Domestic Spheres
Despite the new feminist activism inspired in part by women's roles in the Abolitionist
movement, as well as the Temperance and Suffrage movements, women were expected to
embody the traditional values represented by the home. In this way, women were equated
with the home; both were symbols of the morality Americans hoped to preserve. The
home became a female gendered domestic space in which women, as the guardians of
culture and morality, both gained and lost control.
Exulted as morally superior members of society who would shelter the family from the
evils of commerce and modernity, women were expected to be pure, charitable, selfless,
cultured, optimistic, supportive at all costs, educated in the proper fields, and frugal. This
construction of womanhood empowered women to become more educated and manage
domestic finances, while also limiting them through strict rules concerning what they
read, how the home should be designed and maintained, the ways that they used their
time, what families should purchase, how to behave in public, and all other actions that
could be construed as a reflection of the family's morality. Most importantly, by
relegating women to the domestic sphere, many women were excluded from the new
economy and therefore increasingly dependent on their husbands for income.
Nineteenth-century Americans, perhaps even more than their British or French
contemporaries, thought in terms of gender and sought to divide the whole of human
activity into masculine and feminine "spheres." They did not, as Charlotte Perkins
Gilman complained late in the century, recognize human characteristics. So, if one
associated a given trait with men, then women should possess its opposite or its
complement. If men were strong; women must be frail; if men were rational, then women
were emotional. If men tended to be coarse, women were supposed to be naturally more
refined. And so on and so on. Virtually every quality, trait, or characteristic presumably
belonged to one or the other sex, as they phrased it. Activities were supposed to
correspond
o
The early- to mid-nineteenth century idea of "domestic spheres"
suggested that a middle class woman's place was in the private
domain of the home, where a woman could rule as a mother and wife;
a man's place with in the public sphere of work, politics, etc.
o
This "separate spheres" ideology placed middle class women on a
spiritual and moral pedestal as the queen of the home, which often
was regarded as a safe "haven" from the tumultuous public world.
o
As industrialization and consumerism changed the ideal of the home as
a haven, "Americans desperately clung to the idea of a romantic
idealized space where children, morality, and culture could flourish
without the influence of industrialization."
o
This ideal of the separate spheres no longer made sense at the turnof-the-century (1890s-1910s) when women's roles began to change
and broaden.
o
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Late-nineteenth century American literature by women often wrestled
with and critiqued separate spheres ideology.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton's "Declaration of Sentiments," from the 1848 Seneca
Falls Convention, reads: "The history of mankind is a history of repeated
injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct
object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let
facts be submitted to a candid world." Some of Stanton's specific points
include the following:
o
Women were not allowed to vote
o
Women had to submit to laws when they had no voice in their
formation
o
Husbands had legal power over and responsibility for their wives to the
extent that they could imprison or beat them with impunity
o
Most occupations were closed to women and when women did work
they were paid only a fraction of what men earned
o
Women were not allowed to enter professions such as medicine or law
o
Women had no means to gain an education since no college or
university would accept women students
o
Women were robbed of their self-confidence and self-respect, and were
made totally dependent on men
Stanton was certainly on the mark when she anticipated "misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule."
Newspaper editors were so scandalized by the shameless audacity of the Declaration of Sentiments, and
particularly of the ninth resolution -- women demanding the vote!-- that they attacked the women with all
the vitriol they could muster. The women's rights movement was only one day old and the backlash had
already begun! In ridicule, the entire text of the Declaration of Sentiments was often published, with the
names of the signers frequently included. Just as ridicule today often has a squelching effect on new ideas,
this attack in the press caused many people from the Convention to rethink their positions. Many of the
women who had attended the convention were so embarrassed by the publicity that they actually withdrew
their signatures from the Declaration. But most stood firm. And something the editors had not anticipated
happened: Their negative articles about the women's call for expanded rights were so livid and widespread
that they actually had a positive impact far beyond anything the organizers could have hoped for. People in
cities and isolated towns alike were now alerted to the issues, and joined this heated discussion of women's
rights in great numbers!
The Seneca Falls women had optimistically hoped for "a series of conventions embracing every part of the
country." And that's just what did happen. Women's Rights Conventions were held regularly from 1850
until the start of the Civil War. Some drew such large crowds that people actually had to be turned away for
lack of sufficient meeting space!
The women's rights movement of the late 19th century went on to address the wide range of issues spelled
out at the Seneca Falls Convention. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and women like Susan B. Anthony, Lucy
Stone, and Sojourner Truth traveled the country lecturing and organizing for the next forty years.
Eventually, winning the right to vote emerged as the central issue, since the vote would provide the means
to achieve the other reforms. All told, the campaign for woman suffrage met such staunch opposition that it
took 72 years for the women and their male supporters to be successful.
As you might imagine, any 72-year campaign includes thousands of political strategists, capable
organizers, administrators, activists and lobbyists. The story of diligent women's rights activism is a litany
of achievements against tremendous odds, of ingenious strategies and outrageous tactics used to outwit
opponents and make the most of limited resources. It's a dramatic tale, filled with remarkable women
facing down incredible obstacles to win that most basic American civil right - the vote.