The Issues of Modernization and Gender Ideology

When the term modernization entered the industrial society in the 19th century, it altered not only society’s social dynamics, but also the family structure. The transition from an Agrarian lifestyle to Urbanization meant that the breadwinners’ [the family’s patriarch] location from the home were extended even further.

New gender ideologies such as Domestic Ideology and the Free Labor Ideology influenced what society thought of the characteristics of the successful working man and woman in the murder of Helen Jewett and Richard P. Robinson’s trial. The DI and the FLI brought positive developments for the American men and women, in giving women a purpose and authority and value in their assigned role and encouraged and motivated men to work towards financial success. Families before the Industrialization worked on the homeland plantation. Women spent most of their time within the house, preparing meals, cleaning and educating the children while the men were located on more labor-intensive work outside the home, on the plantations and the responsibilities beyond the homestead. Both of the gender’s roles were directed around supporting and making the home and family prosper.

Modernization transformed many parts of Agrarian lifestyle from labor, to capital-intensive and from rural to urban. The emergence of modernization in Industrial America gave birth to two gender ideologies, Domestic Ideology and Free Labor Ideology. These ideologies changed how women and men are viewed and the role they play in the public and private sphere. Domestic Ideology is the justification for why women belong in the more private realm that is typically obligated to the home, the family and any economic relations. In Domestic Ideology, women are seen as the caregivers and the is moral compass for society. Their place in the home is no longer seen as an expectation but as an important role that is beneficial for society. Women are given the leadership role of the home when the patriarch is gone, the home front also becomes a business for the women. Women become the home experts in all financial domesticity.

Lydia Maria Child, author of The American Frugal Housewife, contributed her book during the 1830s with a critical eye on the “unpaid work within the household” and embraces the “family finances” and its ties with the economy. Child explains how women of the household can be used economically to support the family. She uses the phrase “Time is money” to emphasize the necessity of saving and recycling resources. Child gives an example; mothers can reuse “scraps of gown, curtains” and other low-cost materials to patch and turn an old fabric to something else useful. Child also stresses on teaching children the significance of financial economy and the importance of “to consider every day lost win which some little thing has not been done to” better the family economy (103). Even as women are placed under these unrealistic expectations, there are also ideologies that are also pushed onto the male partner.

FLI or Free Labor Ideology, is the idea that anyone can raise their status no matter their living conditions. Men can gain financial success through self-improvement and self-control over themselves. This ideology bases itself around the idea of education or learning an important skill that can be capitalized upon. It may be becoming an apprentice or going to school and getting an education, but the goal of the Free Labor Ideology is to improve and motivate oneself to gain social mobility. This ideology is exemplified in the Horatio Alger Jr’s book Ragged Dick when Dick had a conversation with Frank’s Uncle, Mr. Whitney about his rise up the social ladder. When Dick asked Mr. Whitney how he left the life of poverty, the older man advised Dick to pursue knowledge stating he “must know something of books”. Dick exemplifies the motivation that FLI supports through his determination to eventually leave the black boots lifestyle. He begins his journey by setting aside the “Five Dollars” Mr. Whitney gave him in his bank-book and makes the decision that “he would lay by every cent he could spare from his earnings toward the fund he hoped to accumulate”. Dick was motivated to look at his future and find the self-control to save his earnings to one day, find the opportunity to make something of himself. Women were seen during the Industrialization Age as pure.

Domestic Ideology perceivs that women possess innate characteristics that make women purer than men. The book, The Murder of Helen Jewett written by Patricia Cline Cohen depicts a prostitute name Helen Jewett’s murder and how it influenced the change of media and society. Helen Jewett defies Domestic Ideology’s vision. During her childhood, Helen, formerly known as Dorcas, had attempted to fit into the ideology when it came to tending the household and supporting her family. As a child, Dorcas had duties such as “cooking, sweeping and laundry” along with the opportunity to pursue education in a “Girl Academy in Portland and Boston” (187) where they would be taught home-based skills such as needle work, piano lessons, and other duties of the “social elite.” Helen Jewett rebels this ideology when she was “driven into sin by the very necessity of their natures” (219), separated herself from her foster family and lead the life of “sin” as a prostitute.

The reactions of the public to her occupation has been thrown in multiple different lights. One journalist believes that Helen’s murder and fall from ‘grace’ can be seen as a testimony to women who are led astray from Domestic Ideology’s path. Helen’s end is a lesson for women to “not follow the fallen girl through the passages of this amour” and resist these temptations, for the “fallen woman was contaminated” (225). Helen Jewett is an anomaly and her case brought equal measures of awe, fascination and disgust. However, the private and public sphere aren’t entirely separated from each other. These spheres are flexible and can mesh together at any time. Women who enter the workforce such as laboring in factories are excluded from the Domestic Ideology that strictly localizes women to the hearth.

The Domestic Ideology does not benefit all women, neither does it create other opportunities for other work Women such as Amy Galusha, A Lowell Mill Girl who lived in the year 1849-1851, she left her parent’s home and worked in the mills. Her letters to her family speak of the working conditions and the Urbanized culture that differs from the Agricultural lifestyle. Amy Galusha describes her area of work compared to the men’s in the mills explaining the difficult things men need to do such as “keep the looms and machinery in order,” while “the girls have nothing to do but tend the work after it is all fixed and set going” (118). DI makes women’s role incredibly finite, there are no other options open to women. Those who venture beyond the homestead to find work lack the labor-intensive skills that men fulfill. Here beyond the space of Domestic Ideology, women can see the stark difference between their partner.

Similar to Domestic Ideology’s values, Free Labor Ideology also does not completely fit all men within its space. Richard P. Robinson’s case can be justified by the Free Labor Ideology. Men are seen as the head of the house, they work primarily outside of the home on the plantation and take on the responsibilities in the public sphere. The FLI also makes the justification that because men are placed outside of safety of the home, they are more vulnerable to corruption and temptations that would destroy the family structure and their lives. However, the Free Labor Ideology teaches that men need to learn self-control that coincides with Patricia Cohen in The Murder of Helen Jewett pertaining to this; a mother’s advice to her son, “stressing the paramount importance of avoiding drink and sexual sin” (215). She encourages him to focus on his duties and keep himself pure and “unspotted from the world.”

FLI also agrees with Robinson’s motivation to become someone of higher class and gain social mobility. Robinson represents the characteristics of this Ideology, someone who is “respectable and had “respectable connexions”” (232). However, women and men benefit from these ideologies in the sense that both genders can find importance and value in their roles and contribute to society. These ideologies encourage the individual to work hard and most importantly, revolve their principles around the family structure. With Domestic Ideology, women can transition into the role of the educator as women were the primary teachers for their children. Godey’s Lady’s Book glorifies the women’s role in the home. The pictures depict the women not only as the teacher, they were the home managers and held domestic authority over the home economy. Godey presents an image set in the 1850s of a majestic women dressed in a beautiful white gown with a veil draped over her head. She represents purity, morality and a religious pillar that keeps her family on the path away from sin and temptation. Free Labor Ideology promotes men to learn self-control and motivation for financial stability, and through their professional characteristics, they can gain financial success. These ideologies are closely intertwined with one another, they support each other and can be seen in many different spheres.