The Role Of Women In The Anebellum South

The idea of the “Southern Belle”, with her demure and chaste yet flirtatious attitude, Southern Hospitality, women who married respectably and became ladies of society; these are all things that society considers to have come out of the Antebellum South. The Antebellum South, according to Historynet.com, is a period in American history between the War of 1812 and the Civil War characterized by things such as abolition, the Industrial Revolution, and Westward Expansion. However, when people think of the South during this time, they think of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, or the historical flashbacks in Vampire Diaries. They think of women in this time being the quintessential lady of the house--but this was not the case with all women. Women in the Antebellum South--unlike the modern idea that people have about them today--assisted heavily with the day-to-day lives of their entire families, held jobs in or outside of the house, and were more educated than their predecessors.

Women were deeply involved in the running of their households on a daily basis. The responsibilities that women

Some women worked at home to produce goods that could then be sold, or ran businesses alongside their husbands. Things like clothing could be made at home and then sold to the public as a source of income for the family. In several cases, women operated bed and breakfasts or grocery stores within their homes, and working with their children or husband, turned profits without leaving the safety of their own hearths. Other women actually held jobs outside of their houses. Common jobs for women were to work in mills or factories, or in the fields of their neighbors. Since many women were still not educated, these were the jobs that they could hold without needing an education. However, with an education women could serve as teachers or as nurses, and the idea on the education of women was