Women’s History and the Novel the Awakening, Essay Example

During the years of 1848-1920 women were fighting for their right to vote through the Women’s Right Movement. Colorado was the first state to adopt the amendment granting women the right to vote with New Zealand being the first country to incorporate the right of women to vote in 1893. The colony of South Australia followed with a similar movement the following year. Voting rights for women eventually led to the introduction of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. From this point the will of the people were expressed in formal elections directly or through freely chosen Representatives. The National Trades Union was formed in 1903 in order to advocate for better wages and working conditions for women. Married women’s property rights were not granted until the 1880’s.  Elizabeth Stanton and Suzan B. Anthony led the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Anti-suffragists were afraid that the movement would take women away from their traditional role as mother’s and housewives. Further they were concerned because of a woman’s fragility and having to mingle and wove her way through the crowds to vote, she might get vicariously hurt. They predicted that vulnerability would be exploited if the suffrage was to pass and the results would be disastrous for the country. Further they thought the women might be dishonest and vote more than one time. I do not think there was any validity in this theory.

The Japanese culture promoted women’s rights by opeining new schools for women in 1871and sending an entire group of girls to study abroad in the United States. “Three main voices in this debate were Mori Arihori, Nakamura Masanao, and Fukuzawa Yukichi, who introduced the popular idea of ‘Good Wife: Wise Mother’”. (“Japanese Women During the Meiji Period”). The men made production that women were good nurturers and educators to the children of the family and central to the proper development of such. The importance of the family unit was emphasized in the 1890’s and under the Meiji Civil Code the wedding was to be arranged by family members of which a woman in marriage needed the consent of her family if she was younger than the age of 25.

The 1898 Civil Rights Code banned women from any involvement with politics but by 1919 there were more favourable working conditions for the women inclusive of women’s suffrage. In 1890 the first kindergarten was established for African American’s.

In 1890 plural marriages were ended and Congress passed the 1894 Enabling Act which opened the door to statehood. This gave women the right to vote and hold office. The final phase was to get the passage of the Utah constitution and it was formally passed in 1895 “with a provision that “the rights of citizens of the State of Utah to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.” (White 2009).

Referring to question two from The Awakening, Chapter 27 Edna was referring to the idea that a person would have to have very strong wings to rise above the prejudices that were ever so present. Further she meant that a person would have to possess a strong spirit and mind to rise above the inequalities that were attempting to undermine a kindred soul and she thought she would have to possess that strong quality to surpass these difficult times. She refers to seeing the weakling bruised as the women tainted and their rights stomped on but she felt certain that she would persevere if all women stuck together and hailed strong.

There was extremely strong pressure from the men and the public. Women had to overcome these pressures in order to gain their equal access to rights that others were afforded. Edna is referring to the idea that the strongest will survive and the weak will perish and it would be such a shame for the weakling and bruised to flutter back to earth.

The book attacked the concept of morality and restrictions on women. “The Victorian women were still chattels to their husbands.” (mayme 2008). Women were willing to give up everything they owned for the sake of their freedom. The mother-woman was to be respected but also pitied for her misfortune of beckoning to the slavery of man. Edna was a poor woman but she overcame that situation and persevered. She demonstrates her attachment to her children but her desire for freedoms that are perhaps ahead of her time. “Edna is drawn to Madame Reisz. The older woman has the freedom and independence that Edna doesn’t even know she is seeking.  Madame Reisz is a musician, an artist (as Edna dreams of being.  She is childless and lives alone.” (mayme 2009). During the Victorian time a mother was a wife and mother before anything else. It was out of the ordinary for a woman to fight for her rights.

The social beliefs of this period were that a young woman would kinder the spirits of the time by abiding by the wishes of her parents with respect to her beloved.

Women are expected to care for the young, tend to the home and in some case care for her parents when they are ill as well as work if the family financial needs require so. Even with this situation men often do not help around with the chores because they see it as a ‘woman’s job’ or a traditional role hence women are expected to be the stronger ones in the household. Hence being the stronger of the two roles, women do not receive the respect of the stronger role model because men are traditionally the dominant character in the home. Women have always had to fight for equal treatment in the workplace, for raises, for promotions and political and social schemes. Even with domestic situations it was not until the 1990’s that the Domestic Laws were passed to protect women from domestic violence and I can honestly state that the police are especially not willing to always arrest a male abuser. Women always have to fight for their inalienable rights whereas men are simply afforded them just by being born.

Women have pressures to keep their physical appearance up where men’s physical appearance is secondary in our society. Women are judged on their looks and not their brains. Further in some cultures women’s physical attributes are totally hidden from society. Standard of dress is very important in Western society with relation to women. Such pressure is put on women to the point where eating disorders become an issue in Western culture. College women and those belonging to sororities have especially high pressure to fit into society and are at high risk for eating disorders.

Women of today feel they are supposed to be a ‘super girl’ in the eyes of society. Women at Pace University Honour’s College report that it is a daily task for them to complete against men. Research has reported that increased demand to conform to society has resulted in negative effects on the personality and body including body weight loss.

In countries such as Ghana, it is reported that women are quite reluctant to report crime against themselves and against their families because of the fear they will not be believed and further legal pressures. In Islamist homes the women are kept quite covered from the society and this is an infringement of their human rights and keeps them in a little tight social world of only immediate family.

Women have come a long way in Western society to gain social rights and political rights however there are always instances where their rights are infringed and it is a fact that women’s rights are infringed more often than those of men. In third world countries women have basically no rights other than primary rights to some education in Persian countries but not in Arabic based countries. It makes one wonder if the male dominant world will always exist in these backwards worlds.

Let’s take a look at the political race for president with Hillary Clinton and President Obama. Hillary Clinton had to overcome severe stigma associated with being a female candidate. She had to prove herself worthy of being an acceptable candidate as far as education, moral and competence. Though she may have been just as well suited for the presidency factors may have played on the race that she was a female and many people may have taken the opinion that a ‘woman just cannot act well under pressure situations’. Women have always had to overcome stigmas related to race throughout time. There is a stigma that goes without saying that if a woman does not marry by a certain age that she will not obtain a suitable husband because she will have to compete with the younger women. Further a woman that is not able to bear children is not as much as a woman as other women. Do people put the same label on men that have had a vasectomy? I think not! Divorce carries a certain stigma on women in all cultures especially third world cultures. Women in certain countries are not allowed to obtain a divorce from their husband unless it is contractually agreed to prior to the marriage. And even so if they obtain a divorce another man will not want to marry them because they are considered shameful to marry.

Conclusion

Women have come a very long way to fight for equal rights but stigmas and inequalities are still present even to this day. It will be a forever battle for women to have equality in the states and especially in other countries where women’s voices are oppressed to keep the male figure dominant.

Works Cited

Japanese Women During the Meiji Period 2009. 14 Oct. 2009 < http://mll.kenyon.edu/~japanese02/J28sp99/projects/horstmann/1/index.html>

White, J. Women’s Suffrage in Utah 2009. 14 Oct. 2009 < http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/statehood_and_the_progressive_era/womenssuffrageinutah.html>

Chopin, K. The Awakening and other stories 2003 14 Oct. 2009 < http://books.google.com/books?id=MoZhpaB-KtUC&dq=the+awakening&source=gbs_navlinks_s>

Mayme Motherhood in Chopin’s The Awakening 2009 14 Oct. 2009. < http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1425652>.