The New Woman social movement began in the United Kingdom in the late nineteenth century. This movement was created to represent the emergence of “radical women” in society. These “New Women” were known as feminist, educated, and career driven. They fought for women’s rights to dress as they want as well as do activities that were not traditionally feminine such as riding bikes or joining male dominated work forces. Before this movement came about, the widely held belief was that women were to be completely dependent on the men in their lives whether that was financially or legally. Women were expected to submit to both their husbands and fathers as opposed to developing their own opinions or jobs. People who were opposed to the idea of the “New Woman” claimed that the movement was a threat to motherhood as well as the status quo of patriarchal society. They said that the movement encouraged hatred of children and marriage because women would no longer be dependent on men. Despite all its opposition, the sexual and economic freedoms encouraged by the “New Woman” movement were too liberating to be forgotten and soon led to social change throughout the United Kingdom.

I have been reading that book The Time Machine and I dare say that it represents the world we would live in if society embraced these “New Woman” communists. Women are meant to serve their husbands. If that system is upset, who knows what society will look like! Every day it gets harder and harder to distinguish the difference between men and women walking along the streets. The women are wearing pants and riding bicycles! It would be so simple for them if they just embraced tradition and agreed to stay in the home. It is an easy life they lead, and I do not understand why they would want to change that. If these women succeed in their fight to abolish gender norms, family as we know it would cease to exist. We would become creatures like the Eloi, soft and never exposed to the hardships of everyday life. Society would truly become stagnant and frail. The human race may be eliminated entirely because the women would no longer wish to reproduce. My wife would be perceived no differently than the common whore! H. G. Wells does a wonderful job of exemplifying the effects of this communist lifestyle and how devastating it would be to our world.

“New Woman.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Oct. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Woman.

Buzwell, Greg. “Daughters of Decadence: the New Woman in the Victorian Fin De Siècle.” The British Library, The British Library, 17 Apr. 2014, www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/daughters-of-decadence-the-n....