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The Start of Social Change: Women in the 19th Century Essay Example

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The Start of Social Change: Women in the 19th Century Essay Example
The Start of Social Change: Women in the 19th Century

According to Mintz Professor of History at University of Houston, the 19 the century for the United States was a time without Social Security, Medicare, health insurance, and government regulation. Technology had not played a huge part of society as of yet, they were without airplanes, antibiotics, automobiles, computers, radio, and television. There were telephones but only eight in the entire country. Our government was small and gather majority of their revenues from taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and imports. The average population for century was forty seven million, which is sixth of what we know today.

The beginning of the 19th century tradition versus new, the late 19th century was a century for the beginning of social change. There were many disputed elections, deep worries about the corrupting influence of money in politics, and angry debates over morality and women's roles. This was time where women started to stand up and let their voice be heard, after being suppress for prior centuries.

In 1877, 15 percent of married women had 10 or more children, and another 22 percent had between 7 and 9. The high numbers of children equaled having a big family. This starts the beginning of the women role in society at this time. A woman with a big family is expected to attend to that family and the bigger the family gets the more that a woman must be there, therefore meaning working was out of the question. Majority of the women in the upper class and middle class did not work, but instead the husband worked outside of the home to provide a living and the wife was neatly centered in her home caring for her family in a domestic and orderly fashion, all the while showering her family with love, moral, and spiritual guidance.

In the 19th century, women other than the upper class and middle class began working outside their homes in large numbers. The acceptable occupations for working

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