Student Paper SP002-06
Spring 2000, Section I
Reviewer Comments

Changing Status of Women In Modern European Society

 

 

In modern European society some radical changes began to occur for women. For hundreds of years the idea of equality between men and women was nonexistent and considered absurd if proposed.  It was the women who presented the ideas about basic rights for women; there were very few men who publicly supported women rights. Women had to fight for decades in order to obtain basic freedoms that men have possessed for hundreds of years in European society.  Ultimately, women were able to triumph over the obstacles to obtain their freedom.

 

Throughout the history of European society it has been demonstrated that women had no rights.  Society considered women to be good for producing children and taking care of house hold chores and the family.  The idea about obtaining an education, having the right to speak out on government issues, obtaining birth control or owning property without a man's participation all were nonexistent and were considered a negative issue to speak about.

 

To have a career, as a philosopher during the early seventeenth century was never was an option for women. However, there were some women who began to take the first steps for women and they were known as philosophes.  These individuals were not strong feminists, however, they did make some steps of progress.  Women like Julie de Lespinasse provided an area for individuals to come together and speak about philosophy and this establishment was known as a salon.  Here women could speak to influential political leaders and persuade them to protect the philosophes.  Memoer of Baron de Grimm wrote the following about Julie de Lespinasse:

 

Nowhere was conversation more lively, more brilliant, or better regulated than at her house. It was a rare phenomenon indeed, the degree of tempered, equable heat which she knew so well how to maintain, sometimes by moderating it, sometimes by quickening it. The continual activity of her soul was communicated to our souls, but measurably; her imagination was the mainspring, her reason the regulator. Remark that the brains she stirred at will were neither feeble nor frivolous: the Coudillacs and Turgots were among them; d' Alembert was like a simple, docile child beside her. Her talent for casting out a thought and giving it for discussion to men of that class, her own talent in discussing it with precision, sometimes with eloquence, her talent for bringing forward new ideas and varying the topic-always with the facility and ease of a fairy, who, with one touch of her wand, can change the scene of her enchantment-these talents, I say, were not those of an ordinary woman (Grimm p.1).

 

There were some men who did support women, but their support was limited.  Charles de Montesquieu supported the advancement of women.  He stated that he did not believe that women were not inferior to men and they should have a wider role in society.  Any law that was oppressive to women he was against, but he still supported the traditional family and that the men should still dominate this area (Kagan p.623).  Another male supporter for the women rights was Daniel Defoe.  In his article, The Education of Women 1719, Defoe states his support and addresses society issues of apprehension for women rights.

 

Besides, I would ask such, What they can see in ignorance, that they should think it a necessary ornament to a woman? or how much worse is a wise woman than a fool? or what has the woman done to forfeit the privilege of being taught? Does she plague us with her pride and impertinence? Why did we not let her learn, that she might have had more wit? Shall we upbraid women with folly, when 'tis only the error of this inhuman custom, that hindered them from being made wiser?

 

Women had reached a point and decided to speak out about the denial of their rights. At first these women decided to use society's label for women, the primary care giver to the children and household, to their benefit. They argued that since raising children was so important to society that women must receive a better education, the right to work, economic security, equal civil rights, property rights arid the right to vote (Kagan p.786).  This argument was chosen because individuals who were against women could not use the explanation that women were trying to destroy the family and traditional marriage.

 

Soon speaking out to the public was not efficient enough for the feminists.  Government officials and society opinions were not changing and women decided to take the next step.  In 1910, instead of persuasion, women began to do actions such as: arson, window breaking and sabotage of postal boxes.  Demonstrations and hunger strikes soon followed too; however, jail time and being force-fed were consequences for their drastic actions.  Their actions became the media's focal point because of the government's harsh reaction towards the women.  Women who refused to eat had their teeth broken in order for food to be consumed.

 

Society's viewpoints towards these feminists were that they had unorthodox opinions about sexuality, family life and property.  Government officials and men were not the only anti-supporters.  There were many women who were against the idea of women having more rights.  These views against women made it difficult to get massive public support or large demonstrations (Kagan p.854).  In a speech, Emmeline Pankhurst, a large supporter of the women's movement, said to a crowd of individuals:

 

I am here as a soldier who has temporarily left the field of battle in order to explain--it seems strange it should have to be explained--what civil war is like when civil war is waged by women. I am not only here as a solider temporarily absent from the field of battle; I am here--and that, I think, is the strangest part of my coming--I am here as a person who. According to the law courts of my country, it has been decided, is of no value to the community at all; and I am adjudged because of my life to be a dangerous person, under sentence of penal servitude in a convict prison.

 

The obstacles for women were great; however, their perseverance for their rights was too great.  Society and the government had no support for women and this had been seen for hundreds of years.   With determination and sacrifice women conquered over society and obtained the rights that they wanted, such as: the right to vote, own property with out a man's permission, the right to attend a university, to purchase birth control and to the right to divorce.  The list of freedoms continue_, however this list would be very short if it had not been for women choosing to make a stand on what they believed to be right.

 

Works Cited

 

Grimm, Baron de. Historical and Literary Memoirs and Anecdotes. London: Henry Colbum, 1815. Vol. 3, pp. 400-405, 5253.

 

Defoe, Daniel. The Education of Women." Modem History Sourcebook. 1917.

 

Kagan, Donald, and Ozment, Steven, and Turner, Frank M. The Western Heritage Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1998.

 

Pankhurst, Emmeline. My Own Story. N.Y.: Hearst International Library, 1914, Kraus Reprints, 197. pp. 4-9, 270-283.