From The "Victorian Lady" To The "New Woman"

American middle-class women's history from the year 1870 to the year 1920 is a very important subject in American Women studies. This period witnessed the emergence of what most nineteenth-century Americans called the "New Woman". With the development of industrialization and urbanization, people's living standards, especially those of the middle-class background, were greatly raised. The improvement of material life affected the life of the middle-class family. Homemaking no longer took a lot of time. Middle-class women thus had more free time at their own disposal. Besides, as educational opportunities increased, more and more middle-class women became discontent with their confined social life. They wanted to go into the society and lived a more meaningful life as men. The discontent and confusion of many middle-class women were particularly evident at that time. A large number of middle-class women began to break away from the fetters of the Victorian gender ideology and focus their attention on the affairs outside the home. Never before in American history had so many middle-class women played such an active role outside their family life. They joined national women's organizations, devoted themselves to various social reforms, and fought for the equal rights of their own and other people. Middle-class women's active performance in society exerted a profound influence on their life. Women, for the first time, won the right to vote. Many middle-class women escaped from the confinement of home and began their public life. Their social status was raised and their entry into public life hastened the death of the traditional doctrine of spheres.This paper is divided into six parts. The first part is the introduction part. It talks in general the appearance of the "New Woman" in American society and the social performances and impact of these new women. The second part deals with the characteristics of the "New Woman". It discusses in detail the distinctive aspects of these new women, that is, their activities in the public arena, their changed attitudes towards...