Colonial Women Research Paper

In First Generations Women in Colonial America, Carol Berkin demonstrates the social, political, and economic circumstances that shaped and influenced the lives of women during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the colonies. In exploring these women’s lives and circumstances it becomes clear that geography, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, and other factors less fixed such as war each influenced a woman’s experience differently and to varying degrees. In doing this, Berkin first showcases the life of a specific woman and then transposes that life onto the general historical framework and provides a context in which this woman would have lived. The lives of these women exemplified is also explored and demonstrated through the use of comparison to highlight their different experiences. Moreover, this analysis also seeks to identify the varied sources of these women’s power, albeit for many this power was limited. The analysis is broken up primarily by geography, then by race, and lastly by time and war. While these factors provide the overarching context of analysis, more specific factors are also introduced.

Women in the mid-1600s to mid-1700s underwent pivotal changes. While these changes would alter their roles in the colonies, certain aspects of their responsibilities remained the same.

The life of a colonial woman in the 17th and 18th century was demanding at best. Women had little to no rights such as: the right to vote, the right to hold and form of public office, or the right to serve on juries. Yet, widowed or unmarried women were able to make a will, buy or sell property, act as a guardian, and had the right to sue or be sued. If a widow had no children, she received one-half interest in the personal property of her deceased husband or one-third if she had children. When a woman married, she was completely enslaved to her husband. Everything that she had once possessed herself now belong to him. This also means the children they conceived legally belonged to their father. The rights for married women dwindled down even less than unmarried women or widows. Married women could not make a will without the consent of her

The war took made a large impact on the economy of the colonies. Although there were a few businesses that performed exceptionally during the war. With the colonies and Britain not getting along, a number of countries were determined to slow down the trade with America. Therefore, by the end of the war taxes exceeded the limit, and prices followed shortly behind. However, once again the colonial women saved the day as they are known as a very influential group. It is very fascinating due to the nature of these women, yes, they did not have much freedom and independence before the war, however, in time they shone their light victoriously with their passion of giving and not expecting anything in return. The many organizations that were held

Even though British America was constantly growing and developing for almost two hundred years, the role that men and women played in society remained consistent. As patriarch of the house, the man was responsible for earning the money, working to support his family, sitting in on town meetings, and holding overall power above the household. The woman was a household benefactor, in charge of keeping the house clean, preparing meals, and bearing children. It seemed that each person had their place: a man was meant to be tough, strong leaders, while the women were simply meant to be domestic housewives. However, change in the colonies began not only in the economy and settlements, but also in gender roles. Women were the only ones who had quiet

Women in British America Women in colonial America were thought to be unequal when compared to their men counterpart. But women devoted as much effort to the colony as men did. In The records of the Virginia Company of London, it explains why women were vital to the colonies. Women in colonial British America contributed tremendously to their families and although they were often seen as inadequate to men, they provided for and controlled much more for colonial life than what most people assume to be true.

There were fewer women than men throughout the colonial period. Because of the shortage, women had a higher status in North America than in Europe. In the English colonies, more men than women were being transported as slaves from Africa. Women often arrived ill and were enslaved as laborers right away. (v.1 3)

Women were bought to America deeply rooted convictions about the inferiority of women. Minister would stress that women are weak creatures, not endowed with like strength and constancy of mines. It’s said that the role of a woman is to obey and serve their husband, nurture their children and endure the tax labor required to maintain their household. Women in the colonies didn’t have many rights they couldn’t vote, preach, hold office, attend public schools or colleges, bring lawsuits, make contracts, or own property. The Biblical passages were the reason why people believed that the women in colonial society should obey and serve their husband, nurture their children and endure the tax labor required to maintain their household, Puritans cited

Colonial Women sculpted how American Women were supposed to act and their role. Often stereotyped as stay at home moms, who clean, cook, and watch their children. It lasted for about 200 years. But nowadays there are more working mothers.

In the issue “Was the Colonial Period a “Golden Age” for Women in America?” the core difference of whether or not it was a golden age for women is seen in the variation of roles women had in the colonies compared to later generations and whether or not these differences led to them having more opportunities or just more work. In Gloria Main’s article “Gender, Work, and Wages in Colonial New England” she argues that women’s status in the colonies was elevated by the lack of both females and people in general. She focuses on the economic benefits and increased role diversity women had during the colonial period as what increased the colonial “women’s status and condition” (43). While in Mary Beth Norton’s argues against the belief that women had an elevated status in her article “The Myth of the Golden Age, she’s bases this on the fact that women were still required to do what traditional gender roles required them to do as well as the new responsibilities found in the colonies. Norton focused on the fixed status women seemed to have throughout the colonial time period and while they did take on some different and extra roles, their place in society was still primarily “focus[ed] on the household” (48). Both of these women agree that colonial women had a more

For centuries, women have been labeled inferior to men and even in today’s society they are still not equally treated. During colonial times, women were expected to care for the children and tend to the household while men were looked at as the dominant figure in the family. In this short answer, it will discuss the positions of both females and males in the family and the roles of women in their community. Within each of the three colonial regions the roles of both genders had differed from one another and women’s responsibilities and interactions in each region varied. Women may have been looked at as powerless human beings, but in reality, they contributed to the growing population that was greatly needed during this period when the lack

The land of the freedom for new settlers from England and Europe was for many seen as an opportunity to open new frontiers of prosperity, and land to own. The strong clash of culture, customs, religion and language was without a doubt a challenge not only for new settlers, but also for natives Americas in how to live from then on. English colonial women faced also this challenge when some of the women were abducted by Natives Americans and some of them decided to stay, due to the lack of rights, husband’s oppression, illiteracy, the inequality of jobs and gender roles.

Colonial women in America suffered considerable oppression by society. Life in colonial America was difficult. Women had to be resilient, brave, hardworking and above all else, subservient to her husband. It was tradition and the law. Most certainly, this tradition was the reason some women captured by Native Indians, chose to stay within Native societies. Or when returned to their homes, chose return to them.

The acknowledgment of the rights of women have transformed the conversation about rape within America over the last fifty years. However well before feminism was able to have considerable affect on America’s judicial and political landscape, women had to risk their wellbeing for both the right to have premarital sex as well as obtain justice when their consent wasn’t given. In the seventeenth century, this risk was even greater when it included individuals of color. The Puritans, the founders of New Haven, determined that all sexual relations exceeding what God permitted were to be met with confession and a matched punishment for both involved parties. Then as the influence of England’s secular, legal system began to insert itself within the community, the equality that characterized prosecutions in the seventeenth century was replaced with elements of racial and gender disservice. Yet although the judicial system of colonial America would become increasingly prejudiced against white women in regards to their sexual activities, the complete removal of consent from interracial sex made sexual expression for people of color a dangerous act.

During the colonial era, white women saw little change in how they were viewed in society. The only thing that society saw the colonial women doing was to “devote their lives to being good wives and mothers” (GML 126). Women had no voice in their households, men were the leaders of the home, and women took care of the children and the house. In politics, colonial women had no say, they were considered under control of their husbands, thus giving them no right to be involved in political matters. When the Townshend Act was put in place, many women sewed at home to save on having to buy new clothes. Because of this very small “rebellion” against this act, The Daughters of Liberty was founded, it was comprised of “women that wove and spun at home” (GML 184). Compared to the colonial women, Native American women had a much greater involvement in society. The Native American women, like colonial women, were mostly in charge of the household. Along with taking care of the household, the women were working in the field. This was not taken well by the Europeans, many of the white men thought that Native men were weak, because the women worked. Unlike the non-existent role that colonial women had in