From Advice to Young Men

After reading through a small portion in the back of "The Scarlet Letter" or more specifically pages 246-253 I came to realize how different the society is today. Most women wouldn't ever imagine having to fight for the right to be involved with the community, politics, and work environment. Staying home all day and everyday while cooking, cleaning, and raising the children really isn't ok with many women these days. Many people nowadays want to get their full education and follow their passions to what ever career best suits them. I know that being nothing but a housewife has never been an option for me. Although many may feel that there's nothing wrong with that, it's definately not something I'd like to live the rest of my life as.

The section that I read started out speaking of how men and women are simply equal through law. However, there is a wide difference between the consequences that come to men and women. During this time period, it was said that all women are to be more delicate than men. That makes prositution, adultery, etc. extremely filthy and gross for a woman to do. Also at the time, it was fair to say that men didn't have the manners as women did, and while the women were more reserved, the men's habits did not matter as much.

One thing that I disliked while reading was that in "old law", the husbands had the permission to restrain their wives upon misbehavior. Who's to say that what a woman does is misbehaving? If I were stuck in the house all day cleaning I would probably get in trouble too. I don't think it should be up to my own husband to restrain me though. While women are raised equally with men and learn the same thing, it shouldn't be fair that the woman is treated as a child by her own husband.

Towards the end of the section I read, the Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls was spoke about. It went more into how women and men are equal and deserve the same rights. I think that women today are very lucky that it wasn't them who fought to earn these rights. Women are still stereotyped when it comes to polotics and such, yet we have come a long way. Even though men and women tend to play a certain role when it comes to a family and sometimes work, it's out of our own choice and not by law.