Women and Print Culture: The Politicization of Women in the Revolutionary Era and Early Republic
Abstract
The Revolutionary and Early Republic periods in the United States were
tumultuous times, and created an environment of changing and evolving roles for women.
The Revolution and its ideology that stressed liberty and equality provided women with
new roles, and influenced the definition of womanhood. After the Revolution, women
continued to develop their identities to fit the new wider political arena that emerged in
the Early Republic. The Revolution helped change politics in the early Republic; there
were more voters, it was more democratic, and the way formal and informal politics
worked developed. As politics expanded, women participated in politics more in
informal ways, and saw themselves as political beings. The language of the Revolution
called for freedom and equality, but the extent that this ideology extended into the new
republic and who would be included was still unclear. The Revolution changed women's
lives, enabling many women to see themselves as political beings, however, this was
limited mostly to middle to upper class white women. However, this shift in women's
politicization was not simple, and as the form of government' settled in the Early Republic
women's roles as political beings and as actors in the public realm were still limited. It is
important to examine the influence of these ideas and look at how this ideology worked
in the Early Republic.
In examining the lives of women in this period some questions surround the issue
of women's politicization. How did the Revolution impact the lives of women? How did
Revolutionary. ideology shape the way women wrote about themselves? How was
womanhood represented in print culture? And what is the significance of the gap between
women's private writings and the print media? In order to understand the politicization
of women in the Early Republic, it is important to also look at the definition of
womanhood in the larger context of the emerging American culture, and specifically
within print culture.
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
"Voices of the Women": Women's Empowerment and the Role of Family Planning Among Low-Income Women in Guadalajara, Mexico
Beachy, Elizabeth D. (Kalamazoo, Mich. : Kalamazoo College., 1996) -
A Woman's Place: Women in International Development and The United Nations Development Fund for Women
Pear, Heather Elizabeth (Kalamazoo, Mich. : Kalamazoo College., 2001) -
Persisting Inequalities and Mitigating Forces: An Exploration of Japanese Women and the Women's Movement in Japan
Pritts, Amanda (Kalamazoo, Mich. : Kalamazoo College., 1998)On study abroad in Nagoya, Japan, I was repeatedly bewildered by the circumstance of Japanese women. In many instances, the Japanese women that I encountered appeared stiflingly oppressed. Yet, just as often, these same ...