Research Paper for Women and Gender in American History at Messiah University
From the dawn of time women have suffered the eternal struggle of being silenced, looked down upon, and not listened to. It was not until the 19th and 20th centuries when women’s voices started to catch fire in the press with the Women's Suffrage Movement. Female authors of past and present were brought out from under the rug of society and put on display for discussion. Mary Wollstonecraft set the tone for breakthroughs in women’s rights with the publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Later female authors like Kate Chopin and Virgina Woolf would follow in her footsteps and build upon the same principles of a woman’s right to independence and education. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening challenged the idea that women are always happy and content in their marriages. Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own applies both the challenging ideas of Wollstonecraft and Chopin with the argument that women deserve an education, an allowance, and creative freedoms. Although not explicitly recognized, the influence of women authors, such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Kate Chopin, and Virginia Woolf, and their published works helped to significantly drive the Women’s Suffrage Movement and paved the way for future women authors, giving them a new voice in the United States of America.
One of the earliest and most notable female authors to have made a massive impact on the Women’s Suffrage Movement, and women being valued in general by the government, is Mary Wollstonecraft. Her piece, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, was a groundbreaking step forward for women’s rights, arguing that women’s rights should be on the same foot as men’s. Mary Wollstonecraft took into account all the previous arguments for reform within the education system. Her arguments challenge the morals and opinions of women’s roles as a companion to man as portrayed by the education system. Wollstonecraft was not the first woman to write arguments that women should be respected, but she was one of the few voices that people actually heard, which then began to generate debate.
Mary Wollstonecraft would go and take a crack at the education herself arguing that, “the most perfect education…[is] to enable the individual to attain such habits of virtue as will render it independent.” Being an educated individual came with perks of independence and respect from those around you. Wollstonecraft challenges Rousseau to extend this perk to women. She draws on points of purpose for sophistication of women so that they may be better suited counterparts for their male intellectuals. To leave women uneducated would leave a hole in society as Wollstonecraft goes on to argue for all the benefits men would receive if women were better educated.
Wollstonecraft is very clever in the way she crafts her argument. She knows the audience she is up against, what they want to hear, and what triggering concepts they will immediately retaliate at. To allow herself to be heard as much as possible, she is reassuring to men in the way that she writes. First, in presenting an argument most likely to be used as a rebuttal against her. Then, following that with a reassuring answer and reason, which ties itself back to her original argument for female independence. A brilliant example of her master craftsmanship can be found in this excerpt from her A Vindication of the Rights of Women:
I am fully persuaded that we should hear of none of these infantine airs, if girls were allowed to take sufficient exercise, and not confined in close rooms till their muscles are relaxed, and their powers of digestion destroyed. To carry the remark even further, if fear in girls, instead of being cherished, perhaps created, were treated in the same manner as cowardice in boys, we should quickly see women with more dignified aspects. It is true, they could not then with equal propriety be termed the sweet flowers that smile in the walk of man; but they would be more respectable members of society and discharge the important duties of life by the light of their own reason. "Educate women like men," says Rousseau, "and the more they resemble our sex the less power will they have over us." This is the very point I aim at. I do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves.
Wollstonecraft is simply wishing for women to find their independence in society, and education is a predominant way to do that. By becoming educated women do not have to rely on men or other women to the same extent for all the answers. They would simply know for themselves and would be able to carry out their tasks independently. Her ending line, “but over themselves” is one that stuck out to me personally the most. It is that line that ties her point back to her beginning argument that women deserve to have independence over themselves.
For Mary and many other women, even to this day, the fight for equality comes with a fight for independence. In order to be viewed and treated as an equal, women must be able to function on their own independently, physically, emotionally, financially, from anyone else. She pulls upon many of the philosophic ideas of the post French Revolution Era. It was an age of redefining society as they knew it. What was once defined by monarchy and hierarchy were now beginning to be defined by virtue, independence, and intelligence. Scholars burst forth with ideas and values that they believed should be included in this societal rebirth, and Mary Wollstonecraft was one of them. She brought to the table women’s equality and rights for independence. By using her voice and the power of her pen she paved a way for more women to voice their opinions.
Feminism is not about women becoming better than men. It is about women getting equal treatment to men. Mary Wollstonecraft captures this perfectly in her writing piece, which is one of the primary reasons that her piece has been so successful and used over and over again. It captures the heart of what women have been wanting; independence. Wollstonecraft’s legacy rests in this piece as a gateway for women of all kinds to find their voice and use it in the fight for equality for all. Wendy Gunther, who is a professor at the University of Alabama, teaches an introductory survey course on political thought, and she uses Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women in her class. She uses it to “share my strategies for amplifying her words and analyzing her silences in the theory classroom,” but then also to explain the “importance of the feminist project to reclaim women’s writing.” When it came to the political realm women were kept out from participating or even writing about it, until Mary Wollstonecraft.
Fast forward to the year 1899 and one can find themself in the midst of the Women’s Suffrage Movement with female authors making leaps and bounds in the world of fiction. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening was not always accepted as breakthrough feminists literature. During her day she was actually heavily criticized for speaking out about taboo topics such as depression with marriage. Haley Bracken, writer for Brittanica, paints such a holistic image with her words, stating that, “When it [The Awakening] was first published, it was widely condemned for its portrayal of sexuality and marital infidelity. Today it is considered a landmark work of early feminiet fiction.”
To speak out about mental health by itself was unheard of, but for a woman to be writing a story on the basis of the struggle of mental health within a marriage was almost unfathomable. For a while The Awakening was blacklisted, and it was not until much later that the piece was reviewed and gained greater widespread appreciation. Chopin illustrates many important topics about mental health, classism, and society as a whole. Readers could watch as a woman trapped by society’s standards unraveled herself to a point of emptiness and sheer hopelessness, and finally to a point of death. It is not known how many women throughout the centuries struggled with mental health within their position as mothers and wives in a society with such high standards and life expectations.
Her main character, Edna Pontellier, fights an apathy toward her societal designated role of motherhood and caregiver for the household. Enda would often disregard her outlined tasks and pass them on to her enslaved female servants. Being of a wealthy and high class in the American south it was not unnatural to have enslaved help at your disposal. Kate Chopin growing up in a similar class and place in society did not probably think much of them as she wrote her book, yet they are still included, even if they appear invisible.
Joyce Dyer argues in her article, “Reading The Awakening with Toni Morrison” that Chopin’s character Edna would not have been able to have her “awakening” if it wasn’t for the African American women serving her and taking care of her responsibilities of the children. Kate Chopin came from a higher class society in the south, so having slaves and servants would have been common, but it is the way she fades them into the background of her work that is most curious. It is no surprise that tensions between the two races were high during Chopin’s time of writing her story. Between 1895 and 1899, when Chopin published her book, about 500 lynchings occurred and the supreme court gave legal sanction to Jim Crow laws. Although not blatantly stated, the influence of her time resonates in the shadows of Chopin’s story. Dyer explains this concept as, “blacks do not function solely to help Edna purchase her freedom, but, rather, to show us how pervasive the absence of freedom is in American society and how much restlessness lies just below our nation’s surface.” Kate Chopin’s novel captures not only the inner struggle of the upper class white woman, but also the enslaved African women kept in the shadows and constraints of American society.
Chopin’s work influences multiple levels of feminism and the fight for equality, which is why many believe that it is now referred to as classic piece of feminist literature. She was ahead of her time in the discussion of women’s mental health. Her story exemplifies that not every woman, despite society’s standards and expectations, is built to be a mother. The concept of motherhood has been tossed around by people for centuries. What a mother should look like and handle, how should children be raised etc. are all expectations women of many centuries faced and were simply not able to handle. Women were literally killing themselves because they couldn’t meet society’s standards. Maternal suicide is real and Chopin brought the conversation to the table.
Finally reaching success in the Women’s Suffrage Movement in 1920 was huge for women everywhere, but women suffragists didn’t stop there. Writers like Virginia Woolf pushed forward, riding on the wings of the Suffrage Movement she took things a step further. Woolf was a woman who was the fruition of Mary Wollstonecraft's wishes and ideals. An educated woman who was able to be independent from men, not better than men, but unique in her own right. Woolf lectured and encouraged many young women writers to pursue their craft, and to ride this new surge of independence. In her one lecture to an all female college, which would later be written down and turned into a book, A Room of One’s Own argues that for a woman to be successful in the world of writing fiction a woman must have money and a personal space.
Following in Wollstonecraft’s footsteps, Woolf argues the importance of education leads to women’s freedom and independence in society. Woolf explains that, “Intellectual freedom depends on material things. Poetry depends upon intellectual freedom. And women have always been poor, not for two hundred years merely, but from the beginning of time…” Woolf basically takes Wollstonecraft’s argument a step further bringing money into the conversation. Women will never be able to achieve that independence all these female authors and feminists so desperately desire if they are not educated or given the opportunity to save money for themselves.
Woolf would continue to put pressure on social norms and expectations like Mary Wollstonecraft and Kate Chopin before her by taking a stab at financial marriage standards for women. It’s widely known that women have been robbed of their dowry forever, and the only way a woman could possibly keep her money and status would be to become a widow. Woolf argues that women deserve to have financial independence within marriage just as they would if they were single or widowed. According to Woolf, a woman should “have five hundred a year… and rooms of our own… ” That little bit of money could open up a world of possibility for women to continue following their passions or interests.
These women helped lay the groundwork for not only each other to expand upon, but also future female authors to build their own ideas. Female authors such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Kate Chopin, and Virgina Woolf allowed for future authors like Harper Lee, Margret Attwood, and J.K. Rowling to break the barriers that they did. Both Wollstonecraft and Lee wrote politically challenging pieces. They brought their own take with a feminine perspective and then challenged the political turmoil of the time. Lee’s most famous and only novel To Kill a Mockingbird was written during the time of racial unrest, and she took it upon herself to break the uncomfortable silence on the discussion of discrimination because of race. Wollstonecraft’s work came at a time when women’s opinions were not respected in both the educational and political arena. Both of these women took risks with their piece and were eventually rewarded for it for its impact on society and specifically other female authors.
Another important set to discuss is Kate Chopin and Margret Attwood. Both of their written work dealt with the woman’s place within society and challenged the ideas of what a woman’s role looks like. Attwood’s The Handmaid's Tale takes a step into the future where one of women’s roles is solely to produce children. It is a dangerous idea and Attwood demonstrates the types of effects that this role in society can have on women. Kate Chopin on the other hand demonstrates the effect the role of motherhood has on women in a southern society. Both women show the deterioration of women’s mental state when trapped in a demanding role they are not fit for. Their work has allowed for conversation about mental health and the confines of feminine roles to be dissected and taken into consideration.
The world of written fiction has been dominated by men for centuries, which is why when the time came for J.K. Rowling’s world renowned series Harry Potter she chose her initials because it sounded more masculine. Rowling’s best selling fantasy world proves Woolf’s major point in A Room of One’s Own that a woman is capable of writing fiction. In her own work Woolf demonstrates her point by writing a fictional story, but Rowling’s work is the fruition of Woolf’s point. Rowling proved that a woman author doesn’t “influence” the fictional story to be a feminine one and that its possible for the reader not to be able to tell the sex of the author. Both of these women were in dependent trailblazers in fiction and the ripple effects of their influence can still be felt in female authored fiction today.
The culmination of influences from all these female authors centralizes around a common theme between women becoming an independent unit from men. This theme of individuality and independence has influenced many works written by female authors. Women have been viewed as dependent and quiet for centuries, so for these loud and bold female authors to appear made quite the wave in the world of writing. The strive to become independent drove many women to great lengths in order to rise up and raise their voices against the patriarchal society of the world. Wollstonecraft used her voice to take down the patriarchal ideas of the education system that said it was better for women to stay home instead of having them educated to serve a greater purpose in the home. Chopin’s voice disrupted society’s idea of women in marriage by suggesting that women are not always happy in their marriage and struggle with mental health issues. Woolf built her ideas off of the women before her, demonstrating to people that an educated woman could and deserved to be independent. These women authors have been playing chess with their words for a very long time, moving ever so slightly to cause a ripple effect felt throughout time with their influential words continually creating conversation and change to this day.
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