Speech on Women's Rights in the 1800s
In the 1800s women's rights changed tremendously. In the beginning of the 1800s
women had no rights and were strictly housewives meant to raise children, and be
strictly religious. Throughout the 1800s many changes took place within the roles
and rights of women. Women during this time period were given chances for
freedom.
Women took advantage of these opportunities and changed their role in America.
These changes applied on every level from women’s role in society, place of work
and within the family unit.
In the 1800s, women started to begin working in America. Around this time America
had just began industrializing with the Industrial Revolution. Inventions like the
cotton gin by Eli Whitney have created a new efficiency in the creation of cotton.
The development of the cloth industry found a demand for a larger labor force. The
south were in need for more slave labor to balance their economy. They tried to get
free labor for plantations and also hired children and women. Women started
working in factories as seamstresses in places such as the Lowell Mills. Women were
not given an adequate amount of money for this boring work. Women were
content to fill this position because it was an opportunity to get out of the house.
The fact that women were given the opportunity of making their own money helped
them gain their independence. Also women having money gave them more of a
chance to have a say in society. Before the Industrial Revolution, women’s role was
to raise and care for children
and just to be a house wife. The Industrial Revolution gave women the chance to
work outside of the home and be more independent.
In the 1800s many women became involved in American society. Women like
Dorothea Dix created things like the Asylum Movement. This was when people with
mental illnesses such as insanity were thought to have a spiritual problem or were
even possessed by demons. This was thought to be practical at the time because
America was
a very religious society at that time. Dorothea Dix tried to give treatment to these
mentally ill individuals. Her Asylum Movement was the first attempt at aiding
people and this helped inspire the idea of education.
There was a similar connection to women’s rights and having an education. Women
wanted to be treated like men. Women realized that they were being underpaid and
went against their employers and formed Unions. Forming a Union was against the
law but the women went on strike and finally their demands were heard and they
were given better wages.
Even when women were allowed to work they were not allowed to learn. Mary Lyon
sought education for women. She founded Mount Holyoke College which was the
first college for women. This was another revolutionary idea fueled by the
compassion of women wanting their rights. Women felt withdrawn by men in the
fact that they could not learn. Women were finally allowed to learn and this is again
because they fought for their rights.
In the 1800s women kept finding more success and kept pressing themselves for
more quality and freedom. Women started to get involved with political issues.
Women wanted to end suffrage and vote. They also got involved with Abolition and
Temperance Movements. This proves that women were trying to help the cause and
abolish slavery, and that they were indeed involved with large political issues, and
trying to have their voice heard.
In the beginning of the 1800s women were silenced in the public and could not
express themselves. Women strictly just stayed at home and raised children. The
Industrial Revolution allowed women to work and develop a sense of individuality
and independence. Women were able to leave the house and work. They even got
involved with political issues and were learning. Women’s lives improved from the
quality of their life and even their life span. The Industrial Revolution of the 1800s
caused the changing place of women from a withdrawn stay at home mom to a class
of important individualistic female citizens.