The Cult of True Womanhood in the United States - Essay Example

The Cult of True Womanhood in the United s The Cult of True Womanhood in the United s Introduction The growth of a number of new professions, businesses and industries in the period ranging between 1820 and the Civil War is seen to have aided in the creation of a new middle class society in America. This middle class society is seen to have primarily consisted of families whose husbands were engaged in professions such as factory managers, office workers, physicians, lawyers and merchants. During this period in the country’s history, the women in the middle-class society increasingly had their behavior regulated by a social system that is today referred to as the cult of domesticity. The cult of domesticity was seen to essentially greatly limit the sphere of these women’s influence to the home. In-line with the ideals of this social system, women were supposed to crate the perception that it was the men alone who were primarily responsible for supporting their families. The common belief was that the public sphere and the world of work were an extensively rough world full of violence, temptations and trouble and it was necessary for men to ensure that they did what was necessary so as for them to be able to succeed. It was held that a women who attempted to try and venture into such a chaotic world could most certainly easily fall pretty to it as women were commonly regarded as being delicate and weak creatures. Due to this assumption, it was therefore believed that a woman’s place was in the private sphere where she was responsible for taking change of all that went on in the home (Thomas, 1830). This new ideal of womanhood and ideology about the home caused for there to emerge new attitudes pertaining to work and the family across America in what was is variously referred to as either, the cult of domesticity or the cult of true womanhood. The ideologies proposed and highlighted in this ideology were widely publicized and were commonly found in advice books, religious journals, newspapers, fiction and women’s magazines such as Godey’s Lady’s book which was a magazine that was intended solely for the purpose of informing, entertaining and educating women across the United States (Godey, 1830-1898). To help in promoting the ideals behind the Cult of True Womanhood, Godey’s Lady Book was seen to include biographical sketches, in addition to articles pertaining to handicrafts, the dance, mineralogy, female costumes, remedies, recipes, hygiene and health as well as equestrienne procedures. In addition to all these articles that were dedicated towards promoting true womanhood, each issue of the magazine was seen to also contain about two sheet of music that was specifically written for the pianoforte and extensive book reviews and works by some of the more popular 19th century authors. Under the ideals of the cult of true womanhood, women were understood to be engaged in tending the nation’s morals by the tending of their houses. The proponents of this social system were of the belief that women were in procession of an inherent and natural capacity for sympathy, purity and piety that served to cause them to be uniquely fit for the management of the domestic sphere (Godey 1830-1898). While the ideologies of this social system might be perceived to be particularly restrictive and downgrading according to today’s standards, women in antebellum America understood it to be a method by which they were able to asset power and were of the perception that that their homemaking and child rearing were almost revolutionary cultural work. This view is seen to have influenced women to become actively engaged in social reforms as the ideology of the cult of true womanhood was greatly insistent on advocating for the redemptive power of love and Christian morals. The ideology is seen to have often been alighted with a number of social reformed that were specifically aimed at rehabilitating and saving the oppressed and downtrodden people in society. Some of the social reforms that women were commonly engaged in as a result of the ideologies of the cult of true womanhood include poverty relief, penal reform and women’s suffrage and especially so abolitionism. These were found to be popular outlets for the energy and sympathy of these women. The cult of true womanhood was to quickly cause discontent among a number of the middle-class society women and especially so as they were often seen in the disastrous and destitute condition that these women were left in the event that they happened to lose their husband either through death or dissertation and were subsequently forced to try and fend for both themselves and their children. The improving educational levels in the country saw large number of American middle-class women increasingly becoming educated and growing quite disconcerted with the social system that did not allow them to seek equal employment with their male counterpart. The lack of employment opportunities for these middle-class women and their consignment to their private sphere is seen to be demonstrated by an article appearing in Godey’s Lady Book that pointed out that although a young lady might happen to particularly excel in fluently speaking the Italian and French languages, be able to successfully recite a few passages from a number of books, sing like a siren, be able to play music like a professor, dance like Semphronia herself, and attractively decorate her own, flower pots, drawing tables, stands, cabinets and screens, she may still be considered to have been very badly educated. In the article, JD Thomas (1830) argues that education should not be used as a tool for tuning women into actresses, engravers, gilders, singers, players fashion dancer and embroiders, instead, education should be used to turn the profession of ladies into that of wives, daughters, mistresses and mothers (Godey 1830-1898). This postulation by JD Thomas is seen to be further supported by Edward Clarke (1875), who is careful to point out that although the relation of the sexes is essentially one of equality, it is not intended that all the sexes be created as being the same. Clarke also postulates that the differences between the sexes are so wide and different that each sex can be able to do in certain directions, what the other sex cannot be able to do, and in the event that both sexes can be able to do the same thing, it is inevitably found that one sex can essentially be able to do better as compared to the other sex. According to Clarke (1875), the fact that women have often been seen to equal or even excel men in lofty heroism, physical labor and intellectual effort, can be regarded as being proof that women have as good minds, souls and muscles as men, this does not necessarily mean that they should have the same kind of training or be destined for the same careers as men. Women should be subjected to an appropriate educational method that is designed to not blight any of their vital organs or ignore their body mechanisms. The ideologies of the culture of true womanhood are seen to have played a part in influencing the abolitionism reform agenda in the country in that the ideologies of the societal system viewed the selling and buying and selling of children as being a particularly outrageous affront to the general sanctity of family relationships. To the cult of domesticity, slavery was considered to largely be a particularly horrifying proponent for domesticity as a result of the fact that it generally disregarded the distinct opposition between the exterior workplace and the family at home. As a result of the fact that slavery did not have any clear separation between private and economic status, the distinction between family and work is seen to have been eradicated in the slave. Enslaved women were not able to truly live according to the ideology of true womanhood as a result of the fact that they could not be secured in marriage, home or motherhood. As a result of their being forced to labor for their white owners, slaves could not be able to create their own individual private homes for themselves, they could easily be separated and sold form their husbands, homes and children. As a result of the conflict between the ideologies of true womanhood and those of slavery, the ideology of true womanhood is seen to have greatly influenced the abolitionism social reform as it sought to try and ensure that black slave women could be afforded a similar opportunity to practice true womanhood in a similarly manner as the white women did. Conclusion The social structure of the 19th century is seen to have primarily been structured around the ideologies of the cult true womanhood which stressed on the importance of homemaking, piety, motherhood and purity on the part of the women, while the men on the other hand were charged largely expected to act and work in the public domains of business and politics. The prevailing literature and popular opinion of the time sought to encourage women to eschew any interest that they might happen to have in the areas of politics and business while encouraging them to devote themselves to the details of motherhood and housekeeping. However, the women in this societal system viewed the ideologies of the cult of true womanhood as being a social tool and were able to effectively use it to influence and engage in a number of social reforms influencing and affecting matters pertaining to areas such as the penal reform, poverty relief and abolitionism. To this end, it is seen that the cult of true womanhood was indeed an effective tool that was used by women in the 19th century so as to effect various social reforms in the country. References Boydston, J. (1996). The Woman Who Wasnt There: Womens Market Labor and the Transition to Capitalism in the United States. Journal of the Early Republic. Vol. 16, No. 2, Special Issue on Capitalism in the Early Republic (Summer, 1996), pp. 183-206 Retrieved from http://www.old.li.suu.edu/library/circulation/Orihel/hist4760moBoydstonWomensMarketLaborFall12.pdf Clarke E. (1875). Sex in Education or, A Fair Chance for Girls. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, (Late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co.) Retrieved from http://www.accessible-archives.com/collections/godeys-ladys-book/ Godey L. (1830-1898). Godey’s Lady’s Book. Retrieved from http://www.accessible-archives.com/collections/godeys-ladys-book/ Thomas J.D. (1830). Female Education. Modey’s Lady’s Book. Retrieved from http://www.accessible-archives.com/2012/12/female-education-december-1830/#ixzz2tMWqmMPq Read More