The World of Little Women: America's Little Women

The women who lived during the time of Little Women have affected the 21^st century in many ways.  From the women who stayed home to care for their children, as Marmee did, to the women who went out to get a job like Jo, the women of the 19^th century have had a significant impact on the modern world in many areas, such as education, work in the home, and work out of the home.

During the time of Little Women, women usually did much of their work in the home. Most women would care for their children, cook for their families, and clean their house.  They would also sew, wash, iron, and mend their families’ clothes.  Women who had a garden or animals would also tend the garden, milk the cows, and take care of the chickens.  Girls who were not in school would often work alongside their mothers and help with the chores as Beth did in Little Women.  Wealthy women, like Sally Moffat from Little Women, would often have servants to do the housework and cooks to make the meals.  The chores that the women did may not seem too hard in contemporary society, but without the modern appliances that make cooking and washing clothes easy, these tasks could take most of the day.  Just as in Little Women, the women of the 1860s worked hard throughout the day to make their house into a home.

Education for women during the time of Little Women helped more women to have successful careers.  Education in the early 1800s was mostly for boys, and, though there were a few schools for girls, they were all very expensive.  Later in the 19^th century, during the time of Little Women, most girls could go to school.  In 1837, the first women's only college was opened by Mary Lyon in New England, and, in 1855, the University of Iowa became the first coed college.  The better schooling for women during the later 1800s helped many women to get jobs and be successful in their careers.

In the 1800s, women began to play an important role outside the home as well as inside.  During the early 1800s, the role of most women was to stay in the home, care for children, and do house work.   As the number of well educated women grew, so did the number of working women.  At first, most women working outside of their homes were employed as teachers, housekeepers, or servants.  Some women served as governesses, like Meg did in Little Women.  When factories started hiring women, many women left the farm and moved to the city for a job.  Soon, women were working as nurses, doctors, lawyers, secretaries, shop keepers, journalists, and much more.  During the Civil War, many women, like Louisa May Alcott (the author of Little Women), served as nurses for wounded soldiers.  In these ways, women of the 1800s began to make an impact outside the home as they had been doing inside the home for generations.

Many women from the 1800s have impacted the way people in America live today.  The women who started to work outside the home in the late 1800s influenced many women to work not only in the home but also outside the home.  The work of women like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton helped women to gain the right to vote.  A women named Amelia Jenks Bloomer led a dress reform campaign.  Her introduction of Bloomers encouraged women's clothing to be more practical and comfortable.  The women who campaigned for better education for women helped women to become more successful in their carriers.  But the women who did work outside the home were not the only women who made a difference in America today.  The women who stayed home raising their children also have made an impact on everyone today, by teaching their children how to live, act, and follow God with all their hearts.  These women of the 1800s have surely impacted the lives of Americans each day.

The women of the 19^th century made a large impact on education, the home, and work.  They changed the way that women lived their lives then and how they live them now.  Just as the women in Little Women made a difference in the lives of those around them, the strength, determination, and character of the women of the 1800s has greatly influenced the world today. 

                                   
 

Bibliography

Macdonald, Fiona. Women in 19th-century America. New York, New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1999. Print.

Silber, Nina. Daughters of the Union: Northern Women Fight the Civil War. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2005. Print.

Strange, Matthew. Guardians of the Home: Women's Lives in the 1800s. Broomall, Pennsylvania: Mason Crest Publishers Inc., 2011. Print.