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Women In Colonial America
Women In Colonial America
Women In Colonial America
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In Colonial America, women were considered the weaker sex. They were always treated “less than” their husbands. Men sometimes dominated the lives of women. They were expected to obey their husbands orders without question or argument. They had pretty much no rights. In fact, unmarried or widowed women had more rights than married women! Married women could not make a will without formal consent of her husband, could not buy or sell property, could not make a contract, could not vote, and could not sue, or be sued. Unmarried/widowed women could do all of these things, plus more. Widowed women even received ⅓ interest of their deceased husbands property. Married women were like slaves. Women’s jobs was very demanding and difficult. They were expected to help the men with a variety of hard labor tasks. They had traditional jobs such as running the house, raising children, cooking, making clothes, etc. Women usually cooked over a fire or brick oven. The housework was especially hard, because there was always dust from the open fires. They had to spin, weave, and make make clothes. Women were usually the only doctors around. They usually tried to heal the sick with herbs and other plants. It was probably very difficult for women to be in their homes mostly all day, because of the poor house conditions. It was drafty, it had no running water, no inside toilet, etc. There was no antibiotics or any other medicine back then, so many people died even from the most minor cut. The first antibiotic wasn’t even discovered until 1888. Women were the primary educators. When they weren’t doing chores, women usually taught teen girls to read, write, Arithmetic, and History, if they were lucky. They boys and men were usually out working while the girls had lessons. Wealthy women in the Colonies were usually wifes of lawyers, judges, congress, mayors, etc. Wealthy women usually had elaborate clothes made of velvet, satin and silk, while middle and lower class women usually had to sew and weave their clothes. It is probably safe to say that wealthy women had simple jobs compared to other women. The main roles of wealthy women were usually to plan social events, parties, etc. They had to do little to no manual labor because they usually owned slaves/indintured servants. They usually had tutors to teach their children to read and write. In Colonial times, mostly all women were expected to marry someone chosen by her parents.
To understand the significant change in the role of the women is to understand its roots. Traditionally, women in colonial America were limited in the roles they played or limited in their "spheres of influence." Women were once seen as only needed to bear children and care for them. Their only role was domestic; related to activities such as cooking and cleaning. A married woman shared her husband's status and often lived with his family. The woman was denied any legal control over her possession, land, money, or even her own children after a divorce. In a sense, she was the possession of her husband after marriage. She "... was a legal incompetent, as children, idiots, and criminals were under English law. As feme covert she was stripped of all property; once married, the clothes on her back, her personal possessions--whether valuable, mutable or merely sentimental--and even her body became her husband's, to direct, to manage, and to use. Once a child was born to the couple, her land, too, came under his control." (Berkin 14)
The women were in charge of the house and sometimes the field. The women also had to cook and skin the animals. The men were in charge of hunting and fishing for food. The hardest responsibility was making war and protecting the village.
They had no right to do anything other than what they were supposed to do. They did not have the same rights as men did. They were considered to be nothing but a form of maid to their husband. They were not allowed to have a say in anything including themselves. Their opinion was not as valuable as men. Gender roles are institutionalized in Pleasantville through the way women and men were expected to do certain roles. In the film women were expected to do the housework and stay at home. It was not normal for a women to work or to not have dinner made .A woman was supposed to stay in the house with the kids, prepare food for the family and have it ready when the husband came back from work. They were also expected to look beautiful at all times with their makeup and hair done so they can look attractive for their husbands. They were to not worry about a thing because It was not allowed for them to worry about anything since they only had to worry about pleasing their husband. They were also supposed to act “ladylike” because anything other than this was not accepted in their village. Men were the only workers in the family and were the sole provider because women were not allowed to work. Being the sole provider gave them power over their family which contributed to the feeling of male superiority and gave women less power in the household. They were also to be the decision makers of the family. The gender of a person determined everything. It determine how you were supposed to act and what was your role within your family. Gender roles also dictated how each gender is to speak, think, act, and engage with each
Women had not only been denied the voting rights and the lack of education before the nineteenth century, they had also been restricted the right to own property. Women who were married were basically owned by their husbands, up until the mid nineteenth century, so they had no regulations with money or their property (Hermes 1). If you were unmarried, however, you were allowed to be owner of property, but when they married the women became property of the man (Talbott 1). As stated previously before, women who were not married were allowed to vote as well as hold property, but a small amount of women did. Marriage was a disadvantage for the women, because they lost most of the rights they had previously. They were not allowed to buy or sell property (Erickson 1).
The colonial woman has often been imagined as a demure person, dressed in long skirt,apron and bonnet, toiling away at the spinning wheel, while tending to the stew at the hearth. In reality, the women of the early settlements of the United States were much more influential, strong and vital to the existence of the colonies. Her role,however, has shifted as the needs of the times dictated.
Women primarily undertook the role of being a mother from a considerably young age. Prejudice views prevented many women from holding office let alone playing influential public roles. Most men in the colonial era were farmers or merchants, very few having careers in the medical or law fields. Women seldom held jobs of higher nobility, yet a fraction practiced the trades of their husband or served as midwives. Religion in the colonial era emphasized women balancing the roles of mothering and serving their husband as an idealistic wife. ...
Some of women in this time period’s family roles are very similar to what is expected of them today. The most common jobs were “domestic work, including teaching young females their roles for later in life, cleaning the house, and preparing food” (¨DeVault¨). Men would often be working during the day. Women's jobs were very crucial because if all they did around the house. Not all kids were able to attend school so it was up to the mother. Though not every one was married at this time, “common arguments against married women working were that they were taking jobs away
Women were not seen as equal to men in English colonies, and were solely expected to tend to the family and home. When settlers arrived in Virginia, men outnumbered women nearly five to one. In an attempt to maximize their profits, The Virginia Company had women sent to Virginia in order to install families within the colonies. The company believed that “the plantation can never flourish until families be planted and the respect of wives and children fix the people on the soil.” (p.26 line 14) In their letter to the settlers of Virginia, the company clearly objectifies women with statements like, “There hath been especial care had in the choice of them” (p.24 line 17) and “...though we are desirous that marriage be free according to the law of nature, yet would we not have these maids deceived and married to servants.” (p. 26 line 21). The Virginia Company’s shipment of women into the colony along with their letter to the settlers indicates how dismissive women were seen during England’s colonial
Social restrictions have always been placed on women even today. The role of women is much different today than it was in the past. Women were not allowed to make major decisions in the family and were expected to submit in all things to the husband; they could not own anything and they were expected to stay home and do housework.
As the years dragged on in the new nation the roles of men and women became more distinct and further apart for one another. Women were not allowed to go anywhere in public without an escort, they could not hold a position in office let allow vote, and they could only learn the basics of education (reading, writing, and arithmetic). In law the children belonged to the husband and so did the wife’s property and money. The only job women could think about having was being a ‘governess’ which would give other women education.
A woman was not seen as being equal to a man. This is clear in the laws dealing with marriage. Women were contractually obligated to remain with their husbands only, while their husbands were permitted to have a mistress or second wife. If a woman was caught with another man, she would be drowned (“The Code of Hammurabi”). Another thing that shows that women were not equal to men is the fact that they could be sold into slavery by their husbands at any time. Women did, however, have some rights such as the right to own property and the right to inherit and pass down that property. They also played very important roles in society. Some of these roles included shop owners, bakers, or scribes (Judge and Langdon,
This American Revolutionary experience had a great impact on the eventual movement for women's rights. Previous to their rights movement, women, by law, were declared inferior to men, had no separate existence from their husbands and every one of their possessions, acquired or inherited, would be passed on to the ownership of her husband. The children in a marriage belonged to the father alone and the custody of the children if one was to get divorced, was usually given to him. If a woman's husband died, she would receive only the use of one third of his real estate. They could be beaten as long as the stick was no bigger than a man's thumb and single women were excluded from earning a living, with the exception in a few poorly paid trades.
Among these women are Anne Hutchinson, and Mary Rowlandson. Both women were similar in social status, both high statuses, well-educated women. Social and religious patterns were two of the determining factors for women’s roles in the New England colonies. Anne Hutchinson’s independence led to her banishment where Mary Rowlandson’s independence led to the publication of her spiritual experience.
The woman was raised to be a great spouse, to play maternal acts, to be able to care for her spouse, to be devoted, to be proper, and to assist him with money and watch over her kids and care for the home through selling, retailing, and planting. The female was made to be industrious from her dad 's home so it would be beneficial in her spouse 's home (Oluwagbemi-Jacob 227). Women have several different roles throughout the house and on the land. The females had several more jobs than the male does. Oluwagbemi-Jacob stated “The females make the fire, do the cooking, and serve the meals etc… The females would sweep the kitchen and the rooms of the family houses…
Young girls did not go to school. Middle and upper class girls leaned to read and write from a female tutor at home (Connolly, 35). Girls generally stayed at home until they were married, which was around the age of 15 (Ancient Civilizations, online). They helped their mother in the house and worked in the fields when they were needed (Exploring Ancient, online).