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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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].
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].
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