The Study Of American Jewish Women's Social Status(1881-1914)

Eastern European Jewish women immigrated to the U.S. between 1881 and 1914 was facing the survival and development, tradition and modernity, integration and assimilation and many other issues. The sharp collision between the ancient Jewish tradition of Eastern Europe and modern American culture was embodied most vividly on them, which makes the social status of Jewish Women in America took greater changes than it was when they were in Eastern Europe. As to this paper, I'm going to exploring the social status of these Eastern European Jewish women from three aspects:Economically, the Eastern European Jewish women in the United States still bear a huge financial responsibility of the family. Depending on the home working, the board,helping their husbands to dealt with small businesses or doing it themselves and other ways, the Jewish wives supplemented the family income requirements which their husband could not finish by themselves. More and more Jewish girls went to the factories or shops, they played an irreplaceable role in maintaining Household livelihoods and they even enhanced family social status,of course,at the expense of themselves. However, due to various factors, these Jewish Women were still subject to the male in economic place, they have not gained the economic status consistent with their contribution.As to Education, the education system regardless of race and gender in United States provided unprecedented access to education for the Eastern European Jewish immigrant women. Secular education,vocational education and others were opened to all girls, their educational status were much higher than they had in Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, the economic plight of Eastern European Jewish immigrants had prompted them to come down to earth, they had to help their parents to earn the bread. Besides, these women were still being detained by the religious barriers during this period, Traditional religious education still seldom opened to these women. Generally, the educational status of American Eastern European Jewish women still needed further improvement.As far as Marriage status is concerned, because of the protection of Marriage Law in the United States, the Eastern European Jewish immigrant women's Marriage status is improved to a large sense. Girls gained a larger right to choose their spouses in general. Jewish Wives also received a certain degree of discretion in the family affairs. But the Eastern European Jewish tradition in the United States still has great potential impact,which should not be overlooked is that, abandoned wife as a bad traditional Eastern European Jewish habit continued to prevail, and the Jewish women were still suffering from it.