Women in Victorian England:

• Fashion in Victoria England showed that middle and upper-class women weren’t expected to do much

• Men and Women inhabited different spheres; men the world, women the home

• Women were considered weaker than men, but morally superior

• Women were expected to manage their husband’s morals

• Women didn’t want to be intelligent; it was seen as a weakness to be smart

• Victorian men and women were seen differently because of sex

• Women were thought not to have any physical reactions, while men were seen as slaves to their sexual desires

• Women were expected to enter marriage as virgins while men didn’t have to

• Contagious Diseases Act passed in 1860 - aimed at prostitues, not men, who weren’t even seen as responsible

Women in Meiji Japan:

• women were encouraged to be literate

• there were magazines for publishing women’s writing

• some argued that equality for women was a western idea

• others argued that for Japanese society to develop, women must be encouraged

• prostituion legal until 1900

Women in China:

• Footbinding was common and widespread. This was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls as preparation for puberty, menstruation, childbirth

• women were seen as vessels for childbearing and ornamentation

• women had a writing script known by only them and taught to one another

• despite this low position of women, one woman managed to take hold of power in China; Cixi

Women in Salons:

• 17th and 18th century, salons were popular amongst intellectual crowds

• people would meet there and have social, philosophical, literary, and political discussions

• women were often the hosts

• ambitious women could get an education this way

• salons were organized gatherings in private homes

First-Wave Feminism:

• Questions began to arise such as: “If all men are born free and equal, what makes women exempt?”

• Susan B. Anthony fought for abolition, suffrage for women, and the temperance movement, which fought for the prohibition of alcohol

• Susan worked with Elizabeth Cady Stanton to change laws in America

• There was a push for contraceptives as part of women's rights, so no one would be tied to childbearing

• Feminism took hold all over the world

  • mostly western and British Empire

Mary Wollstonecraft:

• she was an English writer who advocated for women's equality

• she lived during the enlightenment and was part of a revolutionary philosophical group

• she wrote “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”

• She supported the french revolution

• renowned women's rights activist

Cixi:

• Cixi was one of the most powerful women in the history of China

• As a mother or adoptive mother of two Chinese emperors, she acted as regent before they were of age and continued to wield large influence over China after they formally assumed power.

• She banned footbinding, reformed the education system, and outlawed barbaric punishments

• She wanted to change China into a constitutional monarchy, knowing China had to catch up economically and militarily

• She saw the Boxer rebellion as a way of forcing foreign powers out of China and strengthening her own regime