New Women and The Working Girl

Getting a college education was finally becoming a possibility for women. Women were beginning to take steps into growing fields like teaching and nursing. But as this new statistic increased it game women a choice; get married or live a self sustaining life. Many women choosing the latter, if they did end up getting married after college, would marry later in life and even had fewer children. Half of these women never ended up getting married, even if their parents disapproved. Researchers tried to prove that too much education was harmful in the development of children. Others however, went on to say that education helped lead to better mothers, increasing the health of the woman and their child.

Being able to work and take care of themselves without the help of a man was empowering to women. Although cities were overcrowd and sanitation was an issue, there was a great push for pleasure and consumption through the introduction of movies and amusement parks, leading both men and women out of their homes to enjoy a brighter side of life. After young women got out of work they could go to a dance hall and enjoy them selves and even mingle with young men. Their clothing had become less restricting and even a bit more revealing with the exposure of the ankles. It was the perfect atmosphere for a women to be able to express her sexuality. Once she eventually became married however, there was not much time for relaxation and pleasure and it was back to a life within the family sphere. 

The Gilded Age

Family ties between freed slaves were so strong, after the obtained their freedom they went out in search of family members they had lost. Many were unsuccessful but it showed their determination. Their freedom meant they no longer had to take orders from anyone else. This was a time to rebuild their lives, raise families, learn to read and write. They even formed their own churches, which soon became the foundation for the African American community.

Difficulty came with freedom however. Many whites refused to hire those who used to be slaves but lent them seeds and land to “help” start their lives, in the hopes of getting a share of their cops as payment but this only led African Americans in this situation into a deep debt. Those who could be self sufficient still had the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan to watch out for. Women worked in field besides their men simply to help provide for their families and in hopes of giving their children a better life.

Life was hard on immigrants as well. Immigrant women were used to hard work back in their homelands, but America was a whole new environment for them. The cities were crowed and noisy and many families lived in boarding houses just so they could afford a place to live. Foreign women did whatever they could to benefit their families, this included carrying buckets of water and heavy laundry up several flights of stairs. 

Women Used Charm: It’s Super Effective

The mid 1800’s was the beginning of social reform for women. Radicals were doing everything in their power to get women to be viewed on the same level as men. Well, not everyone opened up to radicals so the process was slow. Many knew they needed to take it one step at a time. The first step was with marriage. In April of 1848 state legislature passed a law that allowed women to maintain ownership of the land they brought into a marriage. This was a huge step. Now the idea of equality for women was on peoples’ minds if the government was taking action.

Reverend Horace Bushnell preached in 1846 about women’s influence. So what did this mean? Bushnell was letting the ladies know that men did not like to feel overpowered, especially by women, and the way to gently get them to accept the new ideas of the women were to subtly bringing it into conversation instead of approaching it fervently. Women were supposed to be gentle and soft and they could use these qualities to their advantage. Their womanly charm was a way to ease the men into a new way of thinking. This was quite different than how many other preachers preached. They argued that the “sin of Eve” was the reason for woman’s subordination to men, mainly due to the masculinity of Jesus.

Many news papers began to create stereotypes for both men and women for advocated women’s rights saying that many of the women were “old maids” and never very attractive and feminine to begin or that they have come from bad relationships and wish to put down all men. The men who participated were said to be overly influenced by their wives and “ought to wear petticoats,” (a type of woman’s wear) questing their manliness. But the fact that men were joining the fight was great for activists! They could use all the help and support they could get.

( Evans, Sara M. "A Time of Devision." Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America. New York: Free, 1989. 93-118. Print.)

Spheres and Labor

In the 1800’s, the American society focused on separating male’s lives from female’s lives. This is to say, the work they did was separated into “spheres” of home and work. Woman were to stay at home and be sheltered from the world; this was the private sphere. The public sphere was for men; this was the work place. Books were even beginning to be wrote about what it took to be the perfect housewife.

Women had more control over who they married now more than ever before. They could marry for love but they also had to be very careful. They were still seen as being subjects under their husband and were often times abused because of it.  

By the 1820’s, schools for young women were beginning to sprout up. In these schools women were taught their to “exercise their influence over children.” Woman had the ability to instill their values and teach their children about the world they lived in. This lead to an increase in demand for teachers and women were right there to take up the slack but they were only paid half or even a third of what a male teacher would be paid. Even with the low wages, women were finally breaking into the public sphere.