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.