Throughout history, the role of women in the society has drastically changed. While in the 18th century their lives were practically decided by men, nowadays they can choose the way they want to live. Then, the question that arises is, where women in the 1900s more respected than women nowadays?
Society was, then; governed by maleness. Above all, economical division was widely highlighted, and so the role of those who had the less was accomplishing with what nobody wanted to. Between those unwanted activities, the more slaughtered ones were left to women. As we can watch in Downton Abbey, the household was made up by both women and men, but the harsh work, such as cleaning, cooking and having things organized for their masters, which whom they couldn't have much contact. This contrasts with activities done by upper class women, who were more likely to be worried just by the handling of their family welfare and the way they were presented to society.
Furthermore, the difference between poor and rich women also comprehend the fact of having a family or not. Referring again to Downton Abbey, we can mention that maids or chambermaids dedicated their whole lives to their work, and had no possibility of starting a family as they had to continue earning their own living. Otherwise, Ms. Crawley’s daughters had to worry about marrying a wealthy man, as if remaining single or falling in love with an ‘ordinary’ men was not a possibility for them. It that happened on those days, society would had judged the woman and who knows in which way, what punishment was applied to her, whether it was moral or it implied an action, but it was something to be despised for.
Nowadays, changes had taken place and women have more rights and they are mostly respected. Today women’s role is not set and they participate in many aspects of life, and not only those ones specifically originally thought for them. Such is the case of house chores which was previously linked to women, and nowadays is shared with males, as mutual respect between genders. We can also experience that women can get jobs and work, when in the past, that was only men’s tasks.
Women have the possibility of choosing, not only in their professional life, but also in their personal lives. They may or may not choose to form a family and that is alright. If they bring a child to the world, their schedules would work (the same for her partner) and she might not want that for her life. So women’s “objective” in life is no more procreating for leaving an heir for her husband. Not to mention that nowadays is also accepted for women to remain single and enjoy lives/life all by themselves.
Moreover, social classes still exist, but that does not affect the role women have in society. They can get a job and decide what they want in their lives. The difference may be that in lower classes, male chauvinism is still ingrained and cases of femicide are most commonly produced, as women are stripped of the rights of being a free human being. The annulment of their rights is also present, in a lower scale, when women are paid less than men for doing the same job, or when they are rejected for taking any job because of the “risk of getting pregnant”
All in all, I personally believe that women have gained a lot of respect among history. They have changed the way they were seen and treated by the whole society, and have now more power over her selves, more self-esteem to succeed as a person. Despite this, I strongly consider that there is still work to do, because beyond being women, they are human beings.