didn't like that idea and had thought it was too dangerous because they were scared to lose control of their wives. Overall, I thought you blog was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your blog. I think you made very strong points, I thought it was important that you acknowledged the changes women have made and the changes women still need to make. I had previously written a blog about historical roles of women and the current roles of women. I found that while domestic housework often has been a choice, often times the amount of work a woman has to do has been increased. Due to having their own careers and frequently being single mothers at the same time. “The number of single mothers in the United States 9.8 million in 1998 has not changed since 1995 after nearly tripling over the previous quarter century. Last year, single mothers comprised about five-sixths of all single parents. They constituted 26 percent of all parent-child families in 1998, up from 12 percent in 1970.”1 The independence of women is not only affecting their career but also their family structure.
ReplyDelete1 http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/000778.html
Hello, Jamie! I'm kind of late to make a comment on this but I enjoyed reading your opinion here :)
ReplyDeleteYou said, "I think Howard Zinn said it best in when he said women were something like black slaves. Women may have been free by law but once married they were someone’s property."
Since I'm Japanese, I thought something different from others. Your writing reminds me my mother. Of course now a days, In Japan, Women are free to do anything, but I feel like once they get married, they still work as slaves for men. In Japan, almost all young couples both work for living, but like my mom's age(58) women are sometimes work as maids. It's now really changing, but sometimes I feel bad for them. My mom does everything about my dad without pay.
When I read your blog, I felt like the time women didn't have the rights was long time ago, but It is not old stuff.
discriminations are still here next to me. :)
well, your blog made me think a lot. thank you!
Emi
Hello! I thouroughly enjoyed reading your blog about women rights or the lack there of in the 1800s. I fully agree with what you have put into your blog.
ReplyDeleteOne part of your blog that I felt was understated but important is when you said, "Women still struggle to prove their intelligence and their worth to men and women." The part that I am talking about is the second "women" in that sentence. I feel this becuase some women were what held down the movement for women rights early on. Though a lot of this can be acredited to brainwashing by men from an early age, none-the-less, some women felt privledged to be a maid/servant for their husbands.
Of course, most of the downtrodding was done by men, which both you and Zinn had pointed out. A struggle that some women still face today all over the world, including America. I hate to imagine what it was like to be African-American woman back in the 1800s. To have both slave and woman as a label was probably horrendous.
Fantastic job. =)
Hello Jamie - I really enjoyed your blog, I also thought the one on Harriet Tubman was excellent too.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time reading these blogs about the discrimination against women, indians and african americans. I realize that I really have no responsibility for the past action of other people, however I am a white male and therefore find it hard to believe the atrocities my demographic have committed.
I feel so fortunate to be living in an era that I feel is almost free from this bias, I do not know a time of discrimination of women or at least there is no trace in my daily life or society now. I know that statistics still say that women are underpaid and in other countries women are degraded. However, I have 3 daughters under 10 and I firmly believe that they can do anything they want. If they want to become the President, a judge, a housewife, or anything they have the ability I think for the first time in history. Furthermore, I feel that the struggle to do these things for them is all but eliminated, it is not just that they could do it, it won't be twice as hard as a man's effort to get there.
In re-reading the last portion of your blog I have to respectfully disagree with your statement, "I agree with is the fact that we will always struggle to find equality between sexes and race." I think we have found a time now when equality of the sexes exists (at least in this country, However, I will admit I may be biased in this opinion and not speak for the general concensus of men as I was raised and live my life surrounded by women which may have given me a skewed view of society as a whole.
Again, great job on the blogs - good luck!
I am slightly confused at the use of quotes in this blog. Some quotes use the proper quotation marks, others don’t. The two quotations in the opening paragraph seem to be interjected at random. Perhaps an introductory sentence tying into the opening quote would make for the direction of the blog a little easier to follow.
ReplyDeleteIn the second paragraph, you state that women were rarely active in public events. What about the anti-slavery acts? And Revolutionary war rallies? You correct this statement by pointing out these same examples in the same paragraph. Changing direction this quickly threw me a little. Perhaps you could insert an example of what an American Woman’s life was like before the war in a political sense.