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Womanhood is the qualities considered to be natural to or characteristic of a woman or also known as the state of being a woman. What people think a woman should be like psychically and mentally. The contempt of True Womanhood is when society makes rules for how women should behave or else be scorned but overtime, people started to change their opinions of what the meaning of True Womanhood really is.

Separate Spheres

Woman taking care of child while man is the breadwinner

Separate spheres are a separation between the private and public sphere. Men were the public spheres. They were to go out and speak about politics, work and earn a wage to support family. While the private sphere were the women. They had to stay home take care of the children and kept a clean house. She is to do nothing but pray, raise children and cook and clean. She is seen as the one to always welcome her husband home and comforting him.

Virtues

In the late 16^th – 19^th century women were always considered to be domestic and that that their place was at the home and nowhere else. Women were expected to run the household, raise children and taking care of the husband. “True women” were expected to practice five virtues.

A praying woman's piety

1.     Piety – religion was valued highly at this time. Women were expected to read nothing other than books that were religious. This also helped the women to stay at home and controlled women’s longings.

2.     Purity - Virginity, a woman's greatest treasure, must not be lost until her marriage night, and a married woman had to remain committed only to her husband. Even after she gets married a woman was not allowed to show any signs of pleasure from having sexual intercourse with her husband.

3.     Submission - True women were required to be as submissive and obedient "as little children" because men were regarded as women's superiors "by God's appointment" .

4.     Motherhood – women were all expected to love and wanting to have children more than anything, and only wanting sex so that they can become pregnant.

5.     Domesticity – women’s’ “proper place” was in the home. She would be wait for her husband to come home and offer him shelter and comfort from the outside world. Women because they were considered to be weak mentally and psychically they were to remain in the house at all times, and not to leave the house unless with a male escort.

Victorian Era

In the 1830s-1901 and even before then women were considered to be insubordinate to men. Which meant that women had to be submissive to men; not just to fathers, brothers and husbands, but also every man in public and private. Women were treated as little children during these years, they were not allowed to speak about politics and had always agree with what their fathers or if married husbands say.

Women also did not get to decide who they were to marry. Instead it was their fathers’ who decided for them. Most of the women that marry never married a man they knew or loved, but were to afraid to argue with their father about it.

Women did not have changes of gaining a successful career or gaining an education. Women’s’ job was only to get married and have children. Those who never get married who scorned and leaving in their sibling’s houses. Some women even are forced into prostitution, which was very scorned by society.

Men had full control over these women’s lives. Women’s’ bodies were considered to be the husband’s property. When having sexual intercourse men by law at the time could take her whenever he pleased, even if she does not want to. Husbands would rape their wives and would go unpunished for it. Also, men always looked at women as weak-minded and innocent and too sensitive to everything, which is why they are not allowed to know how their own bodies work and not allowed to discuss politics.

Lowell Mill Girls

Lowell Mill girls were young female workers who have worked in industrial corporations in Lowell, Massachusetts, during the Industrial Revolution in the United States. Francis Cabot Lowell was one of the men who owned a powerful, wealthy factory, who also hired many workers who were mostly young women between the ages of 15-35.

Lowell assured the women’s families that although they would be working, that they would still be considered as “True Women” and that when it came to the time that she would get married she would quit working at the factory and return home to live and be a proper wife and mother.

During this however, women came to work for their own personal reasons: to help a brother pay for college, for the educational opportunities offered in Lowell, or to earn supplementary income. Lowell also made an environment suitable for these women so that they remain being the true women they are. Although working hard in their jobs, they were still considered to be inferior to men, so their work was considered to be not so much a skill as men’s work was. Therefore, they were paid less, about half less than what men earned. They earned about three-four dollars for their work. They might have been paid less than men but for once they were able to be independent, meet and socialize with women that they probably would have never met before and they were free from their fathers’ who try to control them.

Lowell Factory Reform Association

When the economic depression hit in early 1830s, the owners of the factories decided to reduce wages for some of the workers and those workers happened to be the women. Lowell and the rest of owners of the factory believed that the women would not say anything against it, they believed that the women would just stay quiet and still go on with their work, just like any “obedient” woman would. Their assumption was false; women started to complain and form meetings. All women arranged to stop working and go on strike. And that is exactly what they did they went on strike.

On February 1834, women’s’ wages were reduced to 15% wage reduction, which will be going on effect on March (Lowell Mill Girls).

“After a series of meetings, the female textile workers organized a "turn-out" or strike. The women involved in "turn-out" immediately withdrew their savings, causing "a run" on two local banks.”

This caused women to get even more angry and organized another strike, along with forming a Factory Girls’ Association. This association was run by women: they elected their own officers and held their own meetings; they helped organize the city's female workers, and set up branches in other mill towns. And for once middle-class men were helping and accepting middle-class women as equals.

Together they formed a petition demanding a ten-hour work day. Along with stating that they would not return to work at the mills until their wages were returned to normal and remained that way as well. The ten-hour workload was not successful. Fortunately, in time working conditions did change. The pressure of the strike from the association and it entering the papers the owners of the Lowell’s mill decided to reduce workday by 30 minutes. Also, in 1847 New Hampshire became the first state to accept and pass the ten-hour workday load. Eventually, 1853 when workers kept pressuring for better working conditions, Lowell reduced the workday to eleven hours.

Rosie’s

Before the “total wars” or “world wars” women were mostly staying home watching the kids. While the husband was the “beardwinner” going out to work, making all the money to support the family that all changed when WWI started. During World War I (July 28, 1914 - November 11,1918) men left their homes and town to go fight, leaving their jobs behind. The jobs however, needed to be tended to or else the war would have been a lost for the USA. Therefore, they called women to take over the jobs of the men. Although, women were as good at the labor jobs that they were assigned to do as any man is, they were still paid less because of the fact that they were paid less. When the war ended and the men came back, the women were fired and asked to return home to their children, so that men could take over.

World War II (September 1,1939 - September 2,1945) was similar men were called to war and women were called to work, but still paid less than men. Government even started working on campaigns targeting women, specifically housewives. One advertisement stated: “Can you use an electric mixer? If so, you can learn to operate a drill.”

Rosie the Riveter! Inspiration to Women

Many of the women who started working during WWII were mothers. Some mothers had to leave their children for five years just so that she could support them. Others however, moved into apartments with other women so that they can babysit and save money. Working in the workforce however, helped women challenge themselves and help them try to gain equal rights.

Women gaining jobs as wielders were able to prove that they were capable and could do a “man’s job” just as well as any man.

“For the first time, the working woman dominated the public image. Women were riveting housewives in slacks, not mother, domestic beings, or civilizers” Leila J. Rupp says.

World War II caused some changes for women. After they supported the men and helped win the war. Unfortunately, these changes were temporary because after the war ended women were expected to leave and go home to their household work and give jobs back to the men. Many women got fired and lost their jobs, others were fortunate and got to keep their jobs.