Gohar Blog # 8
Textbook: Chapter 5 (pp. 283-305)What were the most significant developments in women’s wage labor in the late nineteenth century? How did they affect working-class, middle-class, and elite women?
1. Women wage’s labor increased in the late nineteen century. They start leaving domestic service for new industrial factories. Large numbers of working-class women were looking for job in North. They were looking for new opportunities and they don’t have to be stick for private owner anymore. The middle-class women were living in more convenient situation. The elite women would have a lot more opportunities such as servants and so on. At the end look like the working-class women were producer and middle-class and elite women were consumer and kind of balance were between them.
Textbook: Chapter 6What is the importance of the images on page 345 for understanding Native American women’s experience during the era of western consolidation?
2. Images on page 345 are very interesting and have many facts inside. It shows we can not change the inside of people by changing outside. In first image they are with their traditional clothes and hair style, but in second image with new style. We can see the sadness in their eyes. It looks they have so many things that make them sad. They can not be happy just with new dress.
Source InterpretationTextbook document (Chapter 5 pp. 311-316) – “The Woman Who Toils,” and “The Woman Who Toils: Being the Experiences of Two Ladies as Factory Girls”What different sorts of women does Bessie Van Vorst meet in the factory, and how and why do their responses to their work vary?
3. There are different kinds of people all over the world and the same are working women. Most of them are working to support their family economic needs. Some of them have much more wealthy family to support them and they are there to learn something, have fun or spend extra hours. There are many widows who are the only one should work and take care of her kids. Van Vorst is there to support her two sisters and help her mother to get enough food for family.
Why does Van Vorst conclude that working women are passive in accepting their working conditions and unwilling to stand up for themselves in the way of working men? Do you think she is right?
4. I thing she is right. It will take time to women really get their place. They are not really stand for themselves, like I said in part 3 all of them do not have responsibility and they don’t care as much as men do. They are agreeing with everything who got and that is not the right way.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Gohar Blog #7
GOHAR BLOG #7
1. The years before and during the civil war were pretty harsh for African American women, because they still had to work for their owners. There were always arguments between the white women and their slaves. During these times white women were very dependent on black women, because they did not do any of the work. Soon the Women Suffrage Movement started taking place and this did not help the African American women, because they still did not have any freedom and they wanted to be free and be able to raise their families and children on their own.
2. The “New South” had a great impact on women, both on White and the African American. The White women lost the most, because their slaves were not there anymore to the chores and do their jobs. The slave owners were also hurt financially, because the slaves were assets for them, but now that they were free and not working for them, it was a great loss, because they could not sell or buy slaves. This pushed the white women to start working and earning their money. At the same time African Americans were glad to be free, but it was difficult for them also. It was hard for them, because they were separated from their families, children and husbands. During the times away from each other, some of the husbands were remarried; the children could not recognize their parents. This was hard for the African American women, but at the same time they had been granted the ability to own their own lands and work for themselves and their children, instead of their old owners.
3. Thomas Moss was shot to death, because it was believed that he had raped white women. Ida Wells did not believe this and knew that he wasn’t killed because of the rape; he was killed because he and two other black men were operating a grocery store for black people across from a white grocery store. White men wanted to get rid of black people who were making money and were able to support their families. Since they could not do anything about it, they started to accuse successful black people for rape and they said, “black men were sexual predators” (Wells 306). This was not true in all cases, sometimes, black men and white women were sexually involved by choice and they were not rapes, but white men did not care about that and wanted to keep their supremacy.Wells was trying to challenge the fact that black men were not supposed to be blamed for the rape of white women and children. The truth was that in some cases there were mutual attraction between the white women and black men, but white men ignored this and therefore they always blamed the black men for the rapes.
1. The years before and during the civil war were pretty harsh for African American women, because they still had to work for their owners. There were always arguments between the white women and their slaves. During these times white women were very dependent on black women, because they did not do any of the work. Soon the Women Suffrage Movement started taking place and this did not help the African American women, because they still did not have any freedom and they wanted to be free and be able to raise their families and children on their own.
2. The “New South” had a great impact on women, both on White and the African American. The White women lost the most, because their slaves were not there anymore to the chores and do their jobs. The slave owners were also hurt financially, because the slaves were assets for them, but now that they were free and not working for them, it was a great loss, because they could not sell or buy slaves. This pushed the white women to start working and earning their money. At the same time African Americans were glad to be free, but it was difficult for them also. It was hard for them, because they were separated from their families, children and husbands. During the times away from each other, some of the husbands were remarried; the children could not recognize their parents. This was hard for the African American women, but at the same time they had been granted the ability to own their own lands and work for themselves and their children, instead of their old owners.
3. Thomas Moss was shot to death, because it was believed that he had raped white women. Ida Wells did not believe this and knew that he wasn’t killed because of the rape; he was killed because he and two other black men were operating a grocery store for black people across from a white grocery store. White men wanted to get rid of black people who were making money and were able to support their families. Since they could not do anything about it, they started to accuse successful black people for rape and they said, “black men were sexual predators” (Wells 306). This was not true in all cases, sometimes, black men and white women were sexually involved by choice and they were not rapes, but white men did not care about that and wanted to keep their supremacy.Wells was trying to challenge the fact that black men were not supposed to be blamed for the rape of white women and children. The truth was that in some cases there were mutual attraction between the white women and black men, but white men ignored this and therefore they always blamed the black men for the rapes.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Blog #6
Gohar , Blog No. 6
1. What were the different kinds of experiences that particular groups of women had as the United States expanded west to the Pacific?
After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo the U.S. took over about 1.5 million square miles of land form Mexico. This was a major event which further fueled the "Manifest Destiny" ideology, which was the expansion of the newly formed country to west towards the Pacific. During this period, thousands of American men and women, who were eager to own land rushed towards east.
The vast movement of people to west caused panic and disorder in the cultural structure, especially in women’s role, of the western natives. In the west under the reign of Mexican government native Indian women had found themselves as the servants for Mexican women who owned the land. Upon the lost in the War of 1848, Mexican families lost their rights as land owner’s and white women who moved in took over as the new masters. This dilemma created a chaos. Mexican women in most part now found themselves servants to white women and the native Indian women in a sense got liberated, but still hold a position at the bottom of social hierarchy. The role of women of different backgrounds was switched in many levels, but women continued to hold their main role of motherhood and raising children. They help their men during the move with the hope of getting established and owning a piece of land.
2. What kind of historical developments brought American women into reform activities in the antebellum years?
The antebellum reformers were primarily form New York and other northern states. The southern states were almost free of reformers and activists during this era. The antebellum reforms for women had deep impacts on many stages. The reformers and women’s right activists were actively seeking change in religious, moral (sexuality), economic, and health fronts. As early settlers Narcissa Whitman, Eliza Spaulding and women like them took active part in introducing Christianity, alongside their husbands, amongst the Native American tribes. Economic expansion and industrialization brought some independence for women, but at the same time it created the atmosphere for increased casual sexuality. Therefore the antebellum activists started to create various moral support groups which intended to educate and save women form inappropriate social conduct. These groups also were advocates for women’s health, since they felt that women needed special attention as the child bearers and raisers of the family.
Source Interpretation:
1. Maria responds to the strangers she encounters with both fear and curiosity. About what is she curious? What is the source of her fear and how does Maria exhibit or conceal her reaction?
Maria was curious in regards to the span of her domestic authority. She was confused in the beginning when she was asked to give refuge to Chavez. She was not able to get a hold of her husband or her brothers to consult them regarding the problem, so she took the matter in hand and decided to do the right thing according to her religious trainings and beliefs. She was also fearful of three things. First, she did not want to do something that her husband would disapprove, but that fear was gone when she could not access her husband for advice. Second, she was fearful of getting caught as a traitor to Yankees because of harboring a fugitive. Finally, she had the fear of GOD. She wanted to do the right thing and save a human life as GOD wanted her, but also she did not want to lie to the soldiers about hiding a fugitive. The fear of lying was resolved when the soldier did not ask her any questions to force her to lie, which made her pleased.
2. What is the source of strength that Maria draws? How does the absence of men affect the way she acts?
When Maria faced the challenge, she first acted in a capacity of a wife and a women with no decision making power. She went to seek advice from her brothers and husband. The absence of men made her realize that she was the authority in the house and her decision would be as valid and executable as her husband’s. Therefore, she found the strength to doing the right thing (religiously and morally) as the authoritative figure of the household in the absence of her husband. Her determination to do the right thing, in the midst of the problem, made her strong enough to overcome her fears and act as the decision-maker wife and the women in charge.
1. What were the different kinds of experiences that particular groups of women had as the United States expanded west to the Pacific?
After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo the U.S. took over about 1.5 million square miles of land form Mexico. This was a major event which further fueled the "Manifest Destiny" ideology, which was the expansion of the newly formed country to west towards the Pacific. During this period, thousands of American men and women, who were eager to own land rushed towards east.
The vast movement of people to west caused panic and disorder in the cultural structure, especially in women’s role, of the western natives. In the west under the reign of Mexican government native Indian women had found themselves as the servants for Mexican women who owned the land. Upon the lost in the War of 1848, Mexican families lost their rights as land owner’s and white women who moved in took over as the new masters. This dilemma created a chaos. Mexican women in most part now found themselves servants to white women and the native Indian women in a sense got liberated, but still hold a position at the bottom of social hierarchy. The role of women of different backgrounds was switched in many levels, but women continued to hold their main role of motherhood and raising children. They help their men during the move with the hope of getting established and owning a piece of land.
2. What kind of historical developments brought American women into reform activities in the antebellum years?
The antebellum reformers were primarily form New York and other northern states. The southern states were almost free of reformers and activists during this era. The antebellum reforms for women had deep impacts on many stages. The reformers and women’s right activists were actively seeking change in religious, moral (sexuality), economic, and health fronts. As early settlers Narcissa Whitman, Eliza Spaulding and women like them took active part in introducing Christianity, alongside their husbands, amongst the Native American tribes. Economic expansion and industrialization brought some independence for women, but at the same time it created the atmosphere for increased casual sexuality. Therefore the antebellum activists started to create various moral support groups which intended to educate and save women form inappropriate social conduct. These groups also were advocates for women’s health, since they felt that women needed special attention as the child bearers and raisers of the family.
Source Interpretation:
1. Maria responds to the strangers she encounters with both fear and curiosity. About what is she curious? What is the source of her fear and how does Maria exhibit or conceal her reaction?
Maria was curious in regards to the span of her domestic authority. She was confused in the beginning when she was asked to give refuge to Chavez. She was not able to get a hold of her husband or her brothers to consult them regarding the problem, so she took the matter in hand and decided to do the right thing according to her religious trainings and beliefs. She was also fearful of three things. First, she did not want to do something that her husband would disapprove, but that fear was gone when she could not access her husband for advice. Second, she was fearful of getting caught as a traitor to Yankees because of harboring a fugitive. Finally, she had the fear of GOD. She wanted to do the right thing and save a human life as GOD wanted her, but also she did not want to lie to the soldiers about hiding a fugitive. The fear of lying was resolved when the soldier did not ask her any questions to force her to lie, which made her pleased.
2. What is the source of strength that Maria draws? How does the absence of men affect the way she acts?
When Maria faced the challenge, she first acted in a capacity of a wife and a women with no decision making power. She went to seek advice from her brothers and husband. The absence of men made her realize that she was the authority in the house and her decision would be as valid and executable as her husband’s. Therefore, she found the strength to doing the right thing (religiously and morally) as the authoritative figure of the household in the absence of her husband. Her determination to do the right thing, in the midst of the problem, made her strong enough to overcome her fears and act as the decision-maker wife and the women in charge.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Gohare Blog #5
Gohar Blog #5
1. Slaves are people who are owned and controlled by others in a way that they have almost no rights or freedom of movement. Life for slave women was much more difficult than men. They worked hard at home and farm. Their owners sexually harassed them. Slaves were not permitted to bind marriage contracts. The slave man couldn’t visit his wife or children. Slave’s baby was born as a slave and worth a great deal for the owner. The bottom line was the slave’s status as property. Slave mothers had difficult task of teaching their children to survive their owner’s power and at the same time to know their own worth as human beings. Both white and black women suffered in the slave system, slave women knew they didn’t get any emotional attention from their owner. White southern women were premised on the forced labor and sexual oppression of her slaves. Slavery turned black and white women against each other.
2. There are so many stories about slave women and Harriet Jacobs’s real life was one of them. She was born at 1813 in Edenton, North Carolina. She had a happy childhood. Her mom’s owner, a kind woman, thought her how to read. At age of 12 she moved to the new owner’s house. Dr. James Norcom. This man was the cause of a great deal of misery. He sexually abused her. She becomes friend with a caring white man and she asked of her owner to marry him, but he didn’t let her go. She hides in neighbor’s home and from there she could see her children. Harriet made her escape to freedom. She traveled to different states and became involved with the abolitionists associated with Frederick Douglass’s paper. During war she raised money for black refugees. After war she worked to improve the conditions of the recently freed slaves.
3. In these two stories we read about all the troubles that the slaves had to go through in order to reach their destination and their goal in life. In Poly Shine, the slave is willing to not sleep at nights so he can be with his girlfriend and when he finds out that he is sold and is going to another state, he begs his owner to let him see his girlfriend once a week and the rest of the week he would be willing to work full time. In Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom, both William and Ellen are willing to risk their lives for the love that they have for each other. William mentions in a part of the story that he was ready to turn around and run, but then his fate in love and God made him stay and go through with their plans.
4. I think memory plays a huge role in both stories, because they were written a long time after slavery was over. In Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom, William is willing to wait 7 years before publishing his story, because he wanted to learn how to read and write so he could be able to write their story. This shows that how great his memory had to be in order for him to remember all the details and how everything happened. Polly Shine was almost ninety years old when her story was published and she was able to remember all the details of the slave who was punished for going and visiting his girlfriend. I think that when something happens to a person that changes their life, it is very difficult to erase that incident from their memory and would always be on their mind.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Gohar Blog #4
Textbook
1. The main idea of “True Womanhood” was that men and women were totally different from each other and each one had their own roll in society and economy. Men were the working force, meaning they were the ones who were making the political decisions, working in factories and earning money. While women were supposed to stay home, cook, take care of the children and manage the family. This resulted in middle class formation, meaning that the white women would stay home, cook and take care of the children while the white men were working and supporting the family financially.
2. The Lowell mill girls were the first to introduce women to the work force in 1820’s. Working in factories now meant that women are contributing to the economy and are part of it now. Because most of the girls working in the factories where unmarried they were seen as though they were more independent. Workingwomen were earning money while working at the factories, but they were earning less than men and this caused them to strike against unjust wages and this resulted in women being more politically active.
Source Interpretation
1. Sanger interviewed many prostitutes who were either caught or had dangerous diseases. Many of the records were burnt, but he still had some statistics. According to him at the case of prostitution, women were the victims. When a man leaves his wife and comes to a prostitute, he is the one committing a crime and that makes the prostitute the victim. He also identified some cause that resulted women to turn to prostitution, some of the causes were “ deserted, seduced, driven by destitution, or forced into prostitution by some other extraordinary event over which they had no control (170)”
2. Women were not getting the same wages as men when they started working and this was making it hard for them to support themselves and be able to have a good life. Many women became prostitutes because they were forced to escape the current situation that they were in. Sanger mentioned many causes of why these women who became prostitute did so. “Inclination, destitution, seduction, drinking, easier lifestyle, persuasion by other prostitutes and more (170” these were some of the main factors that caused women to turn to prostitution. I think that one of the biggest factors was that they wanted to have a better life and be able to support themselves and that’s why they became prostitutes.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Gohar Blogg #3
1. During the revolution and the Civil War, the traditional views regarding women’s role in society faced various challenges. These challenges were imbedded in different aspects of colonial women’s life. On the economic aspect women, especially in northern colonies, participated in mass production of homespun fabrics in order to become independent of British imported fabrics. Although the women were the sole producers of these fabrics and they acted as productive members of the economy, their names were never mentioned as the responsible parties for this revolutionary act. Therefore this huge economic contribution was often credited to the colonial family headed by a male and not directly to the women as the producers. During the civil war women’s role was also shifted dramatically from the traditional responsibilities. Their role as the maintainer of the household was challenged when they acted as spies for northern forces, soldiers on the battlefields, and nurses attending the injured. Their husbands often shadowed these women’s heroic actions and fathers influence and they were not given the direct credit as major participants and contributors in the Civil War.
2. In late eighteen century, most women were classified with their actions, for example female slaves tried to protect their children, Native Americans took care of the villages while their husbands were at war, poor women cooked for the soldiers and the elite women sewed shirts for George Washington’s army. Although eighteenth-century was mainly make diplomacy, some women exercised some choice in the revolutionary era. They acted politically when they flee from slavery or participated in their deliberations or when they chose to be loyalists or patriots. Also their actions caused the middle-class and elite women be more knowledgeable not only in politics, but also in informal spheres of public spaces like churches.
3. Hardship and poverty were the legacies for many women after the war, but there were always constrained by prevailing assumptions about women’s marginal role in public life. We do not have much info on how the Revolution affected the lives of Native America women, because there is little evidence about these women. Most of the African American women fled to British to achieve their freedom and that was the most important legacy for them. The legacy for white women was mainly hardship and poverty, because most of them were the widows of white army men.
4. Rush and Murray said that education for women would result in them being more independent, be more self-reliant and even be self-supporting. Murray said she wants her daughters to be thought “industry and order” and also she said that independence should be within their reach unlike reformers like Rush who saw women’s education as a tool for promoting the family and public goods. Proper education for women would be more extensive and useful in domestic life. This was said because this would make the children more aware and they would discover that both their parents are educated and knowledgeable.
5. After the revolution many activists started saying that white women of the society must more educated. Their idea was that all citizens needed to be more educated in order for them to be able to contribute to the general public. For example Benjamin Rush supported women’s education, but he wanted to limit them to basic bookkeeping, arithmetic. Supporters of women’s education argued that mothers needed to be well educated to prepare their children, especially their sons, for their duties as citizens of the society. It was also said that women’s education would also influence their husbands.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Blog #2
1. Patriarchy uses the family unit as the structural units of the society in which the father (or oldest male) is the head of the family. He is responsible for the welfare of women and children in the family unit. The father also has authority over women and uses them for his own benefit. The concept of patriarchy often describes men as the primary responsible of the welfare of the community as a whole as well.
2. The document is a part of Rousseau's novel, Emile, in which he talks about education, difference between sexes, distinct social roles for men and women, and the reasons for fundamental subordination of women to men.
3. He claims that inequality between men and women is not because of prejudice but of reason. He says that nature has designated women for childbearing responsibilities. It is women's duty to bear children, create family bonds, train children, and satisfy male's needs in order to gain his love and faith. He claims that men and women are not the same in character and temperament therefore they cannot have the same education.
4. His arguments are not valid in today’s modern society where men and women both participate in many aspects of social life from economy to military. He has some valid points regarding the importance of women in family structure. I believe he has a point when he says that women are responsible to grow responsible men, but I don’t think that women should train male children to think of women as assets to their happiness and to use women just to satisfy their needs.
5. Although, the tasks for men and women were set accordingly to their genders, but that didn’t cause the women to withdraw from the economical activities. Specifically, after the colonization happened native women’s system of living was mainly based on the old fashioned societies.
6. The slavery factors were stronger in the North than the South and so my understanding is that men slaves were usually the ones working with the crops and in the farms. Women were in charge of doing the house chores, especially childbearing. Women slaves were bond to stay traditional, they weren’t allowed to work outside the home unless under certain circumstances.
7. Residents and especially of white women. Legislation that prohibited marriage between servants, outlawed interracial sex, and prescribed lengthy apprenticeships for the mixed-race children of white women made marriage and sex integral to the imposition of racial as well as class and gender ideologies. Yet sexual unions in North Carolina embodied the contentedness of racial relations in the early South, as men and women made personal choices based on many contingencies, of which racial or ethnic identity was only one, they often challenged emerging proscriptive codes. The widespread incidence of unauthorized unions bespoke the resilience of alternative popular codes and the willingness of ordinary colonists, women and men, to ignore or self-consciously resist official norms.
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