The 19th Century Views on Women’s Reproductive Solutions

The study of women's reproductive options is not new, as may be seen in the 21st century, but the contentious ideology between the sexes dates back as far as Methuselah. Through history, culture has viewed women as passive, child-bearing beings incapable of exercising their conscience to make important choices that affect the welfare of the family. The man has final authority. even with regards to a woman's reproductive system. A woman's right to procreation has also been curtailed by laws, the most notable of which being the federal legislation of Comstock-1873 on contraception and abortion (GORDON, 1992). 19th century marks an important era where women began to see light on the other side of the coin and started social movement (Voluntary Motherhood Advocates) that advocated for their rights, not only on birth control issues but also right to education, politics and to be employed as opposed to being fully dependent on man as the only family breadwinner (Punnett, 1975). Knowledge is power. Fertility control largely depends on the access to accurate information about reproductive health. This paper thus seeks to analyze, exploring views of women’s reproductive solutions that have shaped and given birth to modern medicine.

Key words: Reproductive solutions, woman’s right and birth control.



Analysis and Interpretation Of The 19th Century Views on Women’s Reproductive Solutions

World Health Organization specifically addresses the women’s reproductive solutions of the 19th century. The processes of reproduction, its functions and most importantly, all stages of life. This implies that the people involved should be responsible, the sex life must be a satisfying one and it has also to be safe. Women of the 19th century had the capability to reproduce, but they lacked one very significant aspect. Freedom to decide when to have sex and how often to do so was another story for these ‘poor’ women. Various methods of fertility control as a means of birth control were sought for. The then methods were not safe. Neither were they effective and acceptable as compared to today’s advanced practice of medicine on reproductive health care. Mechanical means among others methods, for example, inflicted a lot of pain and even affected women’s health on the long run. The only safe considered birth control method being abstinence. The man was the dominating sex. A woman’s role was just to fall silently and submissively into the social mold crafted by their only legislative men. Women were exclusively identified by their sexual functions to the extent that the nineteenth-century society regarded them as ‘the Sex’ (Punnett, 1975). Very weird birth control methods, as could be compared with the today’s advanced medicine were largely in practice.

Condoms, as contraceptives were for example made from fish bladders or intestines of animals. The use of this was though later preceded by improvised devices such as lemon peel diaphragm. It was the quest for better reproductive solutions and the women’s rights that fueled the formation of various organizations, with sociologist, politicians, religious leaders and physicians coming together to share notes.

Birth Control

19th century records a period of great interest in the women’s reproductive health. Average American woman could give birth to six children, exclusive of stillbirths and miscarriages. To control the family size, abortion and various birth control methods (rhythm methods, abstinence, withdrawals, herbal formulations, and douche, mechanical among others) were largely on use, though painful and expensive in the bigger picture. Some crude methods greatly impacted negatively on women’s health, with the fertility rate of white women declining steadily. Mechanical as a birth control method, for example, was a very painful ordeal-.striking a woman's abdomen repeatedly (GORDON, 1992). To terminate a pregnancy, women for thousands of years even ingested poisons and herbal formulations which sometimes resulted in death or a lifelong complication on their life health. By 1840, it is estimated that one in every thirty pregnancies were terminated. This created an alarm to seek better reproductive healthcare methods for birth control.

By the mid-19th century, attitude towards birth control began to change steadily. The early suffragists championed abstinence and celibacy in controlling birth. Other nations had earlier declared abortion a crime at any fetal developmental stage. In the United States, Comstock Law of 1873 totally prohibited birth control and abortion (Dunlop, 1987). The impact of Voluntary Motherhood Movement, American Medical Association and other advocators for women’s reproductive solutions was seen in the manufacture of rubber contraceptives for women. This was a herald of the modern-day intrauterine devices and cervical cap. Also for the first time in America, in 1847, anesthetic properties of chloroform and ether came into the scene. A new era in childbirth!

Women’s Rights

Women have been for centuries viewed as inferior creatures by their male counterparts. They had to give birth to children, take care of the household and nothing else (GORDON, 1992). Women could become weary of bearing children. But this mattered not to men. Only death could relieve them from childbearing pain. It was indeed a curse to them as depicted from the bible, where, upon eating of the forbidden fruit, in sorrow and great pain, a woman is to bring forth children and their desire is only to be the husband who is to rule over her. This was much more emphasized by spiritual leaders and traditionalist. During the Victorian era (19th century) for example, they were viewed as an extension of household surroundings (furniture). They had no freedom to express themselves as witnessed in the women of today. For women to fight against the oppression imposed on them, they had to get to the root of the matter. The right to education, right to get into politics and be able to participate in the passing of the legislative bills that favor women as well as the right to get into the employment sector and stop being fully dependent on men.

Knowledge is power. Educate a woman, educate the society. The saying goes. Understanding and practicing reproductive health care demands the weapon of ‘knowledge.’ They thus had to fight for the right to education as this would later give them access to more other rights that only men were perceived to possess (Riley, 2001). This bore fruit though with a lot of pain. Effective women’s organizations arose in 1950’s, began and finally stood against male oppression. This was a fundamental step in overturning laws and customs that subjected women to men. Truth be told, many freedoms that today may be taken for granted found root from Victorian’s women efforts and the input of other women along the ages in fighting patriarchal society (Riley, 2001). Emmeline Gaulden Pankhurst for example born in Manchester, England in 1858 became the founder of Women’s Social and Political Change. During World War 1 women proved themselves capable of performing tasks that traditionally have been men’s. Fight for women’s freedom as means of finding their reproductive solutions had a great positive impact on women’s involvement in politics, employment sector and even in the legislative assembly.

Conclusion

Modern medicine on women’s reproductive healthcare is a sure proof of the solutions found through selfless effort, courage, determination and even imprisonment of women activists down the ages, through the 19th century. With the involvement of women in decision making, not only on their reproductive right, but also on other sectors of the economy, the old traditional perspective on women by men has greatly changed. Unhygienic traditional birth control methods of the 19th c found solutions through the 19th-century movements that included sociologist, politicians and medical associations. Though there have been controversial ideologies on women’s reproductive health down the history, through the 19th century, a lot has been achieved and many of the then critical reproductive issues affecting women met.



References

Dunlop, M. (1987). Book Reviews: ABORTION AND WOMAN'S CHOICE. THE STATE, SEXUALITY AND REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM. Rosalind Pollack Petchesky. Great Britain, Verso, 1986

GORDON, F. (1992). Reproductive Rights: The Early Twentieth Century European Debate. Gender & History, 4(3), 387-399.

Laslett, B., & Brenner, J. (1989). Gender and social reproduction: Historical perspectives. Annual review of sociology, 15(1), 381-404.

Punnett, L. (1975). Women-Controlled Medicine-Theory and Practice in 19th Century Boston. Women & Health, 1(4), 3-11.

Riley, S. (2001). Maintaining Power: Male Constructions of ‘Feminists’ and ‘Feminist Values’. Feminism & Psychology, 11(1), 55-78.