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You can treat the feminist movement in different ways: support, scold or deny. It remains unconditional that today any woman can get an education, get a divorce, write a book and have sex of her own accord … Thanks to feminists. And we have a lot to learn from them.
1. Divorce is OK
Thanks to the work of Caroline Norton, a British writer, feminist and social activist, the first laws regarding divorce and child custody were passed. It was with her filing that hundreds of thousands of women were able to get a divorce and stop depending on their husbands.
In 1827, Caroline married lawyer George Norton. After a couple of years of marriage, a jealous and cruel husband beat Carolina and drank away money, while trying to use his wife’s origin to move up the career ladder. It was not until 1836 that she was able to leave her husband and secure an income from published books, although George tried to sue him too.
It was not possible to take the money, but the children went to him — so the law decided
But the persistent Carolina continued the struggle: she wrote letters to the courts, to parliament, to newspapers. Published an essay on the disempowerment of women. And in 1840, a British court passed a law that gave mothers the right to custody of children up to the age of seven and guaranteed the opportunity to see them afterwards.
So, thanks to the struggle of Carolina Norton, in Britain, and later in other countries, age-old traditions of marriage were revised, and women received the right to leave their husbands without fear of being left with nothing.
2. Clothes can be comfortable
In 1853, Amelia Jencks Bloomer took the stage to give a speech on women’s rights and shocked the audience. The fact is that the activist put on a completely indecent outfit: pantaloons and a knee-length skirt. In the European sense, trousers were the privilege of men — women were strictly forbidden to wear pantaloons.
Amelia Bloomer believed that a woman has the right to participate in the election of the president of the country, and to choose comfortable clothes that she likes. Without asking permission from men. It was in her honor that the bloomers skirt was named, which was worn in combination with pantaloons by cyclists.
Then only a few women could afford the courage to wear trousers, society still condemned such liberties. The First World War changed the situation. Women in the rear became uncomfortable wearing skirts and dresses, so they wore overalls and work trousers.
Interestingly, in France, the law that forbade women to wear trousers was officially repealed only in 2013. The law was passed in 1799, in 1892 women were allowed to wear sports trousers for riding, and in 1909 this privilege was awarded to cyclists.
3. Sex is possible only at the request of a woman
The women’s issue in Russia became an important issue at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. Before the revolution, the position of a woman in the family was regulated by legislation based on the principles of Domostroy and the provisions of the Holy Scriptures. Complete submission to her husband was the norm.
In Article 107 of the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire, the duties of a wife are described as follows: “A wife is obliged to obey her husband as the head of the family, to remain in love and unlimited obedience to him, to render him all pleasing and affection as the mistress of the house.”
But in 1914, primarily at the initiative of feminists, the law «On some changes and additions to existing laws on the personal and property rights of married women and on the relationship of spouses to each other and to children» was adopted. He allowed women to refuse to have sex with their husbands if he «seemed unbearable», allowed them to have securities and receive a residence permit separate from their husbands.
4. Your figure is your choice
In 1969, a young engineer from New York named Bill Fabry resented the way the world treated his fat wife, Joyce. The girl was denied work, they laughed at her. A couple of years earlier, he had read an article by a fat man named Lew Louderbach about the unfair treatment of fat people. So he made copies and gave them to everyone he knew. And then he gathered a small group of people and created the National Association for Helping Fat Americans.
These were the first attempts to talk about body positivity. Feminists soon took over. A group of Californian activists formed the Fat Underground To («Fat Free») movement. By 1973, they released their revolutionary Fat Manifesto, which demanded «equal rights for fat people in all walks of life».
The body-positive wave peaked in the 2000s, thanks to the spread of social networks and again thanks to the influence of feminists. In 1996, two American feminists, Connie Sobchak and Elizabeth Scott, founded the Body Positive Movement. The motto was the phrase: «My body is my business.» Thanks to his activities, the trend towards thinness and diets is losing relevance.
5. Everyone can do what they love
In 1971, art historian and feminist Linda Nochlin published the essay «Why Were There No Great Women Artists?». This article has inspired many researchers, art historians and gallery owners to study the contribution of women to art. The work of female artists and writers until the XNUMXth century remained underestimated or insufficiently studied.
Someone wrote under male pseudonyms, someone gave their work to brothers or husbands who passed them off as their own.
In her famous book A Room of Her Own, Virginia Woolf, one of the few recognized writers of the XNUMXth century, argues that the main thing that women lacked for creativity was “a room of their own to retire, and a minimum income so as not to starve.” None of her great predecessors could afford such elementary things. Women’s occupations were considered raising children, caring for the house and choosing hats for the next publication. Many professions have long been considered incompatible with the family.
Thanks to the appearance of the works of the artists Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt in exhibitions in the 1870s, the public started talking about the rights of women to make art. And already in 1891, the UK census showed that 3032 women identify themselves as artists, sculptors and engravers. And in 1903, for the first time, the Nobel Prize was awarded to Maria Sklodowska-Curie, a Polish-French chemist and physicist.
The feminist movement for the right to choose a profession, including creative and scientific, has led to the fact that today any woman can make films, paint pictures and practice medicine.
What to read about feminism:
Elena Omelchenko, Elena Zdravomyslova, Anna Temkina «Gender for Dummies»
Georges Duby and Michel Perrault «History of Women in the West»