Thursday, November 13, 2014

GENDER IDEOLOGY in Three Historical Periods



Ideology

Historians have brought to our attention the gender ideals that existed in different historical periods. These ideals are seen as reflecting the power structure as well as the interest of the power elites during a particular era. These gender ideals which determine the gender roles of women and men are called gender ideology and can be explained through theories of ideology. Although there are many definitions of ideology which are incompatible and inconsistent with one another, some share the following principles: (1) ideology is made up of ideas that represent and serve the interest of the dominant class; (2) a distorted idea of reality which is reproduced to legitimize the dominant political power; (3) false consciousness which masks the real social and economic relations; (4) ideas which rationalize a course of action and are conceived as being natural and thus accepted by members of a society; and (5) a particular set of ideas that belong to a certain group but are presented as ideas that are universal. These generalized principals suggest that ideologies have a deceiving, naturalizing, and universalizing effect. However, what is not explicitly presented in the above principles is that inconsistencies shape an ideology. These inconsistencies or contradictions may emerge due to the competing ideas of the different elite groups within the power structure or because of shifts in the political or economic goals of political elites. Such inconsistencies could develop tensions that result in securing an ideology, but on the other hand, they could also open opportunities for change. 

By looking at three historical periods in Europe—the Renaissance, Victorian era, and World War II, this article describes the social, economic, and political context behind changes in the gender ideology of each period. 

The Renaissance

The Renaissance, which was the era of the rebirth of ancient Greek and Roman culture, largely excluded women from almost everything that constituted progress. It was the age of humanism, but women continued to be excluded from the public sphere and restricted to the private sphere—attending to domestic matters in the home and bearing children, especially sons, to secure the male lineage.

Lucrezia Borgia
Historians tend to view that women did not share the benefit of the Renaissance and that their status even declined during this era of progress. However, some view that women of the social elite had access to the culture and intellectual tradition of the Renaissance world, although through their relationship with men. During this era, some degree of education was thought to be important for women of the upper-class. Upper-class and noble young girls were given access to education, mainly by being taught subjects that were seen proper for girls. Noble young girls were educated in the royal courts or at home by tutors, learning subjects such as art, music, and poetry. Nonetheless, some of these girls were taught subjects that boys were taught (philosophy, literature, science), exposing them, to some degree, to the same style of education that boys had. This is true in the case of Christine de Pizan, a notable well-educated female writer and poet of the Renaissance era who wrote The Book of the City of Ladies (1404). However, in general, girls were educated primarily with the view of making them good mothers and proper wives, and that later in life, they will manage properties inherited from their husband. Girls were also sometimes sent to convents where nuns taught them needlework and reading and writing. 

In general, there was not much that wealthy women could do with their education as they were soon married off and it was only upon widowhood that these women might have gained some freedom.

Wealthier women managed the households with the help of servants and the care of children was assisted by governesses. In contrast, lower class and working class women would have to attend to cleaning and care work themselves as well as work outside the home to earn money, such as by providing domestic services for wealthy households; while peasant women in rural areas work in farms. 

In some parts of Italy, wealthier women may have been exposed to a less restricted upbringing. In the cities, such women could have helped with the family business. There were notable women from the privileged class who had political or cultural influence, although through their marriages. Some examples include the “notorious” Lucrezia Borgia; female icon of the Renaissance, Isabella d’Este; and the “Tigress of Forli”, Caterina Sforza. 
The plague, which spread throughout Europe in the 14th century, severely impacted on the economy of the cities and later led to significant changes in the social structure. Post-plague, the economy started to revive as a result of population growth. This was followed by a vast growing market which subsequently gave rise to the newly rich merchants. The newly rich adopted the noble's lifestyle, secured their power by marrying into noble families, and identified with the noble’s ideals; thus keeping the existing gender ideology largely intact.
The Victorian Era

Victorian Britain is famous for its public/private arrangement of society as well as its “Victorian morality”. The Victorian ideal of motherhood, domesticity, and femininity confined women in the private sphere as manageress of the household and complete dependents of either their father or husband. This ideal, which reflected the values of the upper and middle class of society, had a great influence throughout Europe and its colonies. 

Victorian middle-class home
This era, which began in 1837, is also recognized for its contradictions. It was an era where women were complete subordinates of men, where women owned limited property, where violence against women in the family was not considered a crime, and where women could not plea for divorce. Nevertheless, it was an era where a woman—the Queen—ruled the nation.

Despite its ideal image of women as mother and good wife, women in fact were wage earners who contributed to the country’s growing industry, including the textile industry and mining industry. The labor sector mirrored the public/private split; jobs were gendered and women became cheap labor. Women were paid less than men for the same job or were at the lower end of paid work, doing work that was considered low skilled or less important. Many poor women had to turn to sex work and even in the land which gave birth to the Victorian morality of purity and sexual repression, prostitution was just as commonly widespread. 

Interestingly, the Victorian era saw the emergence of a diverse and distinguished middle-class and the beginning of organized resistance against Victorian values. All this paved the way for a new era that brought significant changes for women, such as legal rights and the establishment of women’s trade unions (however, due to their exclusion from mainstream trade unions). Following the industrial revolution, an industrious middle-class grew strong, challenging the values of aristocracy, spreading and universalizing the values of merit and hard work to oppose wealth and power acquired through inheritance and privilege. The economic power of businessmen secured their political power and competing interest. As primary school education was provided for all children in the mid and later part of the era, its remaining years witnessed better education and employment for middle-class women. This gave rise to the spread of feminist ideas and women’s suffrage throughout the end of the Queen's rein in 1901, which set the stage for a stronger women’s movement throughout the next century.

World War II

We know that leaders of fascist nations create and shift notions of gender, marriage, family, parenthood, and reproduction to serve their political and economic goals. The German Nazis glorified motherhood when they needed women to reproduce a new generation of Aryans. However, when labor power was needed during the war to replace men who were drafted into the military, women's ideal role in the home was adjusted to fit the economic situation and women were instructed to fill the work force. 

World War II poster
What happened in fascist Germany was no exception, as the same pattern was found in other European countries as well the US. In World War II Europe, it was justified that women were in the labor force to serve the motherland. Women’s new role in the work force during this period called on them to take jobs which were normally done by men, such as work in munitions industries. This required governments to take certain measures, such as spreading propaganda about femininity and patriotism, to redefine the ideal woman and to encourage women to join the work force. 

How women were paid during World War II varied according to countries. Because women were not seen as playing their natural role, in some countries women were paid a lower wage than men for the same job. In other countries, women had a rise in pay for doing what was traditionally men’s work. But women gave up this work when men returned from war and went back to their traditional low paid work. It was also usual that after the war, because men needed jobs and someone to take care of them at home, women were sent back home to resume their “natural role”. So although there were shifts in gender roles during the war, there were no essential changes in gender ideology. The state only manipulated ideas regarding gender to secure its agenda, and when women’s services were no longer necessary, they were returned to the confinement of their homes “where they belonged”. However, women’s role during the war did help to justify women’s role outside the home and in the work force as well as raise women’s status and involvement in the military in the subsequent years.

To Conclude

From our discussion, we see that gender ideology operates at the social, political, economic, and cultural levels, varying the degree of oppression women face across class, as well as throughout different historical contexts. As seen in the case of the three periods discussed above, power elites can secure, change, or reinterpret gender ideologies to suit their purposes. Gender ideology usually alters following political or economic milestones. However, progressive change in gender ideology tends to come about gradually even after significant changes in society. What we need to keep in mind is that gender ideology is present in everyday life in complex ways, and at more times, in a subtle manner; disguising reality and inequalities, making—as coined by second wave feminism—the struggle for women’s equality “the longest revolution.”

  


List of Readings

Cloud, Amanda. Gender Roles of Women in the Renaissance (n.d.) Available at http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/eng/lfletcher/shrew/acloud.htm [Accessed 11 October 2014].

Collins, Maria C. (2011) The Impact of Educational Reform on Victorian Britain. Available at http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/the-impact-of-educational-reform-on-victorian-britain-10373/ [Accessed 17 October 2014].

Darwin, Rachael (2013) ‘The Position of Women in the German Economy, Women in Nazi Ideology and the Nazi Economy.’ Go2war2NL. Available at http://www.go2war2.nl/artikel/2934/Women-in-Nazi-ideology-and-the-Nazi-economy.htm?page=1 [Accessed 9 October 2014].

Eagleton, Terry (1991) Ideology, an Introduction. Verso.

Ideololgy.  Available at http://tigger.uic.edu/~pharkin/pubs/ideology.html [Accessed 10 Oktober 2014].

Italian Renaissance (1330–1550) Women in the Renaissance. Available at http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/renaissance1/section9.r html [Accessed 13 October 2014].

Kent, Dale (n.d.) Women in Renaissance Florence. Available at
http://www.oneonta.edu/faculty/farberas/arth/arth213/women_Ren_florence.html [Accessed 10 October 2014].

Lloyd, Jean (2006) ‘Christine de Pizan, Womens’ History’ King’s College History Dept. Available at http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/chrisdp.htm [Accessed 7 November 2014].

Loftus, Donna (2011) The Rise of the Victorian Middle Class. Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/middle_classes_01.shtml [Accessed 12 October 2014].

Renaissance Class Structure. Available at http://quizlet.com/10489701/renaissance-class-structure-notes-flash-cards/ [Accessed 16 October 2014].

Scott, Whitney (2010) ‘World War II and Women’s Work.’ Perverse Piety. Available at http://hervillage.wordpress.com/essays-2/history-papers/world-war-ii-and-womens-work/ [Accessed 18 October 2014].

 

Victoria and Albert Museum. Gender Ideology and Separate Spheres in the 19th Century. Available at http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/g/gender-ideology-Separate- Spheres-in-the-9th-Century/ [Accessed 11 October 2014].

Victorian England: An Introduction. Available at http://www.english.uwosh.edu/roth/VictorianEngland.htm [Accessed 10 October 2014].

Womer, Braidyn (n.d.) Education and Women: Why Not? Available at http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/eng/lfletcher/shrew/bwomer.htm [Accessed 14 October 2014].

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