Culture and Literature in the Global Context

7. First Wave Feminism

Professor Myung Soo Hur

1 II. First Wave Feminism 1. Introduction: 1-1. Major Book: Modern feminism begins with Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). 1-2. Colorful Life: Her book was less memorable than her own colorful life: her search for love, economic survival, unfortunate relationship with Gilbert Imlay (their daughter Fanny Imlay in 1794), her marriage with William Godwin (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in 1797), and death 10 days after the childbirth.

Gilbert Imlay Mary Wollstonecraft William Godwin 2 Mother and 2 Daughters

Fanny Imlay (1794 –1816) Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) Shelley (1797 –1851)

3 Percy Bysshe Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 –1851) (1792 – 1822)

The frontispiece to the 1831 Frankenstein

4 1-3. Works: Mary Wollstonecraft(1759-1797) was born to a middle- class family, was largely self-educated, and, after working as a teacher and a governess, became a professional writer to support herself and her sisters.

1787 Thoughts on the Education of Daughters 1788 Mary, A Fiction (semi-autobiographical novel) Original Stories from Real Life 1789 The Female Reader (collection of morally suitable passages for girls to read aloud) 1790 Vindication of the Rights of Men (political philosophy arguing with Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France) 1792 Vindication of the Rights of Women (political philosophy arguing with Rousseau's Emile and conduct literature in general) 1794 Historical and Moral View of the French Revolution (historical and political analysis)

5 6 2. Theorists 2-1. Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Women emerged from the social and political turbulence caused by the French Revolution. Although there were several proto-feminist writings, Vindication was the first to issue an outspoken rallying cry to middle-class women (mothers) as major influences on society. She portrayed women not as superior to men, but wanted to raise overall moral and intellectual stature to make them into more rational citizens. 2-2. The ideal woman pictured in the Vindication: the ideal woman is active and intelligent, blending civic and familial responsibilities, freed from drudgery and debasing frugality. 2-3. Wollstonecraft’s points: She stressed the importance of early moral and intellectual influences; economic independence, freedom, dignity, rather than the ability to fascinate potential husbands. / elegance is inferior to virtue / She saw women as degraded by the flirtatious and chivalrous behavior of their male companions. / It is important to obtain a character as a human being, regardless of the distinction of sex. The book calls for a revolution in manners; boys and girls need to be educated together; The women in the future train as doctors, pursue business or politics. 2-4. Advice manuals and Conduct books: The publication of her husband’s Memoirs (1798) caused the readers to reject what she said, mostly due to her immoral personal life. Wollstonecraft’s Vindication received reactions from writers of advice manuals and conduct books, such as Hannah More and Mrs. Sarah Ellis.

2-5. William Thompson: Appeal of One-Half of the Human Race, Women, against the Pretentions of the Other Half Men (1825): it was wrong even to regard women themselves as a cohesive group. Dividing women into three separate categories: wives, adult daughters, and women with no husbands nor fathers, Thompson dealt with different problems with all three.

William Thompson (1775 –1833) 8 2-6. John Ruskin: “Of Queens’ Gardens” in Sesame and Lilies (1865) urged parents to educate their daughters thoroughly mainly for them to understand and even to aid the work of man.

2-7. John Stuart Mill: The Subjection of Women (1869) concentrated on the way society has traditionally oppressed women and treated them as slaves. He argued for the equality of rights. But he focused on improving status quo, rather than suggesting any radical departure from it.

John Ruskin (1819 –1900) John Stuart Mill (1806 –1873) 3. Activists: 3-1 Caroline Norton Case: Caroline’s husband abducted their three sons in 1836 trying to divorce her by bringing a charge of criminal conversation against Lord Melbourne. She wrote a pamphlet attacking the existing law on the custody of children. As a result, the Infant Custody Act was proclaimed in 1839, which permitted separated wives of good character to have custody of any children under 7, and access to their older children. But only in 1873 mothers were given custody of children up to the age of 16, and in 1973 mothers were given exactly the same legal authority over their children as fathers.

Her writing in verse includes an attack against child labour entitled “Voice from the Factories” (1836) and she also published an autobiographical novel, Stuart Dunleath (1851). She died on 15 June 1877. She had married William Stirling Maxwell, a friend for 25 years, a few months before her death.

Caroline Norton (1808 - 1877) 10 3-2. Publications of Tracts about Laws in 1854: Norton’s English Laws for Women in the Nineteenth Century, and Barbara Keigh-Smith Bodichon’s Beief Summary in Plain Language of the Most Important Laws of England Concerning Women. 25,000 women signed a petition in favor of married women’s property ownership (1856) helped to introduce the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857, led to other 18 more acts by 1882, and the 1870 Act, which allowed married women to keep their earnings, and to inherit personal property, with everything else going to their husband.

11 4. The 1850s: Decade of Activism: The 1850s generally saw a major resurgence of feminist activity. 4-1. Langham Place Circle: a group of middle-class, activist women who discussed and published their views about women, and met at 19 Langham Place in London (Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, Bessie Rayner Parkes. Women and Work (1856) by Bodichon Remarks on the Education of Girls (1854) by Parkes The English Woman’s Journal (1856-64), The Englishwoman’s Review (1859) by both of them

Barbara Bodichon (1827-1891) Bessie Parkes(1829 -1925) 12 5. American Feminism 5-1. Seneca Falls Convention in 1848: 300 people (40 men) met to demand an end to all discrimination based on sex. Elizabeth Cady Stanton used the 1776 Declaration of Independence as a model for the Declaration of Sentiments issued by the Convention. Susan B. Anthony, Sarah Frimke, Margaret Fuller

5-2. The most significant difference between Britain and America: in terms of the first wave feminism, was that in America, different state legislatures passed reform measures independently of the central government.

13 6. Education and Employment: If the 1850s was the decade for marriage reform, the 1860s and 70s became a time of education reform. 6-1. Women Colleges: In 1869 the first College for Women was established at Hitchin on the way to Cambridge, Girton College (1873), Nedwnham (1875) in Cambridge, Lady Margaret Hall (1878), Somersvill College (1879) in Oxford. But it was not till 1948 that women at Cambridge were awarded degrees fully equal to men’s.

6-2. Medical Schools: Women were admitted to medical schools. The Lodon School of Medicine for Women in 1874. Florence Nightingale’s nursing reforms led the professionalism of nursing.

7. The Vote: The issue of women’s suffrage was raised from 1830s onwards and more frequently from the 1869s. In 1869, John Stuart Mill proposed giving women the vote but defeated by 196 votes to 73 in the House of Commons. In 1895 the term feminism was first used in the Athenaeum and New Woman to describe the new generation of women who sought independence and refused the traditional confines of marriage. The vote was finally won in 1918, but only for women over 30. In 1928 women were enfranchised on the same terms as men. 14 8. Conclusion Some of the greatest reforms of women’s social and legal position occurred in a few decades of the 19th century. However, many of those women who were active campaigners like Caroline Norton, Florence Nightingale, and Barbara Bodichon were ambivalent about the extent of their own feminism and over-anxious to distance themselves from unconventional lifestyles from unconventional lifestyle and behavior. Moreover, they seemed concerned mainly with the plight of intelligent middle-class single white women.

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