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Did men and women receive equal treatment in the nineteenth century?

First, we should say that the nineteenth century represents a very long time, and women's rights changed a lot during that period. Second, since your question does not say what country, if any, you are specifically referring to, I will address women's rights in the United States. In that country, women's rights underwent significant changes throughout the nineteenth century, though women never really received what could be called equal treatment. Early in the nineteenth century,...

First, we should say that the nineteenth century represents a very long time, and women's rights changed a lot during that period. Second, since your question does not say what country, if any, you are specifically referring to, I will address women's rights in the United States. In that country, women's rights underwent significant changes throughout the nineteenth century, though women never really received what could be called equal treatment. Early in the nineteenth century, women effectively surrendered their legal identity to their husbands when they married. They gave up their property, could not sue for divorce in most states, and were essentially regarded as "covered" legally by their husbands. Except for an early nineteenth century constitutional anomaly in New Jersey that was was closed after women sought to exploit it, women were not allowed to vote anywhere in the United States until a handful of new western states extended the franchise to women near the end of the century. Women also had fewer educational and vocational opportunities than men, worked for lower wages than men in places like textile mills (which in any case preferred to employ young girls rather than married women), and were generally expected (even if many could not afford to do so) to serve as housewives and helpmeets for their husbands. Throughout the century, however, women played a vital role in many reform movements. Acting through clubs and voluntary societies, they were leaders in the movements for the abolition of slavery, temperance and  prison and asylum reform. Late in the century, women became leaders in the Progressive movement, especially urban reform initiatives like the settlement house movement. This political activism, in fact, became the seed for a broader women's suffrage movement.

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