Breaking Tradition Analysis

The United States during the Civil war was a divided nation and filled with gruesome fighting. It hit all parts of the country and brought the fighting right to the back yards of families. While the men of the nation fought the combat war, woman fought different wars in the shadows. Fighting split millions of families up, and it affected woman in multiple ways. Challenges differed for woman from North and South. While some woman’s homes were turned into hospitals, other woman had to learn how to tend to their plantations while their husbands were away fighting. Many women disguised themselves as men to fight in the war because in the 1860s, a woman fighting in the war was not allowed yet. Numerous enslaved

The Civil War was the first time that women had ever had a major role in combat. They signed up for volunteer brigades, and many went to work as nurses for the soldiers. More than 400 adventurous women actually put on disguises

When manufacturing plants started booming, they found business. Women became valuable factory workers because of their ability to complete complex tasks in the work place. Also, having willingness to labor for an inexpensive pay rate because they were in need boosted their chances of employment. In fact, employers needed them and were happy at the fact that they weren 't too costly to hire. In the document, Morals of Manufactures (1837), it states, “Many of the girls are in the factories because they have too much pride for domestic service.”(Chapter 9 Page 223) As stated before, women were looked over as far being capable of anything else other than a house wife and or mother. Some women worked for pay, as well as to prove that they were more than what society labeled them. This allowed women to make their own money and not be forced to completely live off their husbands. Also, this gave women a freedom and sensibility to become more independent.

During the civil war women were more important than everyone thinks. The reason this is true is because during the civil war women there were women spies, who men who help people in the war , and some women were in war

Women were left behind when their husbands went to war. They were expected to keep the household together. They cooked, cleaned, cared for children and many times did

Back in the day, men did not treat women with much respect, and men did not allow women to do anything, other than being a housewife. Men took charge of women, and if women did earn any money their husband would take it away from them. Women did not have any rights, and no one did anything about it for awhile. As women did not have a say, they continued to obey the rules and tasks as told. However, the lives of women did improve during the 1920s and 1930s, as technology improved over time, there was better labour for women, and women were allowed to be a part of the political world.

Jabour, Anya. “‘I Wanted to Do My Part’: Women as Soldiers in Civil War America.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), 13 Feb. 2017, www.pbs.org/mercy-street/blogs/mercy-street-revealed/i-wanted-to-do-my-part-women-as-soldiers-in-civil-war-america/.

The time in American history where slavery was at its most popular often overlooks women, as many times in history tend to. In many depictions of women’s roles in slave owning households they are simply depicted as the mistress, the wife of the master. As far as female slaves are concerned, they are often simply lumped in with the tales of the men. I have always personally been interested in what women’s opinions truly were of slavery amongst a world filled with slave owning men who saw their slaves as nothing more than property. Did the women actually feel the same way as the men did? I also wondered how the experiences of female slaves differed from the lives of male slaves, as sometimes slavery is put together as one massive institution and fails to look at the individual lives and experiences that slaves had, particularly female ones. I wondered how the Civil War changed female perspectives on slavery and how the war changed women’s roles in the home during that time while their husbands were away. The readings for week eight about women in the slave regime allowed to view the civil war and the institution of slavery, for the first time, through the eyes of the women rather than the men.

The American civil war (12 Apr. 1861 – 9 May 1865) had placed a significant impact on the lives of American citizens, women in particular, as their roles held important value within the period of the war. As a handful of women disguised themselves as soldiers, whilst others served as nurses and spies, they became significantly more prominent within society, with their positions in these critical occupations benefiting their surrounding society within times of war. As the mid-1800s brought abounding stereotypes for women, being viewed as the weaker sex, fragile and dependant, the coming of the Civil War challenged the ideology of Victorian domesticity that had defined the lives of men and women within the era. In the North and in the South,

The American Civil War was a time of great trial and tribulation for the American people. It forced individuals to choose a cause, and many families were torn asunder as they chose opposing sides. As the men marched off to war a small group of women prepared to wage a different kind of warfare. These women became an overlooked but deadly force using espionage and womanly wiles to gather military intelligence for their cause. They used whatever means they had at their disposal to enter into the confidence of men within the opposing side and gain their trust. Women during this period were often overlooked as insignificant and stationary. Women were meant to stay within the home and care for their families needs. However, these extraordinary women rose to answer a more imminent need. These brave women had a profound influence on their cause.

This idea of domesticity carried on and limited the women's experiences in life, for example men had a public life where they ventured off daily to compete and perform tens jobs away from the home while the woman I don't just want to go to nurture the children, tend to the home and make sure everything was taken care of. In fact in that time of the 19th century writers, preachers and reformers were advocates that the woman's place was to "be in the home." With all this being said, a large amount of women of color and working-class women also performed wage earning labor so they did have jobs outside of the home. However many of these women were unmarried who worked outside of their home for for wages, in module for the The statistic was fewer than 20% of all women worked outside of the home and those who did only 2% of them were married. When both World War I into happened many men left, to fight for the country which left lots of vacant jobs that need to be filled which is where women stepped up to the plate and became breadwinners and still manage to tend to the household all the men were off at war. After then wars is kind of

Decorating Christmas trees, carving pumpkins, celebrating birthdays, and cooking dinner on thanksgiving, are a few things that people in America call tradition. A tradition to me means something that has been passed on from generation to generation. There are many different things that families or people do every year or every day that is tradition. However, the question is, what is the real meaning behind the traditions that we partake in? We partake in these traditions but do not understand why we do them. Most of the time, as children, we were brought up on these different traditions and never get the true meaning behind them. In “The Lottery”, it shows that they have a tradition, but they do not really know the true meaning behind the tradition. However, in Wilson’s essay, “Under the Guise of Tradition: “The Lottery” and Female Circumcision”, she explains a tradition and the true meaning behind it.

At the time of the Civil War, women had expectations that society put upon them. These expectations revolved around the idea that women had a place, and that place was in the home. They were to cook, clean, and stick to chores that were considered more feminine. This belief is why women were forbade from enlistment in the Civil War. Men felt the

Wives and mothers “saw the men as protectors and invested heavily in the romantic idea of men fighting to defend the honor of their country, family, and way of life”. Women were not given the opportunity anywhere to fight for themselves, but especially southern women had no complaints about this, they were not allowed to. Women’s roles did, however, change during the civil war. Before the war, women “held no power in the workforce and were expected to follow their husbands’ lead”, they were limited to household duties and taking care of children. However, once their husbands went off to war, southern elite women took charge of their husband’s business.

A boost in economic benefits wasn’t the only effect of the industrial revolution, it also brought about social changes. Before factories and machines, women weren’t viewed as being able to do the same job as men. They were seen as housewives and this assumption remained the same until the rise of factories and industry. For the first time, women were able to work in the same factories as men. However, women were paid less than men because society at that time still viewed them as inferior to men. Although you could still see this policy in some societies today, women are now able to work in the same positions as men because of the circumstances that were brought by the rise of industrialization and factories. Also, thanks to mass production in factories, the rule of supply and demand allowed people to afford new things as stated before. Such an effect is shown in Document 7 in an excerpt from The Working Man’s Companion published in 1831. It states how people are surrounded with an infinite number of comforts and