Women's Movement

The Cult of Domesticity
1. An ideal of womanhood
  1. This ideal had four parts/characteristics:
    1. One: Piety
      1. A woman must be religious. She was like a "new Eve working with God". Religion in women was viewed positively and it was a must have. A non-religious woman was looked down upon.
    2. Two: Purity
      1. A woman needed to be sexually pure in order to be a "woman", otherwise she was a "fallen woman". The marriage night was viewed as an important day in a woman's life, more like the best day, because it was the day she would give up her virginity, her most precious possession to the love of her life.
        From the moment she gives her husband her virginity she is no longer independent and relies on solely him, and she becomes his possession rather than a human.
        Woman were looked down upon if they stepped out of their marriage, and it ruined her image as a woman.
    3. Three: Submissiveness
      1. Men had to be religious, pure, but were never really expected to be. Men weren't suppose to be submissive either.
        Women were expected to be submissive on the other hand. This was the way things were and it was imprinted in women's minds.
        The Young Ladies Book was for the women who weren't aware of how to be a woman, or how it was expected for a woman to act.
    4. Four: Domesticity
      1. Woman were meant to stay at home. This was their safety net. She was to maintain a busy schedule filled of tasks that would maintain and fulfill her piety and purity.
        A woman's schedule consisted of housework, needle work, crafts, childcare, and keeping a happy home. She needed to perform wifely duties, and that was all that was expected of her.
2. Based in middle-class society
  1. Between 1820 and the Civil War there was a lot of growing in the economy.
    1. There were new industries, businesses, and professions.
    2. Some middle class families had their toes dipped in the waters of the preindustrial society, but their lives were different in a few ways.
      1. In a nineteenth century middle-class family the mother and kids could stay home while the husband worked. They didn't need both parents working in order to survive.
      2. They created the idea that men were suppose to be the supporter of the house, and women were too delicate to handle the harsh world of temptations, violence, and trouble. Therefore, women were meant to stay in the safety of their homes.
      3. The middle-class family was looked at as "the backbone" of society. This is where the ideal of true womanhood arose called, The Cult of Domesticity. Once it was created, it was everywhere.
Susan B. Anthony & Elizabeth Stanton
1. Susan B. Anthony joined the women's rights movement in 1852 because she experienced the feeling of being forced to stay quiet at temperance rallies. She was also acquainted with Elizabeth Stanton, which probably brought her more of a wanting to join the movement.
  1. No matter how crazy things got for Anthony she chose to fight. She traveled all over to give lectures and spread the word about woman's rights.
    1. Although she was all about woman's suffrage she also fought for the abolition of slavery, the right for women to own their own property, the right for women to retain their own earnings, and she advocated for women's labor organizations. Overall she fought for equality.
  2. She had an aggressive spirit.
    1. Her words were powerful and she made an impact in history.
2. Elizabeth Stanton
Alice Paul
1. The most important things she has done, and the thing she's most famous for, is getting the 19th amendment passed.

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	Created by nalynahdiggins over 8 years ago