Women Movements In The 19th And The 20th Century

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

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Women Movements in the 19th and the 20th Century

Introduction

Feminism can generally be described as the fight against oppression on the basis of sex. In the nineteenth century, women had no rights at all. They had no right to their own children they had no right to own the property, they had no right to vote, no rights to education and even the French women had no right to citizenship. Once a woman got married, all her rights were taken by the men.

The society divided the two sexes into two spheres. Men were in charge of political, business and public affairs while women stayed at home. Their role was home making, rearing of children and providing moral guidance to their children. They were supposed to be submissive. They were to be meek, passive, obedient and role models. During the reign of Queen Victoria, the question on the rights of women and their place in the society rose. Victoria herself dedicated her time and energy to Prince Albert and bore him ten children. The bias was so intense that men were allowed to have extra marital affairs while women were expected to remain faithful and pure.

In 1750, Mary Wollstonecraft who is described as the first feminist proposed education and enlightening of women. She believed that women were intellectually capable just like men. She believed in education for women and dismissed the notion that women were foolish. This was not put into consideration until after a century because of how deep rooted the bias against women was. This was in 1860 when the question on women rights and their place in the society was first discussed in public.

Emmeline Pankhurst founded the first Women's Franchise League. The National Society for Women Suffrage was also started, and they won their petition giving women the right to vote. This was a fabulous success to many unmarried and widowed women. She and her daughters 'however' had to use violence to get the Government’s attention. They broke windows, torched churches and destroyed property. She urged her supporters to destroy until the government took action. New Zealand was the first country to give women a right to vote in the world.

In the United States 'in Seneca Falls' New York was when the first women rights crusade was held. This was in 1848 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton championed the first protest by women on their inferiority economically, politically and socially. A heated debate that took two days led to granting women their right to vote and gender equality. The struggle went on until 1890 when the state of Mississippi granted married women rights to own property. Alice Paul pushed for the Unites States constitution nineteenth amendment which marked the end of the first wave in America.

There was a rise in the number of female high schools and colleges. Schools like Girton College, London medical school for women were formed. The Cambridge started offering examinations to girls. Women started getting degrees just like men during this period in London University.

The second wave started in 1960. It was a continuation from the first wave only that it focused on gender inequality. It was triggered by The Feminine Mystique, a book by Betty Friedan. She wrote about housewives and middle class women and how they looked after their homes and wondered if that was all that life had to offer. This was then linked to feminist movements that were now fighting against discrimination and gender inequality.

Health care was dominated by males. The Women’s health movement that pointed on how the health system was neglecting women was formed. This led to many women joining medical schools. This movement fought for equal employment of women in the male dominated sectors like medicine and engineering.

Working for many women meant that they had to work away from home. They interacted with men of their age. They did what was considered work for men like metal work, street car conductor jobs and railway construction. They gained the freedom to do social things like dancing with men, going to amusement parks together. This led to many women engaging in premarital sex. They had defied the social role of being pure while men were allowed to engage into sexual affairs as they pleased.

The feminism movements were determined to fight for sexual freedom. They sort to release women from slavery of birth control, domestic work and sort to make sure women engaged in sexual affairs without worrying about being single mothers. These women included Alice Paul Charlotte Perkins, Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger and used the term feminism. They even dismissed marriage as prostitution. The First World War greatly helped the women in their liberation and the second feminist wave. The war saw many women take on work like loading ships, handling machines and` this proved that they could do it all. They could work and still become mothers and wives. More women got government clerical jobs. Although the wages were low, they had attained their economic and social freedom.

A new woman was evolved. She was athletic and slender as opposed to the previous plump woman. She wore skirts above the knee unlike her mothers whose skirts were below the ground. She went outside her home and even went shopping. The word modern was used to describe her. She smoked cigarettes freely and dances. The roles imposed on both genders by society began to fade slowly. Articles on sex were written, and the subject 'which was previously not talked about' was discussed freely.

The modern woman was enrolled in the elite schools. We see that these educated women sort social justice for the poor by ensuring that those who moved to the cities had housing. The well educated women from better backgrounds initiated this by forming the settlement movement. They encouraged thousands of women to build their own houses.

Black women in the United States also came up. They fought for their rights at work which were not being met by their white bosses. They also felt unrecognized and neglected by the government. Black male dominance was also a vast issue among the black women. Racism was also a reason that triggered the black feminism and these women stood up and made their point.

The third wave started in the nineties. It was aiming at achieving what the second wave failed to achieve. It was 'however' less reactive than the previous waves. Its main aim was reaching out to those women who had not yet embraced feminism. It addressed issues such as placing young feminists into greater positions on subjects related to race. It was viewed as a continuation of the previous wave, but it made its mark. They achieved by initiating social changes. Women were allowed to file for divorce, they were also allowed to make decisions on pregnancy on their own such as contraception and abortion.

Some of the issues that feminists managed to address include language. They advocate for non sexist language. This includes referring to a person chairing a meeting as chairperson and using Ms to refer to a woman who is married or not. Gender bias references such as mankind are replaced by humanity and use of ‘he or she’ instead of ‘he’ when the gender is not known. Another issue they addressed is the role of women as home makers. It is not fair for a woman to work, care for children and make a home. They have dismissed the notion that men cannot do house chores. Since women can do what was earlier referred to as work for men, then men can equally do what was earlier referred to as work for women.

The feminist movements were able to get through to the male dominated world because they focused on the most important issues. This is seen in the sequence of the three waves. They followed each other in order of the most pressing issues. First they addressed political rights, then they addressed social and gender inequality. They prioritized issues and were aggressive. We see the likes of Emmeline Pankhurst using force to make their point.

The feminism journey went for over sixty years. It was one that involved will and courage. These women stood up and made the world a better place for all women. They could not stand oppression on the basis of things that were beyond a person’s control like gender. They saw no sense in discriminating women and even terming them as foolish while it was the men that wanted them to remain uneducated. The feminist disregarded the man as the bread winner and the woman as the homemaker sphere. They were both equal but different so assigning inferior roles on one gender did not have any grounds. One of the feminists said it was time to recognize women as human beings.

Women are still struggling with the gender equality issue up to date. It is not as severe as it was during the feminism movements, but issues regarding employment on gender basis are still rising. Women are also receiving gender based abuse from the men who are yet to accept change. It is unfortunate, but the good news is that women are now empowered. These issues are however being met with heavy opposition by women who are now more enlightened and aware of their rights as human beings. This is a struggle that started sixty years ago and is still continuing up to date. In some countries where the governments are headed by male chauvinists, women are looked heavily disregarded, but they continue to get inspiration and empowerment from the strong voices of the feminists who have not given up on the efforts that were made by those that came earlier.

The world for women will never be the same again thanks to the feminism movements that reigned in the nineteenth and the twentieth century’s. They liberated women from social injustice and discrimination.