Did the Industrial Revolution Lead to a Sexual Revolution?

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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 applied to most of the American rural areas. During and after the revolution, most of the rural areas in Britain and later on America, became revolutionized and urban. The period before the evolution in the late 1700s, was characterized by small scale production, as most of the machines were basic and most of the people did much of their production processes at home and with basic tools. This would explain why most of the industries were generally referred as cottage industry (Ashworth). Majority of the people at the time lived in small rural communities with most of them taking part in farming. As such, their production processes were limited. Much of the raw material at the time would come from the merchants, provide the basic machinery and then later on come collecting the finished products from all the small cottage production homes across the rural areas. This further inhibited growth in the economy as much of the goods and services sold were in small scales and at the same time did not meet any advanced standards. Much of the income was meager and this was further complicated by diseases and malnourishment.
The industrial revolution gave rise and development to the textile, chemical, glass making, cement manufacture, agriculture, steam power, paper manufacture and metallurgy. Other support services to the economy also came up such better and improved communication systems, transportation networks and banking among others (Ashworth). Britain became the source of the revolution relative to a number of factors among them, the massive deposits of coal and iron ore. These played a crucial role in the revolution especially with respect to power production manufacturing and construction. Given that Britain at the time was the world super power and had a stable political background, it became easier to take advantage of these resources. Mechanization brought forth a new economic frontier, as industries sprung up across the country with higher and more efficient production capacities.
With the industrial revolution, there were also some subtle changes in the society associated with the level of development experienced. The economic status of most of the families improved, as the production capacities improved (Ashworth). Families that had products to sell now had better production means and the economic status of the general population had improved, making it easier for businesses to sell their wares. At the same time, social services such as education, health services and legal services also improved immensely and the society became more civilized. One of the main developments during this era that is attributable to the industrial revolution developments is sexual revolution (Miller).
Sexual revolution
As the developments of the industrial revolution came on, sexual revolution also slowly became an element of social change. Women rights became an...