EUROPE, MODERNITY AND PROGRESS

Europe, Modernity and Progress

Europe, Modernity and Progress

Background

Throughout history times have changed, this can also be said of women. As periods changed so did the demands and opportunities. Women were able to adapt to these new changes remarkably well, and so they were able to shape and influence these periods, as well as benefit from them. Life for the British woman in the 19th century was full of conflicts and struggles. Women suffered from a lot of discrimination, and were not allowed to vote, attend universities, speak in public or own property, and were essentially forced to fight for their place within society. Regardless of these difficulties, women gathered strength in numbers and succeeded in establishing permanent social changes. We examined how women's role has changed throughout history, the women's rights movement, and what can still be improved for women. In early societies, women gave birth and cared for children, cared for the home, and maintained the family. Male domination however was important from the early written historical records, probably as a result of men's discovery of their role in development of hunting and warfare as resourceful activities (77, Gonzalez). The belief that women were weaker and inferior to men was also suggested by religions. As the bible states, God placed Adam in authority to watch over Eve, and St. Paul urged women to obey their husbands (77, Gonzalez). Therefore, in traditional societies, women generally were at a disadvantage. Their education was limited to learning home based skills, and they had a harder time gaining a position of power. Drucker explains in his essay of jobs that required no skills or knowledge that they didn't already possess (227, Drucker). But, he failed to talk of opportunities for women. However, some opportunities available to women were "domestic servants, laundresses, and prostitutes...were the largest occupational groups..." (224, Hirata). The Industrial Revolution meant a lot to women also. The home-produced crafts, which women had always created at home, without receiving any pay, transformed into machine powered mass production meant that lower class women had a chance to become wage earners in factories (225, Hirata). This was marking the beginning of their independence, although factory conditions were unsafe and the pay, lower than a man's; this was all legally controlled by their husbands. At the same time the middle and upper class women were expected to stay at home as homemakers, showing their husband's achievement. These are the conditions that encouraged the feminist movement.

With its political importance, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution caused economic and social changes (251, Kerber et al). This provided a favourable condition for the increase of feminism, along with other reform movements in the late 1800's and 1900's.The Women's Rights Movement was founded out of a desire for all women to have a public voice, and a status equal to men in society. Many say that the movement began in 1848 at Seneca Falls, where women gathered from all over to declare their rights, and to voice objections ...