Changing Gender Roles

By Bridgette Byrd O’Connor

Gender roles have often been defined by a separation of men into public
spheres, such as business and leadership, and women into private spheres,
such as homemaking and motherhood. But the new ideas in the long
nineteenth century—like nationalism, communism, and industrialization—
challenged these roles.

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Changing Gender Roles
Bridgette Byrd O’Connor

Introduction
In the long nineteenth century, ideas about gender1 started to change. Men and women have had gendered roles
in almost all societies throughout history; although these roles varied a great deal depending on the geographic
location. But in the long nineteenth century, the expansion of European colonialism spread European norms about
men’s and women’s roles to other parts of the world. Sometimes it spread through cultural networks of exchange
and sometimes by force and coercion. In many societies, men’s roles were in the public sphere, meaning things like
government and business. Women, by contrast, participated in the private sphere of the home. But there were lots
of exceptions to this! Most people’s lives and stories don’t fit neatly into these boxes of public and private spheres.
Life is more complicated than that, and not everyone performs the role society assigns them. Gender roles are
different in different places, cultures, societies and social classes.

Many European societies subscribed to “Victorian” ideals of gender roles, named for the long reign of the British
Queen Victoria. Women were to stay in the home, and if they went out, they usually only went to spaces separate
from men. While Queen Victoria didn’t exactly fit into this traditional gender role—she did rule all of Britain and its
empire—she still conveyed these ideals to her subjects. Because of the global reach of the British Empire, these
ideas spread all over the world, often through force.

But in the long nineteenth century, people all over the

world found new ways to resist these oppressive
gender roles. New ideas like socialism, nationalism and
women’s rights helped transform traditional attitudes
and expectations. As a result, gender roles began to
shift and change. The labor-intensive Industrial
Revolution brought many women out of the home to
work in factories. Colonized people began to resist
European control. These and other changes also helped
create social reforms and new ideas about childhood,
voting rights, education and labor. In Europe and
America, the term “New Woman” was applied—and not
always as a compliment—to women who sought greater
access to higher education and more freedoms. Many
women of different classes united to fight for greater
rights in the workplace, marriage and, of course, the
voting booth, where they wanted their voices to be
heard in government.

In the colonized world, changing gender roles emerged

alongside nationalism and struggles for independence. “The New Woman”—this satirical photo represents changing
People there resisted colonialism and formed gender roles in the nineteenth century. The “New Woman” dressed
transnational networks to fight for women’s rights. in man’s clothing is observing her husband doing the washing,
Ideas about how to define gender, femininity and even 1901. By Underwood & Underwood and courtesy of the United
masculinity were transforming everywhere. States Library of Congress, public domain.

1 “Gender” and “the sexes” are not the same thing. The World Health Organization defines gender as something that “refers to the socially
constructed characteristics of women and men—such as norms, roles and relationships of and between groups of women and men.” In contrast to
this is the traditional biological definition of the sexes as male and female.
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Changing Gender Roles in Asia

In Asia, particularly East and Southeast Asia,
Confucianism had the greatest impact on defining
gender roles, and it defined women as subordinate to
men. This applied to women in prominent roles at court
as well as women in middle- to lower-class households.
Social traditions deemed that women should be
respectful of the men in their lives: rulers, fathers,
husbands, brothers and sons. Confucian ideology wasn’t
just confined to East Asia and China— its influence
reached other areas through trade and migration.

For the most part, East Asian women were confined

to living and working in the private sphere around
the home. However, some women broke free from
these constraints. There were a handful of powerful
women in Chinese government, such as Empress
Dowager Cixi, who dominated governmental policy
during the Qing Dynasty. Other women exercised
power alongside male relatives. Some women also had
to work outside of the home to support their families.
Wet-rice farming was a labor-intensive process that
required both men and women to participate in the
planting, tending and harvesting of the crop. Along with
agricultural duties, many women also worked in the
textile industry, although this was usually done in the
home prior to industrialization. When men were called
off to war, women took their places in the fields and in
the markets. As these examples show, Confucian ideals
were often very different from the daily life of many
women, especially those of the middle to lower classes.
These traditional Chinese roles began to change as
European imperialists pushed their way into China. Portrait of Surabaya, an Indo-Chinese woman in 1910. By the
European desires to open up China’s markets unleashed Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean
Studies and Leiden University Library, public domain.
more changes for China in both political and intellectual
life. This mainly affected the upper classes. However,
those changes would be felt by many people living
in both China and Southeast Asia, as European
imperialism spread. There is a Chinese saying that goes, “Chinese learning for essence, Western learning for
application.” It expresses the Chinese view of the European intrusion as necessary for military and economic
reasons, but also a commitment to keep their traditional Confucian ideals.

Other aspects of European life can be seen throughout China during the long nineteenth century, including in how
aristocratic women presented themselves. The portrait above of Surabaya shows her dressed in European-style
clothing and posing in the style of European portraiture of the period. And while that’s a lovely fashion statement,
European imperialism in other parts of Asia was not as popular or kind. Many women in Southeast Asia living under

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Bridgette Byrd O’Connor

imperialist control were hired as inexpensive labor for European plantations and factories. Conditions in these
areas were similar to other plantation systems in that the work was hard, the conditions were horrific, and the pay
was very low. And while this work outside of the home was not a new prospect for those in the lower classes, the
conditions and discriminatory practices of the European imperialists did push women and men to seek out reforms
and independence.

Nationalism, Socialism, and Resistance

In many areas of Africa and Latin America, traditional gender roles changed as a result of resistance to colonialism.
Gender roles in Africa varied depending on the location. But generally, men and women performed different types
of jobs. In many regions of the continent, women farmed while men tended to animals and did metalworking. In
West Africa, both men and women were traders and merchants, although men usually held more of these positions
than women.

With the expansion of imperial control throughout the

nineteenth century, Western nations attempted to force
their ideas about gender roles on their colonized
subjects. But imperialist governments often
underestimated the cultural power and importance that
women had in local society. Indigenous women attempted
to use their traditional roles to exert influence over
European imperial governments. For example, Igbo-Ibibio
women in Nigeria were angered when the British
officials attempted to tax women’s property. Historian
Temma Kaplan describes how thousands of women
marched to the capital to confront the British
representatives:

“The women stole the hats [of the British men], then
they rubbed their naked bottoms over the faces and
bodies of the chiefs and their court officers, who had Igbo women in the early twentieth century, unknown author.
Image courtesy of Margery Perham, Native Administration in
dispatched the census takers. The demonstrators
Nigeria, London, 1937, UNESCO. Public domain.
moved on to the towns and attacked British
merchants whom they held responsible for the
declining price of palm products and the high costs of
imported goods. When the Yoruba troops, members of
an alien ethnic group, were ordered to attack the women, the women turned their backs and mooned2 the soldiers—
challenging them to ‘shoot your mothers.’ The soldiers shot down 18 women in a massacre that alerted the British
to anti-imperialist sentiments, which would increasingly intensify” (Kaplan 178).

In Africa, Asia and Latin America, women began to take on political roles in the organization of labor unions
and political groups that fought for independence from Western powers. Men’s roles also changed, because no
matter your gender, the white ruling class treated all indigenous people as inferior. In Latin America, the arrival
of European powers meant that Western beliefs and gender roles were pushed on the indigenous population. Any
power that indigenous women had was lost as the Catholic church introduced patriarchal values. However, as
independence movements erupted across Latin America, women and men challenged these values.

2 When you “moon” someone, you show them your bare bottom. Aren’t you glad you read footnotes now?
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Bridgette Byrd O’Connor

Many of these independence movements used the theories of Karl Marx and his views about workers’ rights. For
example, Marxism in theory imagined equality for all people regardless of class or gender. There were assigned
roles for men and women, but theoretically both men and women could attain leadership roles and advance
as workers and in the party. For many revolutionary women and men, there was a struggle between the more
traditional views of gender separating the public (male) and private (female) spheres. Independence, therefore,
was viewed as being achieved through a class struggle and the overthrow of imperial powers. As a result of
more women entering the labor force and with workers uniting to fight for independence, industrialization and
independence movements helped change gender norms.

Nationalism also played a role in these efforts. New ideas about the solidarity of the nation and the creation of
shared stories or myths helped to unify people living as members of one nation. While differences in gender or
ethnicity weren’t supposed to be highlighted, both men and women’s roles in the nation were still well defined.
Women were praised as patriots for being homemakers and mothers, while men went out to participate in the actual
governing of the nation.

Conclusion
The imagery used in the formation of a new nation was also steeped in gender. Some of the new nations that emerged
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were characterized as feminine while those defending or fighting to secure
the nation, usually through military force, were masculine. For example, images of “Lady Liberty” and “Republican
Motherhood” were used in both in the American and French revolutions. Liberty, symbolized by a woman, led the
people into battle. But in terms of appropriate gender roles for women, images of motherhood and protectors of the
family from within the home were used most often. In contrast, men were viewed as the revolutionary fighters and
were praised for their strength and virility. Men were seen as protectors of the family and nation from outside the
home. As new nations emerged in Germany, Italy and Japan, their leaders spoke of a “Fatherland.” Women often
played a role in national unification. But in these new “masculine” states, men were supposed to embody masculine
virtues of strength while women were once again pushed to the margins of public life.

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Sources
Dutton, George. “Beyond Myth and Caricature: Situating Women in the History of Early Modern Vietnam.” Journal of Vietnamese
Studies 8, no. 2 (2013): 1-36.
Kaplan, Temma. “Revolution, Nationalism, and Anti-Imperialism.” In A Companion to Gender History, 170-185. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2004.
Meade, Teresa A. and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks. A Companion to Gender History. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2004.
Meissner, Werner. “China’s Search for Cultural and National Identity from the Nineteenth Century to the Present.” China
Perspectives 68 (2006): 41-54.
Wiesner-Hanks, Merry. “World History and the History of Women, Gender, and Sexuality.” Journal of World History 18, no. 1
(2007): 53-67.

Bridgette Byrd O’Connor

Bridgette Byrd O’Connor holds a DPhil in history from the University of Oxford and has taught Big History, World History, and
AP U.S. Government and Politics for the past ten years at the high school level. In addition, she has been a freelance writer and
editor for the Big History Project and the Crash Course World History and U.S. History curriculums.

Image credits
Cover: ‘The New Woman, Wash Day’. Stereoscopic card detail. © Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images
“The New Woman”—this satirical photo represents changing gender roles in the nineteenth century. The “New Woman” dressed
in man’s clothing is observing her husband doing the washing, 1901. By Underwood & Underwood and courtesy of the United
States Library of Congress, public domain. [Link]
Portrait of Surabaya, an Indo-Chinese woman in 1910. By the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean
Studies and Leiden University Library, public domain. [Link]
Kurkdjian,_N.V._Photografisch_Atelier_O._-_Soerabaja_-_Indo-Chinese_woman,_Surabaya_-_circa_1910.tif
Igbo women in the early twentieth century, unknown author. Image courtesy of Margery Perham, Native Administration in
Nigeria, London, 1937, UNESCO. Public domain. [Link]
century).jpg

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