Women in Britain
Курсовая работа
Women in Britain
Исполнитель
Шатилова А.В
Abstract
Key words: women and work, labor, yearning for independence,women and politics,women rights and laws, women and education, university for women, women and health,health of pregnant women.: politics, education, work, and health of women.: to study the history of women in Victorian Era and in modern days, to understand role of women in modern society, to learn rights and laws of women.: the the history of women in Victorian Era and in modern days has been studied.
Indroductuon
In the Victorian Age, women were responsible for domestic duties, and often spent day after day in the home. They were not allowed to be part of the man's world. They were responsible for housework, feeding the family, shopping, cooking, and psychologically and materially sustaining the children, and their husband. "It encompassed a wide range of responsibilities: keeping the household running through the daily round of unfixed but inexorable chores, looking after babies and pre-school children all day and night, being home with the tea ready when they were older, and for the husband after his shift, holding at least acquiescent views on the husband's industrial action.All these things meant subordinating their own needs and identity to those of the other members of the family. The fact that she is sacrificing herself to significant others' reinforces the loss of her own significance" . Here, a woman tells about her feelings of work in the home.
"All women are the same. They get married-high ideals. It's going to be lovely to wash the socks, cook the meals and all that for their husbands, but after a few years the novelty wears off. It just becomes a bit of a drudge. Not so much that you mind doing it, but it's the same thing, day in, day out all the time. You get stale yourself"also had an idea of men's views on the topic.
"They seem to think you're home all day long and it's a life of leisure. They don't realize there's cleaning to be done, and washing, and ironing. I don't like cleaning. I never have, but its got to be done." There was no mention of the satisfaction and virtues of running a home, it was just a drag. Cavendish, the duchess of Newcastle, declared that the sexes were created equal but that men had "usurped a supremacy to themselves" and had tyrannized women using them like "children, fools, or subjects." This process enslaved women and dejected their spirits to the point of stupidity, "whereas in Nature we have as clear an understanding as men"
Everybody knows that work is very important now. Despite the activities of the suffragettes <#"justify">While existing social mores change as time passes, an underlying social tendency to oppress women remains. Despite the progress women have made towards equal opportunities in education, the bias in favor of men has not been erased. Women must continue to fight to receive the education they deserve.
As in World War One <#"justify">Beside the more visible black male leaders of the Civil Rights Movement both black and white women played important and key roles in the struggle for racial equality. Womens experiences in the Civil Rights Movement can tell us a lot about the lives of ordinary and extraordinary women and their ability to access and be denied power in a movement for black liberation that was based on the idea of equality. There was an inherent contradiction within the movement for although many women were doing much of the organizing work they still remained largely invisible while the men shone in the spotlight. Women of all different social classes and racial backgrounds participated in many different capacities throughout the black liberation movement. Women were an indispensable part of the movement that could often be found working behind the scenes or in the trenches along side the men helping to bring about social change through the movement.women rights women started back in the late 1700s and 1800s, which set the stage for the rise of the womens movements. The reason for this is that many women grew increasingly dissatisfied with the limitations society had placed on their activities. This was known as the age of reason questioned established political and religious authority and stressed the importance of reason, equality, and liberty. The new intellectual atmosphere helped justify womens rights to full citizenship.history of American feminism-the self-conscious desire to achieve sexual equality-began soon after the Revolution, when women's rights tracts first appeared in print. Citizens of the late eighteenth century might read Englishwoman Mary Wollstonecraft's treatise on Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) or Judith Sargent Murray's essays in New England magazines. Both authors urged increased independence for women through access to education. The egalitarian spirit that pervaded their works reappeared in many ways over the next two centuries. the early nineteenth century, women participated in numerous efforts to improve women's status, defend their interests, and increase their rights. Educators, such as Emma Willard, Mary Lyon, and Catharine Beecher, promoted advanced training for women in female academies and seminaries. Thousands of women in the 1830s and 1840s joined moral reform societies, organized to end licentiousness, seduction, and prostitution. Female temperance societies strove to save abused wives and families from drunken spouses. Individual reformers spoke out for women's rights. Scottish radical Frances Wright, a follower of Robert Owen, addressed eastern audiences on women's need for equal education. right to become educated has been long sought after by women. The history of womens education parallels the beginning of feminism. Women have made huge strides toward receiving an equal education, but there is still much work to be done. This revolution is far from over. Material gains have been made, but an inequality of expectations and results of education for men and women remains. existing social mores change as time passes, an underlying social tendency to oppress women remains. Despite the progress women have made towards equal opportunities in education, the bias in favor of men has not been erased. Women must continue to fight to receive the education they deserve.importance of studying women in politics is inarguably one of the most influential and overlooked topics of the women's movement. In the politics arena omen are given the opportunity to level with men. To be given the opportunity to succeed is a landmark milestone in itself throughout women's history.the 19th century, women generally married and started reproducing at a much younger age than today.
The typical aristocrat woman married at the age of 21 and 50% of women gave birth to their first child within one year of marriage, while 80% within two years. It is evident that once women started having children, they generally didn_t let up as the median childbearing span lasted 18 years with an average of eight children per woman. The average woman in this particular society had her last child at 39 years of age.
The difference in these two eras is particularly evident when comparing statistics. For example, while the average age of a woman at her last birth in the Victorian era was 39, the average age for marriage among women in modern British society is 31.8 years old. At that age in the 19th century, a woman would be expected to already have delivered at least 6 or 7 children. Today, a significantly lower 1.75 children per family is that national average, with an average age of 29 years for the mother at the time of her first birth. In modern day British society, the reasons for having children are quite different than those of the 19th century. The cultural expectations to parenthood are strong and often send a message of disapproval to women who voluntarily abstain from reproducing. Cultural expectations can also be reflected in pressure from family and friends to start creating a family. Some women hope that becoming pregnant and having a baby will help a problematic or struggling marriage, assuming that a baby will bring the couple closer together. Other reasons for having a child in modern times include political, economic, and familial reasons such as extending a family name or carrying on a family business. Another factor influencing women then and now is an undeniable innate biological drive to reproduce.
1. Women and work
1.1 Type of employment
Many poorly educated young ladies simply worked for a large household as a servant. From here they could train to work in a kitchen but it is highly unlikely that they would have become the head of a kitchen as this was still the 'territory' of the male.table of employment gives an example of where women worked in 1900 : [See Appendix A]. table clearly shows in which direction women were expected to go should they have work. Many poorly educated young ladies simply worked for a large household as a servant. From here they could train to work in a kitchen but it is highly unlikely that they would have become the head of a kitchen as this was still the 'territory' of the male."Teachers = 124,000" is somewhat misleading as female teachers nearly all worked in junior or nursery schools. What we would now call secondary schools were staffed by male teachers.the end of the 19th century, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson became the first lady to qualify to be a doctor . She then faced huge obstacles making progress in her profession. Men would not go to her simply because she was female , whereas, women usually kept with the way it was done then - they continued seeing a male GP. It took years for Anderson to succeed.decades women's progress in British society was haunted by the words of Queen Victoria:
"Let women be what God intended, a helpmate for man, but with totally different duties and vocations." from the most famous woman in the world at the time, men in power used these words to hinder the advance women had made. By 1900, women had been granted some improvements in their lifestyle via the law courts - it was only in 1891 that women were told that they could not be forced to live with a man if they did not want to - but because nearly all women were reliant on their husbands for a source of money, many women did live in miserable marriages. The myth that Victorian Britain was the time of great family values in that the family unit stayed together, is just that - a myth. Many wives could not leave their husbands even if they wanted to, simply because they did not have the financial independence that was needed to survive at the time. Also a divorced woman was shunned by society and treated as an outcast. With these obstacles, many women were forced to stay in unhappy marriages.
1.2 Yearning for independence
By being forced to live in this confinement, women yearned for independence. As in this story, "The Mother's Chain: or the Broken Link," published in a magazine in the 1890's, a daughter expresses her wishes to leave home and take a job.
"Woman is so formed as to be dependent on man. The woman who is considered the most fortunate in life has never been independent, having been transferred from parental care and authority to that of a husband.away with comparison. Wanting to be someone else destroys the good image we have about ourselves.
1.3 Labor for pregnant women in Victorian Era
The actual process of labor and delivery were very important to aristocratic families of the Victorian era. Many would travel to London weeks before to stay with friends throughout the final few weeks. The purpose of this journey, called going to town, was socially motivated as it made public the birth of a new baby. The house had to be prepared very specifically to accommodate the pregnant woman and her husband, friends, family, the doctor and his team of medical attendants. Not all women actually made the trip to London or to an alternate location to deliver, and therefore many rearranged all of the rooms and furniture in their own house to prepare for weeks of confinement. Confinement was the term used to describe the last few weeks of pregnancy that were spent in the bed of a specially prepared house. actual beds women gave birth on were lightweight and portable, and are significant for several reasons. One reason the delivery beds were so highly regarded among women in aristocratic Victorian families was because they increased the important female bonding aspect of childbirth. Because of this, the beds were passed down from generation to generation. Delivering a baby on a separate bed than the one it was conceived on diminishes the sexual connotations associated with birth. This not only reinforces Victorian values of prudence, but gives childbirth a more spiritual meaning, as well. was first administered in 1847 to obstetric patients by the Scottish physician James Simpson. Before this pain-relieving medicine became popularized, doctors relied on blood-letting to alleviate labor pains. Up to 50 oz. of blood could be drawn to ease pain and weaken the patient as a whole. during labor, Victorian principles of purity and modesty are evident. The clothing women wore consisted of a shift tucked up under the arms with a short petticoat placed about the hips which is to be removed after labor and the dry shift drawn down.The position most commonly used during child birth was the position which entailed lying on the left side of the body with knees bent and drawn up into the abdomen. This position prevented the accouchuer (doctor) and patient from seeing each other, enabling the mother to save face in an embarrassing situation for Victorian women. recovery time for women after labor and delivery lasted between four and six weeks, and consisted of various stages of progress. The stages began with something as simple as walking from the bed to a nearby sofa, and was ritually ended by going to church. There, the new mother would be religiously cleansed and had the opportunity to thank God for a full recovery.
1.4 Labor for pregnant women in modern days
Today, childbirth options are expanding rapidly to accommodate women during this strange and stressful time in their life. Traditional hospital delivery is just one of the many options women have. Giving birth in warm water tubs is growing in popularity although some find the procedure unsafe. Luxurious hospital birthing suites are now available and provide all the amenities of an upscale hotel. Some women prefer the comfort of their own home, but this procedure is risky due to the unpredictable nature of childbirth. If something were to go wrong, the proper equipment would not be available to fix the situation. Unlike the Victorian era when recovery lasted 4-6 weeks, new mothers are now released from the hospital within days of delivering their child.
2. Women and politics
2.1 Women rights
The women rights women started back in the late 1700s and 1800s, which set the stage for the rise of the womens movements. The reason for this is that many women grew increasingly dissatisfied with the limitations society had placed on their activities. This was known as the age of reason questioned established political and religious authority and stressed the importance of reason, equality, and liberty. The new intellectual atmosphere helped justify womens rights to full citizenship.
2.2 Laws that helped women
in the 1840's a series of laws were passed that began to allow women in marriage to have a bit more control. With the passage in 1839 of the Infants and Child Custody Act women were allowed take custody of their children under the age of seven if divorced or separated. They could not take custody if they had been found to be adulterous. Before this law the father was immediately awarded custody and it did not depend on the reasons for divorce. In 1857 secular divorce was established in England through the Matrimonial Causes Act/Divorce act. This allowed for the court to order payments to a divorced or estranged wife. The wife could inherit property, be sued and protect her wages from a husband who deserted her. She still could not get a divorce based only on her husband being an adulterer but a man could still divorce his wife solely for adultery. A woman had to prove that her husband had been cruel, deserted her or prove that incest had been committed obtain a divorce. As we move forward to 1870 the Married Women's Property Act allowed for women to keep their earnings and even inherit personal property and money. Everything else still belonged to her husband if she had acquired it before or after marriage. In 1883 the Custody Acts allowed for women to be awarded custody of children up to the age of 16. Slowly but surely women are gaining control over themselves, their children and their possessions. In 1882 a woman could finally keep all personal and real property that she had gotten before and during her marriage.
.3 Feminists' view of law
' view of law as valedictory of male privilege and power has changed little since the 19th century. Both Victorian feminists as well as 20th century contemporary feminists find the law as supportive of male domination. While in the Victorian era, laws were more open in presenting women as subjected to male supremacy in accordance with Victorian sentiment and family division of labor, contemporary feminists also find contemporary law based on the privilege given the male. Both Victorian and contemporary feminist criticisms of the law rely on the liberal political theory of philosophers such as John Stuart Mill and John Locke to criticize their respective situations of injustice created by the law. At the same time, however, they find this same theory establishing of the male supremacy in law that these feminists seek to change. Both contemporary and Victorian feminist criticism of the legal theory supportive of the law find that by differentiating between a public sphere, i.e., work, commerce, industry and politics, and the private sphere which revolves around domesticity and the home, law reinforces the view of males as free, irresponsible, and autonomous, and of women as dependent and responsible for the essential work of rearing children and maintaining the private sphere of the home.
2.4 Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I [See Appendix B]. (7 September <#"justify">3. WOMEN IN EDUCATION
.1 Social relevance
The right to become educated has been long sought after by women. The history of womens education parallels the beginning of feminism. Women have made huge strides toward receiving an equal education, but there is still much work to be done. This revolution is far from over. Material gains have been made, but an inequality of expectations and results of education for men and women remains. In medieval Europe <#"justify">3.2 History of women in education
order to understand the womens education movement, it is important to have a brief background of its history. During the time of the ideal subservient woman a few bold women and events stand out as milestones in history. The first is in 1833; Oberlin College was founded. It was the nations first university to accept women and black students. The next important event was the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. This convention added fuel to the flame of education and suffrage. The Seneca Falls Declaration has been called the single most important document of the nineteenth-century American womans movement. At the convention a declaration concerning womens rights was adopted modeling the Declaration of Independence. Appearing in addition to issues of suffrage were issues of education and employment. The Declaration of Sentiments states: He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration. He closes against her all the avenues to wealth and distinction, which he considers most honorable to himself. As a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known. He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education - all colleges being closed against her. This event is of utmost importance to the womens rights movement. It laid the foundation for future achievements even though suffrage was not achieved until 1920. After the Seneca Falls Convention women continued to achieve milestones in education. In 1877, Helen Magill became the first woman in the United States to earn her Ph.D. By 1880, women comprised eighty percent of all elementary school educators, and by 1910 women made up 39 percent of all collegiate undergraduate students and even 20 percent of all college faculty. Finally, in 1920 womens suffrage was achieved, giving women a secure foothold in society. In 1945, the first woman was accepted to Harvard Medical School, and by 1972 Title XI was passed to help end the discrimination based on sex for any educational program that received federal funding. In 1980 women equaled men in numbers enrolled in colleges with 51 percent. Finally, in 1996 Virginia Military Institute was forced by the Supreme Court to become coeducational. There are many other events along the path to education that helped women achieve the status they enjoy today. This brief chronology merely traces a few of the hundreds of thousands of victories women had to win in order to become educated.
3.2.1 Women and education many ears ago
A good way to illustrate the attitude towards education in the Victorian period is to quote Sally Mitchell in Daily Life in Victorian England. She states, Children in Victorian England were educated in many different ways-or not at all depending on their sex and their parents, financial circumstances, social class, religion, and values. Clearly, boys were getting opportunities to enjoy life rather than being told what their status and profession was. For girls, society stressed the importance of domestic education, such as etiquette, child-rearing and housekeeping. Basically, these jobs were to take care of the husband and children. For example, Deirdre Beddoe states, Тhey were taught to be good wives to working men and to be good mothers to the next generation of the workforce. Girls that were able to attend schools did not study with boys. Girls learned recipes, while boys studied math and science. For example, Beddoe states, Much of the education offered in girlsХ private schools was of a very low standard. Also, there was no integrated teaching. Girls learned from women and men taught boys. A college education appealed to older boys and the wealthy. Truly, girls were already looked upon as a lower class in this time period.
3.2.2 Women and education in modern days
3.3 Reasons for oppression
of the main values that necessitated all of this arduous labor in order to simply become educated was that, people feared that the social system would break down if women were allowed to be educated. They worried that women would cease to fulfill their traditional roles if they received a higher education. It was even thought that a woman risked brain fever or sterility if she became educated.. These Victorian ideas seem ridiculous from a twentieth century perspective, but educated women today still have to deal with a certain measure of social stigma. It is often overlooked, however, because it has been adapted to fit the social constraints of today. They are forced at times to choose to live up to the dreams of their education or to live up to the societal implications of being a mother and wife.This is only one of many reasons that the fight for adequate womans education is far from over.
3.4 University of Texas compared to Cambridge
fact that the need for reform in womens education is not over is illustrated in two parallel cases. During the early feminist movement and the beginnings of the reform of womens education, the best case to study is Cambridge in England. At the time this university had established authority in academia there was not a comparable university in the United States. Therefore, it is necessary to compare universities across the boundaries of nations. Women first gained notoriety at Cambridge when in the 1860s Emily Davies was successful in her campaign to allow women to attend Cambridge University [See Appendix C]. However, they did not have the same status as the male students there.. Even though Cambridge was one of the first universities to encourage women to study they did not award women the same degrees as men upon completion of the same tests .This is a testament to the slow but steady progress of women in education. These women were dedicated and willing to study despite sub-par compensation upon completion of school. It was not until 1947 that women were admitted to Cambridge as equal .While it was a promising start for women in the Victorian period to even be allowed to study, it is necessary to evaluate the staggering length of time this progress took to occur. It took almost a century for women to gain the same recognition as men. In light of these facts, it is dangerous to assume that women today have equal educational opportunity. As little as fifty-five years ago women were celebrating the fact that they could finally earn a degree at Cambridge University. That is not a very distant past. When asked if women at The University of Texas still face issues of educational bias, the answer is an unequivocal yes. Women make up almost half of the undergraduate student population at forty-nine percent. Sadly, these women are outnumbered in fields that have traditionally been male-dominated such as architecture and medicine. However, the average grade point average of women is higher than men in every field of study. This makes it clear that it is not a discrepancy of ability that keeps women from pursuing these vocations. There must be some sort of lingering Victorian attitudes that keep women from living up to their potential. Women today aspire to more diverse areas of study and vocation. However, they are realistic about what the world has in store for them and therefore gravitate towards more typically female professions. Another important fact is that the percentage of women faculty is a meager 33 percent. Research has found that students tend to seek out classrooms and vocations in which they will feel comfortable and successful. Some students report avoiding courses that are overwhelmingly male because of the unwelcome feeling they experience in the classroom. How can women feel comfortable pursuing any field of study when male mentors and educators surround them and when the only contributions taught are those of males ? The battle for womens education will not be won until women feel free and comfortable to pursue any academic field.
4. Women and health
history, women's health issues have become an important part of the study of society. The ailments, causes, and treatments all reflect the period in which they occurred. In the Victorian period, women suffered from infections attributed to the society in which they lived.
Poor sanitation and a lack of knowledge of germs gave rise to the frequent infections that plagued women during epidemics as well as childbirzth.
Since then, advances in medicine and the sanitary conditions of society have brought about a different avenue of health problems for women. The women of today face not only diseases of genetic origin, but more importantly, diseases that arise from the poor habits that society has developed. Whether in the nineteenth century or the twenty first century, women's health issues reflect the lifestyle of the period in which they occur.
4.1 Importance
Even though women represent fifty one percent of the population, only recently have researchers, as well as the medical community, focused attention on women's special health care needs.
Women's health issues deserve special concentration since health care matters impact women differently than men. Due to the fact that women have to juggle both labor at work and labor at home, women often suffer from diseases previously thought to only affect men. Many diseases also occur in a much greater proportion of women than men, and some occur in women alone.
Most research focused only on men, with no knowledge about how the illness affected women or how the treatments improved or damaged their caliber of health.
Therefore, women's health issues have become an important part in examining the health of a population and in determining the ailments and treatments of a certain time period.
4.2 Women's health in the Victorian period
health of women in the Victorian period was threatened mostly by contagious infections caused by the poor living conditions and public sanitation. Pregnancy and childbirth became the most dangerous time in the life of a Victorian woman. Maternal mortality, the deaths of women during pregnancy, labor, or post-partem, found itself as the main cause of death among women during the nineteenth century. The 1850's had an average number of maternal deaths per day of 8.5 while this number reached a peak during the 1890's with 12 maternal deaths per day. In most cases, the onset of puerperal fever, an infection that occurred in the pelvic region after delivery, was the cause of fatality among women. Puerperal fever generally set in two to five days after delivery and included such clinical manifestations as acute fever, an enlarged and tender uterus, pelvic abscesses and profuse menstrual flow.In the early nineteenth century, obstetricians began to realize that puerperal fever could be contagious. Physician Oliver Wendell Holmes stated in 1843 that puerperal fever was indeed contagious and that a physician could spread the disease from one patient to another . Hungarian obstetrician Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis advised in 1848 that the attending doctors should wash their hands in chlorinated water between patients and wear clean clothes to prevent such a transmission. This discovery brought about a major reform in the sterilization of equipment and extensive practice of antisepsis, which killed infectious microbes. It also aided in better training and regulations of midwives, emphasis on antenatal care, further training for specialist obstetricians, and the establishment of maternity hospitals. While many believed that the clinical factors previously mentioned provided the reasons for the high maternal mortality rate, others felt that the blame should lie in the non-clinical factors. Family income, nutrition, housing, hygiene, and availability of obstetric care all became influential factors in the occurrence of puerperal infection., pregnancy and childbirth have become the least common threats to women. Presently, the average number of maternal deaths per day has dropped to about one per week. High standards of obstetric care, drugs such as sulfonamides and penicillin, blood transfusions, and good health all contribute to the intense decline in maternal mortality. A higher standard of living, as well as more scrupulous public health and sanitation regulations, also promote a decrease in the prevalence of infections.main threat to women's health in the Victorian period dealt with the widespread epidemics that ran rampant during the nineteenth century. These contagious infectious diseases caused prevalent illness and death throughout the world, affecting women as well as home life. Women became especially at risk of contracting these diseases since they were in charge of domestic work. Therefore they were more commonly exposed to the source of infection, such as livestock, water sources, sewage sources, as well as becoming exposed to infected persons by caring for them in the home. These diseases included cholera, tuberculosis, influenza, and typhoid.of the most prominent diseases that affected Victorian women was known as cholera. Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease that usually occurs in conjunction with vomiting, which results in severe dehydration. The bacteria spreads by fecal-oral transmission which generally happens from contaminated water supplies and food.
Three extensive pandemics occurred during the Victorian period that led to the death of millions of people, beginning in 1848 with the arrival of cholera to Europe from India.It has now been determined that unsatisfactory sanitary conditions were needed to support the cholera outbreaks in Europe.
The main sources of contamination include leaking sewage tanks and food tainted from infected persons handling it. Improvements in public health measures, such as the British Sanitary Act of 1866, and protected water supplies and sewage disposal assisted in eliminating the frequency of the infections.
.3 Women's health today
Today, many of the infectious illnesses that wrecked havoc on the lives of the Victorians do not effect the current population nearly as severely, if at all. Since the nineteenth century, the causes of the diseases have been found, isolated, and studied. The development of antibiotics became pivotal in treating these diseases, as well as determining the proper treatment once the pathogen of the diseases had been discovered. An improved standard of living and sanitation also played a huge part in helping to alleviate the frequency of the diseases, as well as better personal hygiene, improved housing and diets, and public health interventions. the development of antibiotics, advances in medicine, and an improved standard of living, women today face much different medical obstacles than those of the Victorian period. Infections and communicable diseases no longer affect the population as they did in the past, which leaves an entirely different group of health problems for women in today's society. The present problems in medicine focus more on genetic disposition in addition to the effects of poor habits accumulated by women, such as smoking, drugs, high cholesterol, and obesity.disease currently is the number one cause of death of women, taking the lives of more than 500,000 women a year. Women who endure a heart attack are more likely than men to die from a heart attack and are oftentimes more difficult to diagnose than men. Women experience angina, or chest pain, more often before a heart attack, but other symptoms occur that differ from those that happen in men. Women regularly have pain in the neck, jaw, arms, or back as well as the chest, which is frequently confused with ulcers, gallbladder disease, or hiatal hernias. While some risk of heart disease lies in genetic disposition to the disease, many other factors increase the risk of developing heart disease. These factors include the poor habits previously mentioned as well as falling estrogen levels after menopause, low socioeconomic status, and use of oral contraceptives for an extended period of time.falls in as the second leading cause of death among women. Although much attention is focused on cancer of the reproductive system, lung cancer actually accounts as the most prominent cancer in women, killing 46,000 women a year. This is largely due to the higher rates of smoking by women, as well as the effects of second hand smoke. Although early detection can lead to effective surgery, the survival rate for lung cancer states that only thirteen percent of all individuals diagnosed live five years beyond the diagnosis. Breast cancer also finds itself as a leading killer of women today. Each year, 180,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, and 46,000 die from complications.While family history and irregularities in the menstrual cycle at an early age are the main risk factors, others include excess weight, excessive alcohol consumption, a high fat diet, and vitamin A deficiency. Early detection and early treatment appear to be the best chance for a cure, and reducing the risk of cancer by avoiding the risks continue to be the best preventative plan.progression in science and in living conditions have helped to abate the health problems of the past, womenкs health issues continue to play an important role in society. Since half of the population as well as the workforce consist of women, their health should have as much precedence as the health of men. Not only should society as a whole consider women's health issues as significant as men's health issues, but the public should also bear in mind that the major health concerns of the time reflect the society in which they live. By trying to eliminate some of the risk factors and causes for prevalent diseases and illnesses, society alone could help to solve chronic health problems along with scientific research. By focusing on the causes as well as the effects of particular illnesses on women, the issues faced in women's health today could also become a thing of the past.
4.4 Health of pregnant women
Prenatal care will always be a significant topic within motherhood considering the direct relationship between the health of the mother and that of the newborn baby. The accoucheurs (similar to doctors)of the Victorian era preferred a holistic approach of prenatal care and relied primarily on nature to take care of their patients. The diet prescribed to pregnant women recommended cooling foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables and prohibited heating foods such as meat, eggs, spices, coffee, tea, and alcohol. was also prescribed to pregnant women, and for the upper-class, leisurely travel was the exercise of choice. Travel was ideal because it entailed some walking and other light activity while avoiding the risks associated with strenuous exercise. It is ironic that while exercise and activity were recommend, a miscarriage would automatically be blamed on the woman for being overly active, even when this was not the case. Bathing in sea water and drinking mineral water were also advised to increase strength and overall vitality.
4.4.2 In modern days , prenatal care consists of recommendations based on medical evidence to support the validity of the suggestions. Pregnant women today are encouraged to eat a well-balanced diet consisting of foods from each of the food groups. In addition, it is essential that extra folic acid is consumed as well as two fatty acids (linoleic acid and alphlinolenic acid). Iron supplements are important in the last few months of pregnancy and coffee/tea should be restricted to 3-4 cups per day. As in the 19th century, alcohol continues to be prohibited during all stages of pregnancy.Exercise recommendations are similar to those of the past as they stress light to moderate physical activity such as walking. Other beneficial activities include swimming, stretching, golf, tennis, floor exercises, and yoga. Heavy exercise should be avoided and activity levels should be reduced as the pregnancy progresses.
Conclusion
women feminist employment education
Modern opportunities have created more of a place for women in all aspects of life. However, modern women don't appear to have much higher a self-esteem or self-image than the women of Victorian times. On the other hand, most women today focus on their physical self, rather than the emotional or mental selves deprived of Victorian women. a survey conducted by Glamour magazine; three-quarters of women aged 18-35 reported feeling too fat, while only one quarter of them could be so described, and 45% of the underweight women felt they were too fat. Not too be fat has become a life goal for countless women: the Glamour survey also found that nearly half the women, rather than achieving a career ambition or meeting the love of their life, would choose to lose ten poundsidea that women's self-image has not changed over time is true in the sense that the entire self-image hasn't improved. However, if I were forced to choose, personally I would place a higher importance on having a high self-image, emotionally and mentally, rather than physically. Which in turn, does mean that women's self-image as a whole has improved greatly since Victorian times.of us have certain ideas about ourselves, and our basic worth as a person. This is called self-image. Your self-image is your picture of yourself. It is your opinion, your value of judgment, and the image of yourself you carry with you out into the world.The self-image of women has changed over time, particularly in Victorian times compared to our modern day. It is especially interesting to compare the modern steps for "Healthy Ways of Perceiving Yourself" to what women actually felt.society has changed throughout time; however, there is still room for improvement. With all the research available, women have the opportunity to dominate in fields that our ancestors were not allowed to study. In the year 2002, girls have opportunities to make a difference in the beliefs of society. There are more organizations that promote being a girl. To conclude, the more women care and want to contribute to making a better future, the more opportunities for a better life will be present in our daughtersХ lifetime.
Bibliography
1Anna Julia Cooper.The Higher Education of Women,1892.- 36 p.
2Alice Zimern <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alice_Zimmern&action=edit>.Renaissance of Girls' Education in England,1898.-19 p.
Perry, Maria. The Word of a Prince: A Life of Elizabeth I,1990. - 34 p.
4A. Weir. The Children of England, 1997. -88 p.
Hasler, P.W., History of Parliament, House of Commons,1558-1603.- 143 p.
Delemont, Sara. A Womans Place in Education. Avebury, Great Britain:1996- 112 p.
Kramarae, Cheris and Dale Spencer, eds. Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women, Vol 2. Routledge. New York, New York: 2000.- 176 p
Acker, Sandra and David Warren Piper, eds. Is Higher Education Fair to Women?, 1984. - 419 p.
Walton, Irene. Sexuality and Motherhood. England: Books for Midwives Press, 1994.-191 p.
Eales, Jacqueline. Women in Early Modern England, 1500-1700. Pennsylvania: UCL Press, 1998. - 127p.
Gorham, Deborah. The Victorian Girl and the Feminine Ideal. London: Croom Helm Ltd., 1982. - 207 p.
Leroy, Margaret. Pleasure: The Truth about Female Sexuality. London: Harper Collins, 1993. - 452p.
Shanley, Mary Lyndon. Feminsm, Marriage, and the Law in Victorian England, 1850-1895. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989. - 35p.
Baer, Judith A. Our Lives Before the Law: Constructing a Feminist Jurisprudence. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999. - 169p.
16http://www.utexas.edu/academic/ois
17http://www.victorianstation.com/queenquotes.htm
http://depthome.women and health.edu.htm
19 http://www.express-kniga.women in pol.de.htm