Discuss+the+evolution+of+women's+roles+and+women's+opportunitites+in+the+family,+the+workplace,+and+society.++JZ

Women had long been considered secondary to men. However, throughout the 1800s, various social changes were beginning to take place. Women were beginning to assert themselves as powerful figures in the still-developing nation. The roles that women played and the opportunities women had in the family, the workplace, and society were beginning to evolve. Families had long been regarded as the responsibility of the woman but the man still had the most authority. Men were in charge of the pregnancies of the women and were responsible for providing for the families. Women had the Cult of Domesticity behind them, teaching the future generations values that were deemed important. Birth control along the lines of vaginal cleansing and avoiding intercourse during ovulation began to develop, taking the power of regulating pregnancy from the man and bestowing it upon the woman. More and more women refrained from marriage until later on in their life and some never married, something unheard before this point in time. The major revolution regarding women and their working conditions was location. Women had stayed at the home and kept their traditional place taking care of the home and the children. In the 1800s, women began to move out of the home and work in factories. According to a letter from a Lowell mill girl (Document B), conditions weren't even that bad. Lowell girls had multiple breaks throughout the day and had the evenings off. Women were still kept pure and had their own dormitories built from them at their factories, but had no men living with them, considered revolutionary at the time. One of the main changes for women in the 19th century was the fact that they began to be more outspoken. Dorothea Dix fought passionately in front of the Massachusetts Legislature for better treatment for the mentally unstable, something women would've never done even just a few years ago (Document D). Fashion was beginning to drastically change, with more and more skin being revealed, as evidenced in the Bloomer costume in Harper's New Monthly Magazine (Document E). An editorial from Godey's Lady's Book spoke out against the injustice in the education system and said that if women were going to be the ones teaching America's youth, they should be subject to the same education that males were receiving (Document C). Massachusetts was indeed a foreground for women's rights, as a petition to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1853 fought for equality for women in every aspect of life (Document F). Women were also beginning to defend themselves and fight for their rights, as one woman avoided going to her priest because she thought that he would tell her to not do the things she enjoyed during the winter (Document A). Women were now sticking up for themselves as never seen before. A revolution was about to take place. Had it not been for the issue of slavery, women could've possibly championed more rights earlier on in the life of the country. The family, the workplace, and society itself were undergoing changes and reforms for women that were revolutionary in this country.