Did the Industrial Revolution Lead to a Sexual Revolution?

Name:
Instructor:
Course:
Date:
Industrial Revolution Led To the Sexual Revolution
Introduction
The 18th and 19th century experienced one of the biggest shifts socioeconomically, with a global magnitude. The revolution has massive impacts most of which are still being felt to this day. Elementary much of the industrial growth that is being experienced today, has its foundation dating back to the industrial revolution era. Most of the rural areas in Britain during this time were predominantly agrarian and this was the same case with most of the American rural areas. However, during and after the industrial revolution much of these areas changed and became industrialized. Most of the developments started out in Britain and later on spread to America during the late 1700s. Before the revolution in 1700s much of the production was small scale and most of the manufacturing processes were confined in homes. The people at the time used basic tools to accomplish the production tasks and in some of the advanced cases there were basic machines. The industrial revolution however brought about a shift in much of the mass production processes, with the introduction of massive large scale industries, special machinery, powered machines and factories (Ashworth). Of the major developments that came during this time were the iron, textile, chemicals, glass making, mining, agriculture, cement manufacture, steam power and gas lighting among others. Support services in the economy also started cropping up across Britain and America such as banking, transportation systems and communication among others.
Most of the support services were already existing and such much of the changes experienced were relative to improvements (Shorter). Other than the economic developments and changes in the society, there was one other revolution that was taking places relative to the economic changes and growth; a sexual revolution. With the massive growth in the industrial sector, economic empowerment became apparent (Ashworth). Changes in the education systems, legal systems and social systems gave rise to women empowerment through revision of some of the policies. Women started to gain knowledge and freedom in the society and now had a chance to work like their fellow men and gain education. With this liberation came the shift in the gender equality. In the past women would be oppressed and subjected to second class citizenship, while the men enjoyed freedom (Miller). Women now had a chance to decide their career paths and more importantly take charge over their life decisions. They could decide to stay out of marriage and concentrate on their careers without much prejudice being passed onto them. However there is a school of thought that also points out that the industrial revolution did not lead to sexual revolution. Men merely had more opportunities, while the women were still required to take up family chores (Lehigh).
Industrial Revolution
Starting in the late 1700s, Britain experienced a shift that would later spread to America and later on to the entire continent. The 18th and 19th century thus experienced one of the most fundamental shifts. Most of the rural areas in Britain were predominantly agrarian at the time of the shift and this also ...