Historical Perspectives on the Modern Woman’s Rights

Women’s Experiences and Responsibilities in Society

Women’s experiences and responsibilities in various societies go back a long way. Women have performed a variety of roles in improving their societies in many different societies. Some women have held positions of power in politics, the military, and religion, serving as priestesses who serve as role models for both men and women. However, because women and men had different roles to play in the society, the role of women in society has long been linked to the gender problem. In some societies, there are very strict expectations of what women are supposed to do and some male writers portray them as inferior to men. Looking deeply into how the society treats women is one of the great issues in modern societies including the US as it sheds some enlightenment to people about the potential in women in making the society a better place. This paper focuses on the historical perspectives of women in their fight to liberate themselves from the slavery that the society had built a long time ago to dictate what women can and cannot do.

Historical Background

In the past, women were much expected to play mostly maternal roles of taking care of the family. Taking care of their husbands and children and performing housing chores such as cooking, cleaning the house, and washing were the main roles that women were expected to do for their families (\“Women Through History: Women’s Experience Through The Ages\” 2017). With time, women started to play inclusive roles in the society such as leadership and looking for formal jobs as industrialization started to take over the initial agricultural based societies. Men were the initial key providers of the families as they still do up to date but women equally play the same roles as men especially in single-parent families. For a long time in history, women were treated as fewer people as compared to men. Women were considered as subjects to men, especially to their spouses or parents. They had no choice but to submit to men.

Legendary Women in History

History has a good memory of women who were legends in their making as warriors and rulers with great deeds that history found it worth recording. Such women have remained relevant for a long time. For instance, Enheduanna is recognized as the person to write down a poem that has survived to the present day. She was a priestess who championed the Sumerian civilization. She composed the poem as a prayer to praise the female deity in her time. She will always be remembered as the first author but surprisingly, women in the later times were much discouraged from writing as well as learning how to read. In the culture of the ancient France, which was then known as Gaul as well as in the British Isles, many women were warriors who fought beside men. Although they did not have the physical strength as men, they played critical roles of psyching fellow fighters including men to fight with a great deal of fierceness for them to win the war. Boudicca, who was a British Celtic queen fought for her country against the Roman invaders, and she is remembered as a military and political leader of her time.

The Role of Women in Early Christian Churches

In the early Christian churches, there is reliable evidence that shows women might have held influential positions that were equally held by men. The Gnostic Christianity is a splendid example of such churches where women could hold such positions that have for a long time assumedly believed to belong to men. Mary Magdalene, for instance, played very influential roles in bringing up the early church. As time passed, a lot of degrading of women started to pile up as “Church Fathers” began to take up significant positions is churches. It is said that Saint Augustine played a prominent role degrading women. He referred to them as weak vessels which can hardly resist temptations. Such church leaders are said to have been among the first people to blame the first woman, Eve for the fall of humankind from the Garden of Eden.

The Role of Women in the Agrarian and Industrial Periods

At the early times of civilization, women were regarded as fewer people compared to men. Men were always at the forefront of almost everything. Women were left with nothing but to obey and submit to men especially their spouses. As men took major positions in the society, to control major issues, women were considered as housekeepers; looking after the children and doing house chores such as cooking during the agrarian period. As men lead homes and made decisions of big matters of the family, the say of women was not much significant, and it drew petite attention from the society. What a man said was what mattered most and it could be the final decision.

The agrarian period was gradually replaced by industrialization and people began to switch from agriculture to depending on white color jobs. Educations set in to prepare people for industrial jobs. At first, women were very much discouraged from attending school as they were supposed to take care of their homes. It did not take long before civilization set in, and the level of gender equality started to take shape. Men and women could attend school and take up white color jobs in the industries without much discrimination. The Lowell Mills were among the first industries in the United States. These industries offered job opportunities to both men and women who took up the opportunities to earn their freedom from parental authority (\“Lowell Mill Girls and the Factory System, 1840 | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History\” 2017). Mill girls used the employment opportunities to earn a sense of freedom from the traditional way of life in which women were to follow and not to make decisions. At first, it was only men who had the right to own property, but as industrialization grew, the freedom and right to own property were no longer a matter of being a man or a woman. Civilization brought about the concept of human rights with which every person could make a personal decision.

Conclusion

Women have a long history of civilization and how they came to earn their rights as equal beings to men. The capacity of a woman to make decisions and lead the society is a not new thing but something that was recognized a long time ago when women took part in fights as warriors and even helped a lot in winning wars. Women have also been great leaders as can be seen from the early women church leaders. Industrialization gave birth to civilization which gave women the freedom to advocate for their rights and fight for gender equality. Industrial employment gave women the opportunity to own property (Gilmore 2017). This contradicted with the traditional society whereby inheritance was the only way of earning property and men or rather sons were the rightful heirs of their father’s properties. Women of today enjoy a great deal of freedom and rights to many things including owning property unlike in the past. However, as much as there might be some level of gender equality, there is still some gender discrimination in some cases which continue to draw some attention for further improvement.

References

Byerly, Victoria. 1986. Hard Times Cotton Mill Girls. 1st ed. Ithaca, NY: ILR Pr.

Gilmore, Stephanie. 2017. “UI Press | Edited By Stephanie Gilmore | Feminist Coalitions: Historical Perspectives On Second-Wave Feminism In The United States”. Press.Uillinois.Edu. http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/94chw7cg9780252033285.html.

“Lowell Mill Girls And The Factory System, 1840 | The Gilder Lehrman Institute Of American History”. 2017. Gilderlehrman.Org. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/age-jackson/resources/lowell-mill-girls-and-factory-system-1840.

“Women Through History: Women’s Experience Through The Ages”. 2017. Owlcation. https://owlcation.com/humanities/Women-Through-History.