Views of Women Changing Between 1790 and 1860

Women in past western society have been seen as the unintelligent, powerless, and insignificant gender. Though something began to change between 1790 and 1860. Economically Women were now able to work, have money, and help their families; Domestically, there was the great admiration for women in the home now instead of just expecting their place to be there.

The Industrial Revolution brought many changes to the whole nineteenth-century. It brought technology to make life much easier, economic growth, and most importantly allowed women to work. Before the Industrial Revolution if women worked they usually had domestic jobs such as a sewing and making household materials such as soap. Though after the Industrial Revolution there was now women in factories ;even though it was still unusual and mostly New England girls. It was a start that women could make money, send money to their families, and have economic independence. But at the same time these women were very guarded, had to work about thirteen hours a day, and were escorted to church. So to an extent women were not exactly free to roam about the earth as now but this was the start of being economically independent. There were still limitations on how most of the women who had jobs; had certain ones such as those that were domestic, and even teaching. Teaching became a women’s career since many men left the profession and mostly women were taking a hold of it. There were also some women’s magazines being published that were written by women such as Harriet Beecher Stowe and Margaret Fuller. But again the role had not exactly changed 100 percent. Most of the single women that had been working left their jobs when they would marry. The man was still the supporter of the house so women’s economic role changed only to an extent.

Domestically women were still suppose to be home, taking care of her husband and her children; but the view of her changed, to some extent. The cult of domesticity was the praise of the woman at home. It was the ideological view of the middle class and it gave an admiration for the homemaker. The cult of domesticity had