The history of women in america from domesticity to civil rights

I'm going to talk about the idea of progress. A progress is a positive change a positive evolution. It can be a political, scientific, political or social improvement.

So far this year we studied for this notion the history of women in america, from domesticity to civil rights, so that's what i've chosen to talk about in order to attempt to answer the question : Can we say that men and women are now equal and what was the path through equality ?

The evolution of women's life from the 19th century to the 21th century is really interesting. We can say that in the united states, women's status really starded from the bottom.

In the 19th century appears a new ideology, the cult of domesticity. It's an ideal of womenhood that was ruled by 4 cardinal virtues; piety, submissiveness, domesticity and purity. Therefore, the perfect woman was a sort of god's spokeperson they had to christinize the world around them in order to live in a pure world. Their purity was their most precious treasure and they had to remain pure untill their wedding, those who didn't were considered as disgusting women and were osthracized. Once married, women had to be submissive to their husband and great housewives. They had to complete all the duties, they had to take care of their house to make it look beautiful, they had to take care of their children, to educate them, they had to create a sort of cocoon to their husband.

In reaction to this constant humiliation and belittlement some women started to rebel and claim their rights. A feminist movement has born and women like Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B Anthony fought for their fundamental rights, mainly the right to vote and the right to own a land.

Since the 19th century and the cult of domesticity, things have changed and the mentalities have evolved, But can we say that women and men are now equal ? And what was the path through equality ?  To answer this question, I will present two documents : A Fanny Fern story"How husband may rule" and the song Rosie the riveter and the Emma Watson's speech at the HeforShe UN campaign.

The first document that i've chosen "How husband lay rule" illustrates the cult of domesticity, especially submissiveness and domesticity. Harry, asks to his newly wife to stop being friend with Mrs May.He thinks that Mary's friend Mrs May is a women to avoid and that she will create tension between the couple and pull them appart. He thinks that Mary will be influenced by her. Mrs May seems to be a feminist with strong opinions. She appears to have a lot of influence and doesn't want to submit to anybody. And that's why Harry is afraid of her. So far Mary has been the perfect wife and he doesn't want her to start rebelling. At first Mary is shocked by his husband's request but then she start reflecting about what she gains from her husband.Harry is so thoughfull and loving that she decides to obey. This text illustrate submissiveness because Mary obey to her husband, but also domesticity because Mary has a beautiful house, that Harry helps beeing well decorated by offering her vases and other decorations. This text is ironical and satirical because through Harry's character, the author criticizes the attitude of men at that time that asked their wives to have no interests but them. In this text, women's social abnegation is denounced. The fact that women had to forget their own pleasure for their husband is denounced.

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