The cult of true womanhood was the reigning belief at the time of how all women should act and think. It was a group of ideals, piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Piety refers to how women had to be religious. The idea was that men did not have time for religion and it was a woman’s job to make up for this. Purity was another ideal that referred to being faithful to their husbands. They could not interact with other men because that would make them impure. It was unheard of to break this ideal, and when someone did, society shunned them. Submissiveness is one of the ideals that were propagated by men to keep women from trying to protest about their dismal lives. It was meant to tell women that they had to follow what the men said without giving it a moment’s thought. Domesticity refers to how women were supposed to stay in the house and help the kids and not have any thoughts of having a career of their own.
            The point of the Cult of True Womanhood ideals was to create a “template” for women that helped men lead easier lives. It was also designed to keep women from coming together and recognizing how bad their lives were. This was good for men because if women acted in other ways, the women would come together and start protesting. Overall, the Cult of True Womanhood was the reigning belief at the time and today people look down upon it as grossly violating women’s rights.