23rd
August 2012
Glimpsing
at the Past and Appreciating the Present- Women
Merissa Stephen
Defining
the woman of today would not be possible without
glimpsing at the woman of the past and maybe
even studying her triumphs and her defeats.
From fashion, to rights, to equality, opinion,
education, social norms and drugs, many untold
stories of the women of the past are responsible
for the progress of women in today’s world,
no?
1.
“Roles”
When I hear the term “1890’s”
I think bonnets, corsets, parasols and a life
spent indoors as the perfect mother, house wife,
daughter-in-law etc. Was there, in that time,
room for self definition? The voice of women
was predominantly heard during feminist movements
as early as that time. A cry for a balance between
freedom and femininity followed in the 1900’s
when a consciousness of many things had already
began.
The idea of
the ‘stereotypical’ woman was diminishing
and now, a woman could dare carve her own path.
The freedom of self-development was not a cry
to divorce the woman from the responsibilities
that stem from her innate maternal nature, but
to find a balance between femininity and freedom,
psychological and social freedom. Women wanted
choice, not to only be a housewife or babysit,
but to choose to be lawyers, engineers, models,
artists and doctors, to be given opportunities
to explore and measure their capabilities.
2.
Birth Control- Termed in the 1920’s “family
limitation”
The terms ‘voluntary motherhood’
and ‘involuntary motherhood’ were
terms that feminists back in the 1870’s
took to town. Feminists believed that a woman
was not free, not even in her right to control
her own childbearing and so, ‘voluntary
motherhood’ was an untruth in their eyes.
Mothers had little say in family planning.
The magnitude
of how children change women’s lives was
at the fore of many discussions. Women, who
wished to gain employment, understood the value
of birth control as they began to seek lives
outside of the household.
The introduction
of Contraception empowered that women to have
control over their reproduction; “control
over our own bodies”, and promoted sex
as an act not just for the purpose of procreation.
Birth control was highly controversial as it
was topical in feminist politics, questioned
sexual morality, liberal and conservative values,
personal freedom and social welfare.
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