Male Supremacy in the 18th Century
Male supremacy was extremely prevalent in the 18th century. Women's civic engagement was actively discouraged, and policies that called for raising their social standing were weakened. This was greatly affected by the widespread practice of slavery, which promoted the idea that some people were superior to others and could, therefore, be owned and treated inhumanely. Women were owned by their spouses, just like slaves were by their owners. The early feminist movement in the 19th century was sparked by the few women who objected to being subordinate to males. This essay examines the movement and uses its happenings and results to assess its success or failure. The thesis statement being, the early feminist movement in the 19th century. This paper discusses the movement and uses its occurrences and outcomes to determine whether the movement was successful or not. The thesis statement being, the early feminist movement was unsuccessful.
Women's Status before the Feminist Movement
A letter written by Angelina Grimke's mother shows that women were not expected to have an active civic participation. She encourages her daughter to focus on household responsibilities as a wife and retire from the political arena. She also shows her concern for her daughter's safety prior to marriage implying that women who advocated for public education were in somewhat danger and that males, specifically their husbands, were deemed to protect them. Angelina Grimke had written a letter to her mother informing her about her fiancé, Theodore. This letter succeeded another letter which Angelina had written to Catherine Beecher, a strong supporter of male dominance, encouraging abolitionism. It is noted that people did not take the letter's message well given the fact that it was pioneered by a woman. Catherine Beecher replied arguing that women should be submissive to men since that's the Bible's expectation of them. She believed that males should be showered with praise and appreciation due to their achievements and capabilities. Women should however, refrain from coveting and specifically acting upon it. Instead, they should embrace the virtues of peace and love so that they can achieve self-respect and recognition from the opposite sex. A woman was worthy of praise if she avoided meddling in men's affairs and ensured that her family members were well taken care of in terms of food, clothing and children’s education. This should only be in relation to household activities. Beecher pleads with women to avoid succumbing to their urges to counter males' political opinions since the former's arguments are always deemed impertinent and unwise. Females were expected to understand that the virtues required of them do not conform to their petitioning for emancipation of any kind. This explains why they cannot defend their fellow women solely in public hearings; males should put up a front for these petitions to be appealed. Their education background also did not favor them. Women were denied education since their roles in the society were not fully dependent on their levels of education regardless of the fact that one role was to educate their children. They only got informal education to enable them learn how to speak properly and go about their duties normally. Formal education was not compatible to women's expected gentle nature.
Causes of Action Taken to Promote Gender Equality
Most efforts involved public education. Benjamin Rush sought to enlighten the public on the benefits of educating women. He argued that the intensification of capitalism necessitated self-employment since most occupations did not promote job satisfaction; all benefits belonged to the employees. Educating women will lower their susceptibility to being taken advantage of in the workplace. Men's duties in the society left them little if any time to impact moral values in their children, this responsibility was therefore, bestowed upon women. Formal education will enable women to instill valuable morals in their sons in preparation for their future roles as leaders. Rush also argues that many families and societies are undermined for their backwardness due to their women’s lack of knowledge. Educating women will equip them with skills necessary for increasing the society's welfare. Angelina and Sarah Grimke' advocated for the observance of women’s rights. They held public meetings and aired their views amidst criticisms from the clergy and their fellow women such as Catherine Beecher and even their mother. Angelina's letter to her friend Sarah Douglass showed the former's high spirited nature in that, she sought to promote gender equality even in courts of law, an area which was specifically known to be men’s place. She described her experience as distressful. Female advocates were separated from male advocates and the former were not allowed to address the mass. This however, strengthened her will to be heard and she continued giving her speech amidst jeers from the crowd until she gained their attention. Sarah Grimke' strongly opposed Catherine Beecher's strong belief that women were subordinates to men upon God's decree. Sarah said that God made both sexes equal and men suppressed female's capabilities by denying them access to equal services such as education and the satisfaction of equal civic participation. She argued that men had no right to condemn females who sought to express themselves about abolitionism since both sexes have equal rights in all aspects of life including politics. Mary White, another supporter of feminism made a lot of diary entries concerning her attendance of most public meetings advocating for women's rights. Her diary entries also show that she had her family's unlimited support. She also hosted abolitionists and supported the Grimke' sisters. Charlotte Perkins advocated for women’s rights and encouraged women to participate in outdoor activities so that they can achieve self-actualization and find a suitable place in society. She argued that women should be allowed to vote and their decision at the polls should be at their free will rather than their being compelled by their male counterparts.
Women's Conditions during and after the Feminist Movement
Public education enlightened individuals on the importance of gender equality. However, only a fraction embraced these new ideas. Women were later on allowed to seek education but they were criticized causing a majority giving up along the way. Those who were eager to learn amidst the jeering managed to seek higher education and qualify for various jobs. These jobs were however, leveled down to teaching and nursing since they were considered as extensions of motherhood. Most employers preferred employing female teachers and nurses to men since they could get away with paying them lower wages. Highly ranked professions such as doctors and lawyers were preserved for men. In 1848, the New York State passed the Married Woman's Property Act which gave married women the right town earned and acquired property. This was a great improvement since before the act was passed; only men had the right to own property including their wives. This encouraged women to participate in outdoor activities that led to income generation. In the 19th century, women were given the right to vote. Results of a study done to determine the prevalence of gender discrimination in the workplace show that job recruitments processes are bias; higher ratings are required for women than men to discourage the former from entering the job market. Men in male dominated jobs are highly rated and considered to bring positive job outcomes than females regardless of their performance. Males in this field were also more likely to get promotions than their female colleagues. The sex of the rater also contributes a great deal to the ratings of different sexes. Male raters gave male employees higher ratings than female workers. Upon job selection, female applicants were given less relevant information concerning the job while males were given relatively more useful information. This was to dampen the efforts of female applicants to enter the job market. In the society today, women are less favored by employers due to their physical vulnerability, distractions coming from their motherly responsibilities and unknown number of maternity leaves which are rather ‘unproductive’. Employers therefore, prefer male employees to women since both are paid evenly regardless of females’ absence in work due to maternity leaves.
Conclusion
The early feminist movement was not successful. Although, various acts giving women equal rights to men have been passed, a significant number of individuals still violate them. Women are discriminated in workplaces, learning institutions and their own homes. They were allowed to enter the job market if they were willing to take up low profile jobs with relatively less wages. Women who manage to get highly lucrative jobs are not considered for promotion and other benefits of exemplary performance. Employers and male colleagues use women’s physical weaknesses to infringe their rights. The existence of laws outlining the punishments that defaulters will face if brought to court have also failed to be effective since perpetrators still exist.
Bibliography
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Foner, Eric, ed. Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History. Vol. 2. WW Norton & Company Incorporated, 2008.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Women and economics: A study of the economic relation between men and women as a factor in social evolution. GP Putnam’s Sons, 1905.
Rush, Benjamin. “Thoughts upon female education.” Classics in the Education of Girls and Women (1787): 169-179.
