Women's Roles and Rights

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the radical changes in women's roles and rights in America during the 18th and 19th centuries. The paper begins by briefly looking at their legal status in the 16th and 17th centuries. Next, the paper turns to a discussion of the struggle for women's rights within the context of the Age of Enlightenment, which began during the 18th century. The paper shows that while strides were being made, much progress was denied by the very men who were agitating for social change within the upper echelons of power. The paper then examines the impact of the Industrial Revolution on women's roles in society. Within the context of social change, the paper looks at the role of women in the abolitionist movement and examines how the suffrage movement for women differed from that for former slaves. The paper concludes with a discussion of the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote.

Outline
Women's Legal Status in the 16th and 17th Century
Women's Rights in the 18th Century
Women and the Industrial Revolution
Women Abolitionists
Women's versus Black Man's Suffrage After the Civil War
Introduction of the Women's Suffrage Amendment
Women's Suffrage Becomes a Reality in 1920
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The modern Western struggle for women's rights began in the 18th century during the Age of Enlightenment. Political philosophers in Europe began to question traditional ideas that based the rights of citizens on their wealth and social status. Instead, leaders of the Enlightenment argued that all individuals were born with natural rights, and improved education and more egalitarian social structures could correct inequalities. Such radical ideas about equality and the rights of citizens helped inspire both the American Revolution in 1775 and the French Revolution in 1789--and spurred many women to claim equal rights as well. The fact was that women actually suffered many set backs in their unwritten rights during the "Age of Enlightenment". Earlier women of means had been writers, poets, dramatists, painters and thinkers. Rousseau's contention that women were not rational helped relegate many women to the status of "beast of burden". Where the wealthy had formally educated their women in the 16th and 17th Century so that they could intelligently discuss everything from politics to mathematics, this became less fashionable in the 18th Century."

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