The Role of Women in Wartime

The role of women and gender norms in societies and cultures has been and continues to be transient, having undergone dynamic changes from the 19th century onwards. Objectives and principles that guide and dictate the functioning of society are likely to undergo change with the ideas of the succeeding generations. The book ‘Odd Women’ written by George Gissing, published in the late 19th century captures the beginning of the change in gender structure and norms while highlighting the plight of the middle-class woman and their roles in society.

These mainly comprise of being dutiful wives, mothers, and daughters who are restricted to the domestic realm.

Through his book, Gissing suggests that there is a correlation between a person’s behavior and their professional and economic status rather than by their gender identity implying that men and women do not have behavior patterns or traits by virtue of their gender. He tries to level the field and urges his audience to see similarities between men and women by portraying some of his main female characters i.e Rhoda the nun as educated and intellectual individuals. the book highlights the sensitive issue and gives first-person accounts of the plight of unmarried women in the Victorian age, as well as an interesting and serious account of the struggles of early feminists. Gissing also highlights the lack of career options for women. This reflects the time period the book was written in (1893) when women were slowly venturing out of the domestic realm and taking up jobs traditionally held by men, working in the same space as men and started to demand the same rights as men. Before the 19th century, women and girls were completely neglected with respect to education.

Very few individuals urged for a change in the women’s education system. Most of these activists were either women themselves or clergymen who had experienced the outcome of this lax and pathetic system first hand and thus empathized with women However reform did not come until the industrialization period, where women were placed in the workforce and required some literacy. Unfortunately, for a long period of time, this was the extent of education for women with higher education being completely inaccessible. There were a few exceptions as in every case with Madame du Châtelet in France who studied mathematics with a private tutor. there was also Laura Bassi, an Italian woman who became the first woman to teach in a European university, at Bologna.

One of the more significant achievements prior to the 1800’s was the establishment of the Scientific Academy in the Netherlands, which was a woman founded academy in 1785. However, in the grand scheme of things, these were only small occurrences and events that were no chance against a patriarchal and sexist society indifference to the needs and rights of women. pg 433 Perry, Marvin; Chase, Myrna; Jacob, James; Jacob, Margaret; Von Laue, Theodore H.. Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society (Page 433). Cengage Textbook. Kindle Edition. Early 19th century Europe had very different ideas of men and women’s respective roles. For instance, under the rule of Napoleon, female equality received a setback in a series of laws known as the Napoleonic Code. The Code ensured that married women were to be obedient and loyal to their husbands, were forbidden from selling, giving, mortgaging or buying property. Women had little to no rights and were ‘property’ of their husband. (pg 619) However, things were slightly different in England around the same time.

The industrial revolution had caused peasant women from the countryside and women of lower socio-economic strata to take up jobs in factories, especially in the spinning industry. This had opened up the idea that men and women could hold similar jobs and work side by side even though weaving was mainly done by men while spinning was left the women. Women were slowly being allowed access to education and the idea that women could be on par with men was being accepted. Women were now bringing in income for the family and slowly issuing the role of breadwinners and providers for the family. Granted women in factories were exploited, with many working several hours a day, prompting the passing of laws and acts that prevented employers arm making women workers work more than 10 hours a day in 1847.

Also, only women from the lower classes ventured into the working world, taking up menial jobs in factories, while women from the upper classes remained powerless and financially dependent on their husbands. This is evident in Gissing’s novel where he suggests that most women would marry for financial security and comfort due to lack of resources and inability to acquire resources to support themselves. Monica, one of the sisters, ends up marrying a man she did not love, who in fact coerced her into marrying him because she had no way to support or provide for herself and thus gave into his request. This again reflects the viewpoint society held with respect to women and their goals, which was to get married and secure a good life and then to take care of her husband and children.  Most of the initial demands made by women were focused primarily on economic, educational and political rights. Due to the Napoleonic code, women had no power over resources such as land and money and thus the first feminist demand made was the right for women to dispose of their own property and their own money. Some countries such s England recognized the change in economic structure with a rise in the income of middle-class women and more women demanding work.

The Married Women’s Property act passed in 1882 allowed women to spend their own money as they pleased. Norway also progressed by allowing women to have their own businesses and by equalizing inheritance. However other European countries such as France and Spain maintained laws that discriminated against women. From the mid 19th century on women were slowly gaining access to education and society was opening up to women being as learned and knowledgeable as men, taking part in discussions and debates with men, making their own decisions and having weighted thoughts and opinions of their own. For instance one of the main characters in the book, Rhoda is a bluestocking. The Bluestockings was a group of educated, intellectual women who would partake in conversations with men as equals. Rhoda the Nun, a woman with a new or fresh perspective who had an unconventional thought process was a bluestocking.

The book marks the beginning of feminism and feminist ideology. Gissing uses Rhoda as a vehicle for feminism, reflecting the changes in society in the later 19th century through her behavior and actions. She resents marriage and does not believe in love unlike every other woman of her time. Gissing’s novel explores the financial and moral concerns for women in such a position while introducing a powerful feminist angle through the character of Rhoda Nun. When the father, the breadwinner of the family dies, Rhoda steps up as the primary caretaker marking a period of transition in a group of women’s lives. This arrangement allows Gissing to present a narrative of strong women who deserve respect. While more women were being educated, it was still quite rare for both men and women to receive the same kind of education. The content taught to boys at male schools was significantly larger and more informational than that which was taught to women. As a result, the woman-worker was forced to settle for jobs or work that was mostly unskilled and almost always under the authority of a man. In light of this, Gissing employs Rhoda as a symbol of feminism, as she dedicates her life to teaching in a school which strives to inculcate its female students with principles of independent living. Rhoda lives with Mary Barfoot, the school’s philanthropic patron, another independent and free-thinking woman.

Most of the initial demands for women rights came from women revolutionaries who were apart of revolution clubs. These women were motivated by the aftermath of the French revolution and the climate it had created with respect to social and political equality. In ‘Declaration of the Rights of Women’ (1791), Olympe de Gouges demanded equal political representation for women and demanded citizenship for women. She used Rousseau’s ‘Declaration of the rights of a man’ as a model for her arguments and was heavily influenced by philosophers who recognized that women’s legal existence was integral to the sovereign nation and that enabling women to vote would allow them to express membership in the nation. Similarly, Mary Wollstonecraft’s ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’, written in 1792 and was also influenced by the revolution, protested against the subordination of women and the fostering of submissive and docile behavior in women, prompting them to be secondary and obedient to their male counterparts. She argues that this behavior prevented women from cultivating and grown their minds and submissiveness of women and the limited opportunities afforded them to cultivate their minds.

Then in the 1830’s, Harriet Martineau and Sarah Grimke two activists both advocated for equal rights for women respectively by criticizing the lack of representation of women and arguing that both sexes were equal. In fact, Grimke argued that it was anti-christian to consider a woman to be lesser than and dependent on a man. The women suffrage movement held its first convention in 1848 where feminist drew from religion and philosophy to overcome deeply ingrained premises about female inferiority and deficiencies. Most philosophers, even those who value intellectual debates and discussions with educated women, with a bluestocking, for instance, considered women to be intellectually and emotionally weaker compared to men. Condorcet was alone when he wrote ‘Plea for the Citizenship of Women’ arguing for female emancipation. Most philosophers and thinkers of the time shared views similar t that of Hume and rouse and believed that nature had made men stronger and intellectually more advanced than women and had granted the former power over the latter.

However, with the emergence of strong notions of liberty and equality around the mid 19th century and the late 19th century, women’s movements became more popular and heavily attended and supported. John Stuart Mill a political philosopher economist suggested that differences between the men and women and between the upper classes and lower classes were all a result of differences in education and experiences as opposed to inherited qualities. This ideology is reflected in Gissing’s work and his characters storylines s i.e Monica giving into an unwanted marriage proposal from Edward Widdowson and marrying him to secure her future due to the financial crisis the family was in post their fathers’ death. Monica was unable to support herself due to a lack of education that would allow her to get a job and make money on her own.

Later on in the story Monica dishonors her husband and fails to fulfill her societal duties as a wife by having an affair with Beavis and when she refuses to reunite with her husband while she is pregnant with his child. She breaks societies rules and does not conform to the ‘duties’ of a wife or a mother to be. Gissing creates a free-thinking woman who does as she pleases and is not bound to her husband or obligated to the society she lives in. Jon Mill was a strong advocate of women suffrage and in 1867 he proposed that suffrage should be extended to women, however, parliament did not vote favor of his motion. Perry, Marvin; Chase, Myrna; Jacob, James; Jacob, Margaret; Von Laue, Theodore H.. Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society (Page 582). Cengage Textbook. Kindle Edition. The biggest breakthrough was during World War I, when the men went away to fight the war and women were left behind, in charge of everything else. Millions of men away at war caused women to fill up manufacturing and agricultural positions and role they had left behind. Other women took up jobs as nurses, doctors providing the tools with assistance and help.

However, when the men came back for war, they felt their places had been taken away by the women and now there was nobody to take care of them they way they had been tended to earlier. They wished to go back to the goodly days and eventually, women slowly stopped working in factories and returned back home. However, given that women had held the fort in the absence of men, suffragists demanded that women be given the right to vote post-WWI. England and America were impacted the most by the movement. Suffragists went to great lengths to ensure their voices were heard. Emmeline Pankhurst, a political activist, and feminist thinker urged demonstrations and disruptions of the House of Commons. Feminists turned to violence when they were ignored and turned to break windows, starting fires in mailboxes, tearing up golf greens, and chaining themselves to the gates of Parliament. A militant protestor sacrificed herself in an attempt to make a political statement in 1913 by jumping in front of the king’s horse at the races.

Women had been major contributors on the home front in World War I, and thus after years of fighting for equality and to be recognized as citizens women over the age of 30 were given the right to vote in 1918. Ten years later, in 1928, British women were finally granted the right to vote at the age of twenty-one years and with six months of residency. After the war, women were able to vote in the United States, Germany, and the Soviet Union.

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