Colonial Women Essay

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In the early days of America, many Colonial women were taken from their homes by Indians. After being adopted into their culture as sisters, many of the women chose to stay and live with their Indian captors. Surprisingly, some of these people even chose to return after being rescued. The Puritans of the area were without a doubt very confused by these choices their friends and family made. It is only after examining the life of the average colonial women and the rights which they were given in their original home that we will truly be able to understand their reasons for staying with the Indians

During the colonial times, Puritan women from the Chesapeake colony were quite oppressed due to religious instilled gender roles. In the eyes of …show more content…

At first, as anyone would be, she was very afraid and wanted nothing more than to go back to her Puritan home. However, after being adopted as a sister into the tribe, she realized that the the opportunities she was given in the Society of the Seneca were far more fruitful and fair than where she had come from. For instance, men could not go to war unless the women of the tribe agreed. The women of the village held the food supply for the village, this insured their authority over men. Women also were given charge over the distribution of land. This voice which women had among the Indians was no doubt attractive to women like Mary Jemison who later decided to stay with the Seneca even after she was given the opportunity to leave. Obviously, the respect and freedom provided by the Indians sat better with her than those of her English background.

The facts speak for themselves. Women of the colonial settlements were treated as subordinates and even worse, as slaves. Amid exploring the life of colonial women and their rights, or lack thereof, we can clearly see that these women were longing for appreciation. They longed to be treated with dignity and any level of equality. Within the new culture of their Indian captors they received what they desired and it is obvious that the desire of this freedom was strong enough for them to uproot their entire lives to pursue

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