Economic Empowerment of Women in the 19th Century - Essay Sample

Introduction

Women have always been playing second fiddle in society economically. Women were not exposed to education hence unable to ascend in the social, economic ladder thus leaving them in a state of deprivation. However, in the 19-century women were, therefore, deprived economically. The two documents explain how the Women's rights movements in the United States emerged and the ideological and economic impact they had on women. This period was referred to as the awakening because it was the time that so many changes took place in American society.

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The number of women who were receiving education by joining colleges and universities increased during this period. At the same time, the women became empowered economically, and therefore quite a number of them joined the middle class. Through the encouragement of a few sympathetic men, they formulated ways in which the economic oppression can be stopped. Most of them were white, and they were able to access the print culture. They, therefore, had the resources that allowed them to make an assessment and begin the process of defying the traditional cultural prescriptions on the authority the husbands have over their wives. The women did not just win the economic freedom on a silver platter; they had to become rebellious as they fought for their freedom. Though during the first part of the 19th-century women were treated as second class citizens their new-found economic freedom gave them the impetus to fight for more freedom because they had the necessary resources for the campaigns and agitation and their fights bore fruits.

The economic changes in the lives of women had tremendous changes. Firstly they began to argue that both men and women were created in the image of God and therefore both of them required to be treated equally. Therefore that led to a change in gender roles. Initially, the women were performing the domestic duties, but when they gained education and began performing other responsibilities outside their homes their domestic roles changed, and they began performing other formal responsibilities outside their homes. The economic changes during that period affected the whole society as a whole. However, the majority of the women who felt most of the changes were the ones who were at the forefront of fighting for the economic liberation of the women in society. However, there was a group of more conservative women, and therefore they did support the more vibrant and rebellious groups.

The economic freedom enabled the women to start owning property because they were able to work get money and acquire property even those. Though they were still prohibited from pursuing certain professions like medicine and engineering their economic freedom gave them more say in the society. This was the time that the group groups such as the feminist movements increased and therefore some women felt that the men need not exert their authority based on the traditional cultural prescriptions. Different groups of women were affected differently by the economic independence depending on their views they had about the economic and social restrictions which existed in the society. There are those who did not see the need for the freedoms that women were fighting for while the others saw the need. However, the freedoms substantially changed the women in society because they had a more significant in comparison with the time when their economic and social freedoms were curtailed.