Explain why the three social classes of women that Tristan describes ultimately place women in unhappy situations.
Flora Tristan focuses the first section, “From Women Travelers” on portraying the injustices that women of her time faced. Before describing the distinct social classes of women, Tristan first opens by saying that she is not trying to, “create another brilliant world by describing the world as it should be” but rather is working to create an achievable happier place (2). This is significant because it answered the critiques from her male counterparts that described her ideas as utopian and therefore impossible to ever come to fruition. In clarifying that the society that she is describing is attainable, Tristan is able to call for change by characterizing 19th century women as unhappy. Thus, Tristan portrays 19th century women as living in dystopian conditions and paints the picture for how society can eventually allow women to live happier lives.
The first class of women that Tristan describes are the women who undertake voyages for education and pleasure. This class of women finds it impossible to involve themselves in the activities of their male counterparts because, “it will be extremely difficult for them to enter society, for they have no way to do so” (4). The ambition that these women come to Paris with eventually dies down because they are not allowed to see all the things that men are. Their unhappiness stems from the neglect and discouragement that they feel from only being allowed to see a twentieth of Paris. The women that engage in commercial transactions constitute the 2nd class. They have no one to guide them just as the women of the 1st class are also lost in a world that they are not accustomed to. They are forced to trust unknown persons who, “too often leave them cheated” (4). The inexperience that these women face is largely attributed to their lack of exposure to an equal education to men, which in turn makes them easy targets for “rascals and intriguers of all kinds”. The third and largest class of women is made up of the common women. Tristan mentions a poor girl that is seduced, dishonored, and abandoned to demonstrate the helplessness that the women in this class face. Next, she goes on to describe the unhappily married women, “whom our present institutions allow to separate from her husband, without however being permitted the divorce necessary for the happiness of both” (5). This describes how women of this class are too often unhappy because of things that are out of their control. The lack of control that these women have over their happiness is what Tristan believes to be an issue.
The three classes of women all are placed into situations of helplessness that their male counterparts do not have to experience. These “independent” women are put into positions where they are alone and not truly independent because they cannot succeed on their own. The unhappiness that these women face force Tristan to help make changes to the inequality that she sees. In attempting to create happiness for all women Tristan is tackling the issue of following a utopian agenda while still having her ideas seen as real and attainable.