WOMEN AND REFORM

Chapter 4 Section 3

WOMEN’S ROLE IN THE MID-1800SThe Cult of DomesticityIn the Early 19th Century Women referred to their limited role in society as The Cult Of Domesticity.

In this time period women were unable to

work and be independent after they were married, after marriage women

were restricted to housework and/ or

childcare.

THE LIMITED ROLE OF WOMEN

In the early 1800s women were not allowed to sit on juries even if they were

taxpayers.In addition any property/money a woman acquired prior to her marriage went to her

husband once she was married.If a woman’s marriage were to break up

she did not have the right to keep custody of the children.

STATISTICSAs of 1850 only one in five women had

eared wages before getting married and only one in ten single women worked

outside of the home.If a woman were to attain a job outside of

the home her wages would be half of those given to a man doing the same job.

WOMEN MOBILIZE FOR REFORM

Women Abolitionists An Appeal to Christian

Women of the South, written by Angelina Grimke from SC (1836) Instructed women to

“overthrow this horrible system of oppression and cruelty”

Women abolitionists: Raised $ Distributed literature Collected signatures for

petitions to Congress

WORKING FOR TEMPERANCE Temperance Movement – the effort to

prohibit the drinking of alcohol American Temperance Society founded in 1826

Held rallies Made pamphlets Declined the consumption of alcohol

EDUCATION FOR WOMEN Until 1820s American girls had few educational

opportunities open to them after elementary school Troy Female Seminary – opened in 1821 by Emma Willard

in Troy, NY Became nation’s first academically rigorous schools for girls

Mount Holyoke Female Seminary – 1837 by Mary Lyon in South Hadley, MA

1837 – Ohio’s Oberlin College became nation’s first fully coeducational college (admitted 4 women to its degree program)

1831 – white Quaker, Prudence Crandall, opened a girls school in Canterbury, CT and admitted a black girl. Caused too much controversy, so it was changed to an all black girls school. This caused even more protest against desegregated education that the school was closed

WOMEN AND HEALTH REFORM Educated women began to work for

health reforms by the mid-19th century Elizabeth Blackwell

1849 - first woman to graduate from medical college

Opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children

Women were often unhealthy because of their lack of bathing, exercise, and restrictive corsets that made it hard for them to breathe

Amelia Bloomer Publisher of a temperance newspaper Rebelled by wearing loose-fitting pants

tied at the ankles covered by a short skirt: “bloomers”

Men were outraged by Bloomer’s trend of women wearing pants

WOMEN’S RIGHTS MOVEMENT EMERGES

Reform toward women’s rights grew as opportunities for women increased with industrialization

1848- Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the Seneca Falls Convention where the Declaration of Sentiments was formed. Mimicked the Declaration of Independence, addressing the faults of

man against woman 300 men and women came to the convention at Wesleyan

Methodist Church and almost all parts of the declaration were voted unanimously in favor of a positive change for women All parts excluding the right to vote

SOJOURNER TRUTH Worked to improve social

conditions in the mid-19th century

Sojourner was a slave for 30 years

She traveled the country preaching and arguing for abolition

1951- attended a women’s rights convention and urged men to give women their rights

Women were constant workers just like men, therefore they deserve the same rights