Among the time period of 1750 to 1914 in Western Europe and East Asia, women obtained social and economic expectations that would label them with their "normal" practices.
Until the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, women began to take part in the fight against their labels and for their goal of equality with men. As in both regions, women testified against the rest of their society, there were different routes into how these women obtained their long-awaited-for equal rights.As time progressed, as did the rise of their rights and changes in society for women and their surroundings as they became far more independent and important. Before the French Revolution in Western Europe, women were being viewed at as biologically and socially different from men, therefore they played the roles of family rather than political, like the men were. But when the French Revolution began to take place, women participated in almost-always controversial events.Women began to take stand with their equality with men, against people like Jean-Jaques Rousseau, for example where he describes his vision of an ideal education for women where they should take an active role in the family, but they should not venture to take part politically outside of their home.
Those who favored improving the status of women often insisted on women's right to education, rather than the right to vote. Then, female activist Marie Gouze (under the pen name Olympe de Gouges), attacked slavery in her writing "Declaration of the Rights of Women", based off of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" document.De Gouges states in her document that women has been excluded from their potential roles and although her declaration did not stimulate a large support system, it did make her notorious but eventually came at stake with persecution with the government. Women never gained full political rights during the French Revolution as the national assemblies did not consider legislation with granting political rights towards women, where they could neither vote nor hold office.Women did not stop and yet continued to participate in various forms with riots over prices of food, some joined clubs organized by women, and other took parts in movements against the Revolution, such as taking part in the massive rebellion in west France against the revolutionary government.
Upper class women were expected to be married into money and have an education; their higher class was not expected of them to run households, as they had been in past centuries.The middle class women were expected to run households, stayed home until they were married , and often became writers as there were not many occupations offered to their class. The working class women would work for a living while single and were expected to keep on working until married, in such places like domestic service but were not equal to men's jobs at the time. For the mid 19th century, more forms of employment became available to women and girl's education began to be taken more seriously.There were more schools for girls offering an academic education with boys and with the expansion of education, it offered more job opportunities for teachers.
Technological inventions also lead to occupation expansion, as the invention of the typewriter supported to a larger range of jobs for women in offices. In the early 20th century, some women became active in the women's suffrage movement, testifying for votes from the women. Western European rights an women progressed with their equality as time progressed. In East Asia, situations for women were likewise.Asian women were also expected to play an active role in the household. Although communism was not official until 1949, the revolution of communism started in women were finally being considered equal to men.
They began to receive equal pay and many of the normal practices of their time were being outlawed, such as foot binding and arranged marriages. bound feet became an economic symbol, but also a social symbol. A women with unbound feet became undesirable in elite circle. Girls with unbound feet faced rejection by society and by their husbands and families.
Working women did not practice foot binding, as they were not as high in status as the women with binder feet, but they also enjoyed obtaining more mobility and economic independence. Women were also expected to have an arranged marriage, which led to the rest of their future as housewives. In East Asia, they did not have as many independent women who fought for their equality rights, as speaking up in such ways was against their beliefs. Likewise in Western Europe, East Asia was also split into economic classes. The upper class women were often educated at an all-girls' school or by private governess.
Middle class women were most often remained as housewives. Eastern Asian women had their hold of change in their roles as time progressed. In Western Europe and East Asia, women were viewed as "housewives" and only housewives. They were expected to stay home and raise their children, while their husbands worked during the day. Women both in Western Europe, East Asia, and throughout the world were expected to obey the men of the house, whether it was their father, husband, or son.
Women were first granted with education, as men did not believe in granting them with more rights all at once.With the equality earned by the women, discrimination was attached. Although they were lawfully allowed to work in workplaces, some, yet most men, did not believe women should be working anywhere other than in the house. Women in Western Europe and East Asia did have similar factors leading to their goals, but women in Western Europe did not acquire "normal" social practices where the Asian women were expected of. In both Western Europe and East Asia, the upper class women were not expected to become housewives and most obtained an academic education because they did not have to worry about taking care of the household.Finally by the early 1900's, women earned what they deserved.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, women not only obtained the right to workplace but also the right to vote. As these women earned their rights, the rest of the world progressively began to follow along with the act of fighting for women equalities. Women not only fought physically for the past two centuries, but also emotionally, as they dealt with the remarks from those who opposed from the ideas. Nationalists in East Asia called for the end of acts, such as footbinding and arranged marriages, as with the equality factors led to Communism in 1949.
