Analysis Of Harriet Addams 'Woman Question'

After all her revolutionizing accomplishments and societal contributions, Addams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931, just a few days before her death. Secondly, Harriet Martineau was one of the first Victorian women to advocate the importance of women's rights and roles in society. She fought for the right of laws and practices discriminating women to be abolished. She was a positivist who particularly played a key role in campaigning for women having the right to vote, to have the ability to choose their career paths, own their own property, and most actively, equalizing the right for women to gain higher education to that of men. As Harriet famously said, “The sum and substance of female education in America, as in England, is training …show more content…
This wide-range, in depth approach led to a new way of studying sociology and was further introduced as one of the main foundations of modern sociology. Furthermore, Martineau was the first to write about the “Woman Question” and introduce feminist sociological perspectives in her writings. The 'Woman Question' was what early nineteenth century thinkers and activists like herself call “modern day feminism” (Sussman, 33). Not only did she stand up for the segregation of gender in social institutions, she encouraged women to overcome constraints imposed by men on their gender. It was the debate surrounding this “Woman Question” that sparked the earliest feminist movements in the nineteenth century, especially in the realms of suffrage, sexual freedom, marriage, reproductive rights, property rights, and legal rights ( Rowbotham, 64). Most importantly, Harriet is referred to as 'the mother of sociology' in which she was coined the first person to analyze and translate the works of Auguste Comte, better known as the founding father of sociology. She had a gift to translate difficult work into something that everybody could understand. By often creating interesting short stories, …show more content…
This controversial work was a significant step in feminist thought and recognized the fact that not all women were pleased with a male dominated society. It also clarifies that sociological concepts of gender roles and their social views clearly diminish full potential that a women can contribute to society. Wollstonecraft argued women who were given equal rights would transcend and subdue society on an equal level with men. According to Claudia Johnson, education was critically important to Wollstonecraft both as a liberal reformer and as a radical theorist and proponent of women's rights (Johnson, 24). She believed that co-educating both genders in social institutions would promote girls to become more independent and self sufficient. By doing so, it would create a solid foundation to have a sincere and genuine relationship with men in later life. Wollstonecraft fought for the fact that women were not just meant to be proper mothers and house slaves, but have a far greater purpose than just to please men. As the words said from Mary Wollstonecraft herself, “If children are to be educated to understand the true principle of patriotism, their mother must be a patriot; and the love of mankind, from which an orderly train of virtues spring, can only

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