How Women Were Freed From Their Homes
As late as 1800, a woman’s only place was in her home. Women in business were unheard of. No respectable woman would dream of entering what was strictly a “man’s world”. Even if she would, what could she do? Men were sure that no woman could do a job well outside her home. This was a widely accepted idea. When the famous Bronte sisters began writing books in 1846, they had to resort to using men’s names as aliases.
Teaching was the first profession opened to women, soon after 1800. But even that was not easy for women to take because most high schools and colleges were open only to men. Oberlin College in Ohio was the first college in America to take in women.
Nursing was regarded as a respectable profession for women only after Florence Nightingale won high credit for her nursing career and became famous. Miss Nightingale opened the first training school for nursing in 1860 in England.
The invention of typewriters in 1867 helped to bring women out of their homes to join the business world. Because women are careful and have nimble fingers, businessmen found that they were well suited to this kind of work.
By 1890, tens of thousands of women were working in schools, hospitals, shops, offices, and factories both in England and the States. Some even managed to become doctors or lawyers. The idea of women working in business and other circles was accepted.
小题1:Oberlin College was the first college in America _______.
A．where teaching was a profession only open to women
B．where girls could get advanced education
C．to train women to be teachers and nurses
D．to accept women only as professors and students小题2: It can be inferred from the text that besides nursing, Florence Nightingale was also ______.
A．a doctor
B．a lawyer
C．a teacher
D．a businessman小题3:Quite a lot of women entered the business world _______
A．soon after 1800
B．when Nightingale became famous
C．at the beginning of this century
D．after the typewriter came into being
