#womens history
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Oddly enough, this quote is often taken out of context and interpreted as a sort of slogan encouraging women to act out so they can “make history.” Ulrich’s original intent was almost the opposite–that ordinary women’s lives have not been valued by historians of the past, have not been seen as worthy of note.
A quote from an article about her book Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History states:
throughout history, “good” women’s lives were largely domestic, notes Ulrich. Little has been recorded about them because domesticity has not previously been considered a topic that merits inquiry. It is only through unconventional or outrageous behavior that women’s lives broke outside of this domestic sphere, and therefore were recorded and, thus, remembered by later generations. Ulrich points out that histories of “ordinary” women have not been widely known because historians have not looked carefully at their lives, adding that by exploring this facet of our past, we gain a richer understanding of history.
I was reminded of this after reading similar commentary from Patricia Ebrey in The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period. She writes:
Historians who see women’s history as a means of breaking down stereotypes about women’s place in society tend to neglect the married women who stayed home rearing children and tending to family affairs, preferring instead to uncover exceptional women who gained power or prominence in the largely male worlds of rulers, artists, writers, or rebels. Even though most women in premodern societies identified themselves with their roles in their families, the history of women and the history of the family have been treated as two distinct, at times even antagonistic, disciplines.
Too often we fall into the trap of thinking of “domestic” work as inferior or of lesser value. As someone who just finished a year of caring for my son full-time, I can say that it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I had just come off of an intense job that often had me working 60 to 70 hours a week and frequently working late into the night, and it was still nothing compared to the work I did in my home.
I’m also not trying to say that being a stay at home mother is better than working. It’s wonderful that women have so many more options and opportunities than they used to. I myself just started grad school, and i’m so excited for the career I am currently planning ahead of me. I’d never pretend that I want to go back in time to the days when women’s only sources of power were in domestic spheres, where the death of a spouse, infertility, or abandonment could spell disaster for a woman’s entire livelihood. What I amsaying is that women can be just as powerful in the family setting as they are in the work space. Our contributions to our families should be valued and recognized. And we should support each other in our endeavors, whether we choose to work or choose to stay at home–whether we choose to have families or whether we choose to stay childless, whether we choose to marry of choose to stay single.
“In seven compelling essays, the author narrates Japan’s modern history through its gendered and sexualized figures: imperial soldiers and salarymen, good wives and wise mothers, New Women and Modern Girls, comfort women and prostitutes, sexologists and queers, artists and video gamers. Frühstück combines great erudition with effervescent storytelling.”