Harriet Martineau Essay
Introduction Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) was born in Britain but became very interested later in life with the American system of democracy and chose to travel around America conducting research. Martineau was an exceptional and inspirational woman for a plethora of reasons. Firstly, she not only wrote under her own name which was an extreme rarity at the time, she made her livelihood through her writings and secondly she was considered by any to be the first female sociologist (McDonald 1996, 167). During Martineau’s life, women had very little rights and slavery was still a commonplace that she spoke out against. Martineau was a strong supporter of the anti-slavery movement, the vote for women, women’s education, divorce, and violence
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She pushed back against the gender stereotypes that women are required to marry, have children, and live under the thumb of the men in their life. Martineau was pushing for women to be considered equals in the early 1800’s, she would be absolutely appalled to hear that women are still not considered equal to men and in some places are not restricted from receiving an education. In 2012, roughly 200 years after Martineau’s fight for equality and a woman’s right to education, Malala was shot by a member of the Taliban for speaking out for her right to an education. Education for girls had been banned in her region of Pakistan at the time, but Malala and her family would have agreed with Martineau that gender dictates absolutely nothing about one’s right to education. While Pakistan has not made the same claims as America to be a free nation, roughly 200 years later one would expect everyone, regardless of race and gender, to have access to education. It should be a well-known fact that women and men are not different when it comes to worth. Women equally deserve to receive an education. There are many classical and contemporary examples of intelligent women who are fighting for equality and a woman’s right to education, these include Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Emma Watson,
She pushed back against the gender stereotypes that women are required to marry, have children, and live under the thumb of the men in their life. Martineau was pushing for women to be considered equals in the early 1800’s, she would be absolutely appalled to hear that women are still not considered equal to men and in some places are not restricted from receiving an education. In 2012, roughly 200 years after Martineau’s fight for equality and a woman’s right to education, Malala was shot by a member of the Taliban for speaking out for her right to an education. Education for girls had been banned in her region of Pakistan at the time, but Malala and her family would have agreed with Martineau that gender dictates absolutely nothing about one’s right to education. While Pakistan has not made the same claims as America to be a free nation, roughly 200 years later one would expect everyone, regardless of race and gender, to have access to education. It should be a well-known fact that women and men are not different when it comes to worth. Women equally deserve to receive an education. There are many classical and contemporary examples of intelligent women who are fighting for equality and a woman’s right to education, these include Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Emma Watson,