Jacksonian Age women's reform Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Jacksonian Age women's reform - Essay Example These reform movements were known as ante-bellum reform movements. According to Cheathem (2008), the Jacksonian age was a period of democratic progress and increasing egalitarianism for men but one of regression and repression for women. The age characterized a male defined society and on the basis of equality; feminism characterized it as well as a struggle for female autonomy and self determination. Women were mainly seen as breeders and child bearers. The temperance movement called for restriction and outright prohibition of alcohol consumption due to its strong religious elements. Cheathem (2008) says that the apex of the ante-bellum reforms movement during the Jacksonian period was the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 which women listed the grievances that American women had against institutions that were male dominated and included lack of female suffrage. On female health, most medics did not have a respect for women’s bodily autonomy and many hysterectomies performed in the United States were medically unnecessary. Personal care becam e aggressively politicized and the politics of medicine became intensely personal. Doctors and scientists defined women’s nature in terms of their reproductive system and were seen as virtually pathological, causing a long list of emotional, mental and bodily complications (Cheathem, 2008). Female patients that suffered from mental health were treated by hydropathy; dumping cold water on patients and immersing them in icy pools. The Jacksonian era showed the ideologies of how the woman’s place was in the home. Edward Clarke, a Boston based doctor in 1874 warned society against letting young women pursue too demanding an education (Cheathem, 2008). Other arguments combined with religious authority, etiquette instruction and legal restrictions to declare women unsuited for the public sphere of politics, business and