A People’s Readalong: The Intimately Oppressed
by Jenners • 02/20/2012 • A People's Readalong, History, Miscellaneous, Non-Fiction, P Titles, Z Authors • 16 Comments
Fizzy Jill and I (and a bunch of others) are reading a chapter a week of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. Each Monday, we’ll be posting our thoughts on that week’s chapter. Feel free to join us in whatever way you prefer—by reading along, commenting, or writing your own posts. To keep things organized, link up posts over at Jill’s blog as she is the quasi-official host who designed the button and reading schedule. This week, we read Chapter 6: The Intimately Oppressed.
My Thoughts
This chapter is about the oppression of women in early America, where women were forbidden to own property, vote, earn money, or have a career. Many were treated no better than servants, and abuse (both sexual and otherwise) was rampant. Basically, women were treated as the property of men. When their status increased, it was merely to rule over the “woman’s sphere” (i.e., domestic affairs). When they were booted out of this sphere to work in factories, they basically became the property of the factory (and often any wages went directly to their husband or father). (It was interesting to learn about the origin of the term spinster—which originally meant young girls who were needed to work the spinning machines in factories.)
Despite all the bleakness and condescension toward women, there were still women who rebelled against the system and fought for their rights, including Anne Hutchinson, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth. Another thing that impressed me was that many women—while fighting for their own rights—also worked tirelessly against slavery.
Of the many quotes shared in this chapter, one that resonated the most with me was the “radical” statement that Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Blackwell read aloud at their wedding:
While we acknowledge our mutual affection by publicly assuming the relationship of husband and wife…we deem it a duty to declare that this act on our part implies no sanction of, nor promise of voluntary obedience to such of the present laws of marriage as refuse to recognize the wife as an independent, rational being, while they confer upon the husband an injurious and unnatural superiority….
This was one of the more interesting chapters so far—mostly because I was able to connect it better to my own life. Imagining a time when I could not own property, keep my own wages, vote, get an education, or pursue a career of my own choosing gave me a better appreciation for the freedom I have today.
At this point in time, I am in the “traditional” woman’s sphere (raising a child and keeping a home). At times, I feel almost ashamed of this choice. When I fill out a form and write “homemaker” in the occupation area, I sometimes feel a twinge of embarrassment. It almost feels like a betrayal of all the women who came before me—women who fought so hard to be released from this sphere.
Yet I must remind myself that I was able to choose this path of my own free will—after receiving a college education and working in the professional world. I was also able to choose my husband, and my name is on the deed for our home. I’m not taking a step backwards but rather exercising my right to pursue the life that best fits my needs and desires. It is this freedom that I must cherish. I shall be grateful and proud that I can CHOOSE to be a homemaker but am not FORCED or LIMITED to being one. There is a huge difference, and this chapter reminded me of that.
It sounds like this chapter has had the most impact on you. I think all of those women warriors blazed the trail that made it possible for you to choose to be a homemaker so it is good that you can be proud of your choice since it is just as valid and important as choosing a career outside the home.
Your last paragraph is excellent; be proud of your choice! We still have a lot of work to do to encourage women to be proud of their roles as wives and mothers and to make sure they are full partners in that choice ECONOMICALLY. Your name is on the deed – good. I know too many TOO MANY ‘homemakers’ who assume that the hub is there to earn and then do not make sure they have their own credit or financial place in the partnership. A little pet peeve of mine, can ya tell? and one that needs education and not judgement (on my part when I rant, these women think I’m judging them for being stupid and I am not! really, I’m not.)
Yes, not only are you able to choose to be a homemaker, but now men are also free to make that choice. Truly, it was both sexes that needed liberating, because although one was clearly preferable to the other, neither were truly free in those rigidly enforced roles.
Hurray for those women who forged the way so that the rest of us could have a choice about what we want to do and who we want to be with.
Wonderful post, Jenners!
A women who takes care of her own children is a caregiver, and should be honored, not made to feel bad about making that choice! Sometimes, a woman is “at home” for practical reasons, because one income is sufficient, or because she doesn’t like daycare, or for other reasons which are perfectly valid. Women have raised their status over the years, yes, undoubtedly, but usually, in many if not most families, children are still the daily, physical responsibility of the women who take care of them.
Fascinating stuff, and to think that relatively speaking this happened in the not so distant past.
There is a book out there called Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt by Robin Garber. I read it many years ago. It’s an amazing book and shows how much she led the women of her time. It’s a great read.
Amen! We should not feel ashamed to say we are homemakers as that is what we chose- we are helping raise the next generation.
I’ve yet to read Mr. Zinn but I’m enjoying following your progress with him. You do find a lot of women fighting for abolition in the northern states. I’m not aware of anyone in the south. Does he mention any? My own students are always a bit shocked to hear that my grandmothers were born before women in the U.S. had the right to vote. The centennial of women’s suffrage in the U.S. is just 8 years away.
My daughter would find this section quite interesting. Women and gender is a focus of the History Masters she’s working on. In fact, her undergraduate thesis was titled: Deviance and Respectability in Women of the American West
Great summary! I’ve found that if I don’t take notes during the chapter, I’m hopeless at the summaries. And notes reminds me of school…
Fantastic post Jenners. There is a world of difference between choosing to be a homemaker as opposed to having to be one without any other choice.
I also feel a twinge of something not entirely pleasant when people ask me if I am a stay at home mom. It’s like they assume that I sit around eating bon-bons all day, and that’s not what I do at all. I can’t imagine a life where I would be forced to make a marriage match that I wasn’t pleased with, or have no voting rights whatsoever. Women have come a long way, but we still have so much farther to go. Every time I see a woman being objectified because of her body on a billboard or in a magazine, I know that to be true. I have to admit that Ziin has started to bore me a little bit, and I am finding it harder to get through these chapters. I am hoping for a little more meat, and less lecturing very soon.
When I first got married, credit cards were not routinely given to married women, at least not in her name. That was 1975, so it’s taken us a long time to get where things are kinda equal, although women still earn less money when doing the same job as a man.
Nice analysis of this chapter!
I’ve gotten so behind… ack!! I’ll catch up soon and then come back and comment for real. =)