Introduction
Each generation can be identified with a specific minority group that is often fighting and struggling for representation and change. A good example of the contemporary generation would be the struggle and fight for rights that homosexuals are embroiled in. The system has always been discriminatory and biased to a specific group within society. During the nineteenth century, this group of the repressed was composed of women.
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries marked the height of the struggle for equal rights by women. They fought for the equality on all fronts under the law and, more importantly, the right to vote. In an effort to counter the discrimination, an ideological-social reform was instigated in the form of feminism. Feminism played a critical role in the emancipation of women and in addressing their plight. This paper discusses the benefit that feminism had on women and their struggle through the nineteenth century.
Feminism
Feminism encapsulates ideologies, political movements and social movements that are aimed at attaining a common goal for the rights of women in society. Feminism focuses on helping women attain equality in all aspects of life. During the 19th century, men and women held distinctively different roles and spheres within society. For men, the expectation was that they were to live public lives fending for their families.
Women, on the other hand, were expected to live within the confines of their households. Their primary role was to cater for their families and do house chores. These traditional expectations defined the level of education that women would attain and the rights that they would be entitled to.
Education of the girl child was seen as subversive and an occurrence that would disrupt the social order. In regards to political activity, women were entirely locked out and were not allowed to vote. For a great part, women were only regarded as respected in relation to their husbands. The nineteenth century however saw an increased dissipation of acceptance by the women of the roles that they had been accorded by society.
Ladylike behavior did not entail protests and political speeches. The temperance and abolition became the presents of the foundation that women would build upon to fight for their rights. The very first formal meeting that was organized to push for equality for women was in 1848 during the Women’s Rights Convention in New York.
The development of Declaration of Sentiments became the very first document to highlight the plight and injustices that women faced. In 1950, the same group organized the first National Women’s Rights Convention in Massachusetts that brought together numerous female activists. They set out to organize rallies, protests and numerous meetings to ensure that the plight of women had been brought to the society’s consciousness.
It was this continued effort by these women groups that would result in the reexamination of the role and status of women in society. The focus shifted towards gaining political power and gave rise to the Women’s Suffrage. Its onset can be traced back to the British Australasian colonies.
For women however, the working conditions were far much worse and detrimental as compared to those of men. The push for women to work was driven by the harsh economic environments that most countries were going through. Most women had to contend with the lowest wages and long working hours.
The impact of the feminist movement permeated into other aspects of life for the woman. Science, art, literature, and music are examples of aspects that would be impacted by the feminist movement. Women resorted to writing literal works to push for their rights in society. The resultant effect was the production of feminist non-fiction and fiction works that highlighted and addressed the plight of women.
The academic and historical responsibilities of women in society began to be reevaluated owing to the realization that the role of women had been underrepresented in the past years. Women’s music emerged as a byproduct of the movement of the feminist. For those who failed to attain the threshold of rallies and political representation, art became an alternative to pushing for their rights and grievances.
Regardless of the changes that did accrue from the feminist movements and agitation, a number of criticisms did arise in regards to the focus that was placed on the rights of women. For the critics, focusing on women did neglect the challenges that other minorities were going on in the same area.
The European continent as a whole was experiencing a revolt by the women and a number of revolutions became instrumental in shaping the future of women and their rights. For instance the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 that did seek to oust the existing political system that was oppressive. One of its very key agendas was attaining universal equality for all under law. This tenet of the revolution enshrined the goals of the feminists during the 19th century.
The Civil War would later bring a myriad of changes to the feminist movement. Upon the end of the Civil War, the primary focus lay in the representation of the black people as equal human beings. Even as the feminist movement changed, it still focused on the black women and their rights. A myriad of challenges would arise, like the antagonism between the abolitionists and feminists; this, however, did not deter the momentum of the movement that women had already generated.
The feminist movement saw the changed view of the status and role of women in society. The ensuing rights and freedoms of women underpinned the success of the movement in reinventing the status of women in the male-dominated society. The struggle of sexes in the context of the feminists had long been predicted by Darwin. In an effort to attain balance within society sexes had to undergo a struggle which, could be depicted in the feminist uproar and the conflict with other male chauvinists. The inclusion of women in the labor force, the according of rights to vote and the redefinition of the roles of women in society would result in numerous benefits to the society.
Conclusion
Feminism, as discussed in the paper, highlights a unique set of ideologies and social reforms that were aimed at helping the woman fight voice and rights in society. Feminism created the platform for women to address their issues and status in society. The contemporary rights enjoyed by women are a depiction of the struggle and fight that the feminist social reform agitated for. The changes in terms of gender roles and voting rights formed the very first steps of the emancipation of women. The end goal of the feminist social reform was to ensure that the status of the woman in society had been renegotiated. The greatest victory for women lay not in their changes status in society, but in the inclusion of their grievances and plight in the constitution. The rights of equality and voting being included in the constitution crowned the age-old struggle of women and granted them the opportunity to fuel their fight further.
Bibliography
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