Gender Inequality In Colonial America

Centuries ago, masses of European and Africans began to flood the open lands of the New World for the first time -- this uncharted land would be the key to a new start in life: new economic opportunities, extensive freedoms, and most importantly, a community to rebuild oneself. However, this land was not as promising for others. While many free European women came to the new world, they often still lived domestically restricted and dependent on the men in their family, whereas other women were forcefully brought over bonded to hard labor for short-lived lives as an indentured servant with little chance for a life of their own in the male-dominated colonies, showing how women of all social classes were limited to a lesser version of liberty

As more Europeans began to use the English colonies as a means to a new life, many men and women were compelled to enter into indentured slavery as their only option for a passage into this new land. This class of slavery instantly limited their freedom, to almost that of a black slave, particularly in women. Roughly two-thirds of English settlers would willingly work grueling labor for about five to seven years, facing limitations such as being fully controlled by the master, inability to marry at free-will, physical punishment, and the lack of freedom to one’s own thoughts and actions . As indentured

In the colonies, a man’s income was often based on farming or a certain skilled-trade, so they depended on a hard-working family to labor and a wife to provide the domestic needs of that family. Women were therefore expected to behave well and fulfill the needs of the men in their family that would provide their income, giving women almost no freedom to leave their tedious and repetitive housework and choose what they wanted to do with their lives. Moreover, the institutions of the colonies also restricted women from many oppurtunities. For example, once the courts became more structured in the eighteenth century, one required a lawyer to advocate on their behalf, but since women were banned from becoming a lawyer, they would no longer hold any position in the court . Lastly, women had little opportunities in business as they were not legally able to own land and education was not provided for them during most of the colonial era. In certain regions of the colonies when an education was provided, it would focus on teaching girls needlework and reading the Bible. The free woman during this era had very little opportunities for a life of their own choosing, and were held back to a life of strenuous and unfulfilling