Student Name, Group #: 2012 Exam

1. Student Name, Group #:2012 Exam Thematic Essay: Analyze the ways in which the rise of the middle class affected family structure and gender roles in Europe in the 1800’s. Critical Trigger Words: Analyze (show trends). Middle Class (Def. changes) Family Structure (Economy/Roles) Gender Roles ( = Women’s lives specifically) Two Step Direction Phrase: Focus on not only on how jobs changed the types of work done, but how Middle Class women’s roles were altered as a result of this. Name Check Textiles, Cult of Domesticity.

2. Introduction:

3. Introduction: As changes in the economic climate of Britain lead to an increase in the size and influence of the Middle Class, we see a clear and definable shift in gender roles within the nuclear family. We need to pay particular attention to the breakup of the family economy, (fueled by a growing textile industry), the changing family and work roles for women and men, and the ultimate rise of the so-called “Cult of Domesticity.”

4. Body One

5. Body One: In phase one of the Industrial Revolution, with the rise of mechanization in textiles, and the relocation of both spinning and weaving under one factory roof, we begin to see an irreparable rift in both the family economy, and the traditional coexistence of men and women within it. Men are increasing employed in the remaining skilled labor within the textile industry, and women began to be relegated to unskilled labor within large textile mills. Add a rise in child, labor, as well as the unique experience of traveling to work, rather than under one familial roof, and we begin to see a sea change in both family structure as well as “traditional” gender roles. As industrialization moves to a broader base after 1850, Middle Class “membership” grows, and job opportunities do as well.

6. Body Two

7. Body Two Broadened job opportunities could be found in the expanding bureaucracies of the later nineteenth century, as well as a whole new sector of “white collar” workers, the so-called petite bourgeoisie. Women play the ironic role of increasing the ranks of the working class, but also having their skill level and salaries both diminished. Employers saw them marginal, expendable, and exploitable. As women in the growing middle class could, literally afford to leave the work force, we see a critical moment in the changes in family, as women embrace the domestic roles, fashion and child rearing, which will be called the “Cult of Domesticity”

8. Body Three

9. Body Three: Simply defined, the “Cult of Domesticity” is a convergence of middle class growth,greater wage stability for men, and the new found time away form work for the wives of this growing economic class. Middle Class women are now in a fully domestic role, raising their own children, as opposed to the governesses and wet nurses of the past. Home training and education of children were their province. Raised awareness of fashion and home furnishings, both products of increased production and wages, began to solidify the “place” of women in the home, and husbands as the “breadwinners.”

10. Conclusion:

11. Conclusion It is not surprising that we see, at the time Cult of Domesticity, a rise in Political Feminism. This in no was halts the growth of the industry of the women at home, and one could argue that there are some very clear gender roles, (even at this late date of post feminist Europe), where a women’s role as primary caregiver for the children, and domestic overseer is still an accepted structure.

12. Miscellaneous: Essay is really a three-step process: Show 19th century arc as changes in industry = rise of the middle class Demonstrate change over time as it applies to family economy, what work is done, and how women's lives change Circle in on Cult of Domesticity = Changes in Gender Roles