Oppression Of Women In The Gilded Age

Women were oppressed for a very long time, but I wanna focus in on a time where the oppression was recognized and fought against. During the gilded age (1870-1900) there was a big idea about women being stay-at-home babysitters who did all the cleaning. While this role was forced on women, men were given the role of being providers, but it was more complicated than just that. Men had roles to stick to, but they also had privilege. Women’s social spheres were more closed and confined then men’s.

The idea of women being in that social sphere was used in ads and it became a pretty normal idea. Women weren’t allowed to work so a husband was often needed. It was also seen as unacceptable for women to be walking out on the street without someone escorting you. Without much to do the only option was to stay at home and do whatever needed to be done there. Women were forced into that position, men created the stereotype by forcing women to follow it.

I want my project to be really simple but still represent my project. After going through a few ideas I think my final idea is a model of a big plain house with two plain children sitting outside out it. This is supposed to give people visiting the monument an idea of what it was like to live in a plain and boring environment everyday, and being told that was the only way to live your life.

I’m still between having trees surround the house and having no trees at all. I wanna represent a feeling of being in a boring sphere with no other people around. I feel like having trees surrounding or not having any both do a good idea of portraying that. One past concept that I still might consider using is have an empty house but the focus was around the inside being bland. The inside would have just a dishwasher and cleaning supplies and a full kitchen but everything else would be empty. This would emphasize very specifically what women were expected to do. I didn’t use this idea as my first because I’m still stumped on how I model it or present it.

I think this monument should be made because it give recognition to a very important experience. There are monuments and memorials built to victories regarding women’s rights and movements, but I want to have something to tries to give just a little more of an idea on how it felt to people who have trouble understanding.