Song Character Analysis Worksheet - The University of North ...

magazines, including Ladies Home Journal (debut in 1889), advocated this new style of
motherhood by advising women “to be active, educated, and not to smother their chil-
dren.” 26 Young women were also becoming better educated outside of the home. In
1886 there were 365 institutions of higher education for women (266 women’s colleges
and 297 mechanical and scientific institutes that accepted females), with an enrollment of
35,976. 27
The era between 1890 and 1920 has been labeled the “Progressive Era” in history
texts and the age of “social housekeeping” in feminist criticism. Social and legal reforms
enacted by the professional politicians were actually instigated by the work of women’s
societies. Educated women used their classmate and church connections to build organi-
zational networks that rivaled their husbands’ corporate business world, according to
historian Mary Ryan. 28 These included benevolent societies, foreign missions boards,
temperance societies, prison reform, women’s rights, and the evangelical revivals that
swept across the nation. Some specific organizations that began during this period and
influenced American culture throughout the twentieth century are the General Federation
of Women’s Clubs (1890), the National Council of Jewish Women (1893), the National
Association of Colored Women (1895), and the Young Women’s Christian Association
(1920). Along with social reform, women’s volunteer service and philanthropy to
libraries, hospitals, schools, parks, playgrounds, concert halls, and museums helped build
26 Kleinberg, 171.
27 Shapiro, 13. These figures are in comparison to 802 institutions for men with an enrollment of
78,185. For further discussion, see Page Smith, Daughters of the Promised Land: Women in American
History (Boston: Little, Brown, 1970).
28 Lasch, 96.
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