Gender In The 1600-1700s

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.

Females in the 1692-1693 were one of the largest groups accused of being part of the Salem Witch Trials. According to Washington State University, “As events unfolded, 185 people were accused at Salem, 141 women and 44 men. Of that number, 52 women and 7 men were tried; 26 women and 5 men were convicted; and 14 women and 5 men were executed, the last group on September 22, 1692.”(Campbell 1) this statistic shows that women were more likely to have been accused of being a Witch. Women were thought to be much lesser than men and weren't

In 17th-century Colonial America, contact with the supernatural was considered part of everyday life; many people believed that evil spirits were present and active on Earth. This superstition emerged 15th century Europe and spread with the colonization of North American puritan colonies. Women were believed to be the most susceptible to demonic behavior; females were considered simple targets for Satan due to being viewed as the weaker sex physically, spiritually, and morally. Women who did not conform to the Puritan ideals at the time were usually ostracized, institutionalized, or brutally murdered. In 1692, thirteen women were famously put on trail for accusations of witchcraft; famously known as the Salem Witch Trails. Most of these women were put on trial and later burned to death for erratic and un-Godly behaviors, 78% of the people charged were women who were accused of doing devilish things such as; speaking out against church officials, being a financially wealthy widow, having pre marital sex, or just being too beautiful. According to Michael Coren’s Why Catholics are Right “five million women were killed by the Church as witches… witch hunts began in the sixteenth century in Europe and that between 30,000 and 50,000 men and women were burned to death for

The Puritans during the witch hunt believed that women were unholy by nature and felt that women should be “sweet” and responsible, and if you didn’t act as such they would accuse you of being a witch. They lived under harsh rules and brought the same intolerance they had from fleeing England to escape to Massachusetts Bay Colony. Majority of the accusations of being a witch were women but not all. An Indian woman named Tituba that was purchased from the Barbados by Samuel Parris was being a witch. She had very good knowledge of the supernatural and they began to suspect her of being accused for witchcraft or

The group of people that thought all the victims were men were inevitably wrong. Out of the nineteen people who were lynched in Salem, four of them were males. One of those men was a minister who was Harvard educated. In fact, there was an abundance of accused witches with the youngest one being a five-year-old. She spent most of 1692 in manacles being interrogated which caused her to later be diagnosed as insane. In this time, women did not incriminate their husbands, while the husbands would accuse their wife of being witches without hesitation. It was more difficult to accuse a man of being a wizard because you had to have concrete material against him. The Harvard

Puritan Societal gender biases against women prompted what was called the "Witch Trials". Some trials took place in Europe around the same time, but my focus is about the trials that took place in Early America in New England. History notes these areas to be mostly in Hartford, Fairfield, and Salem. The latter being the most infamous and the most published. Although the question has been asked many times, there has not been a definite answer on Why did the trials take place? What happened to cause this phenomenon? There were several factors involving bias such as socioeconomic, historical, psychological and religious factors, but most notable were the gender biases that was evident. With all of these underlying influences, it was apparent that the one common link was women and the varying roles that they played during this time. Documented research states that approximately 78% of those accused were women (Karlsen, 1987) and similarly those who were executed were a high percentage of women.

There are countless different assumptions about witches. The majority of individuals in the sixteenth and seventeenth century presumed that God and Satan were real (Lambert 1). They also assumed that “witches” were in allegiance with Satan and made a vow to bow down and serve him (Lambert 1). Furthermore, another common belief was

During the Salem Witch Trials period, three out of every four witches were female. Women living in this time period were at the bottom of the social

In John Osborne 's 1956 piece, Look Back in Anger, housewife Alison Porter is faced with the difficult decision of remaining in a toxic marriage or returning to live with her parents. Indeed, Alison is the archetype of the 1950s British woman, as depicted in both academic and popular discourse—meek, miserable and resigned to her fate as mother and housewife. While such a paradigm of the 1950s woman has long remained unchallenged, historians have begun to suggest that this stereotype is inaccurate and misleading, and overlooks the complexity of female gender roles during Britain of this era. When reviewing the literature on this topic, what emerges as a clear point of tension between academics is whether the 1950s was a static or a dynamic

Gender roles were heavily put upon Puritan women, “women were seen as inferior beings that needed to be dominated by a male figure, and those who broke the mold were viewed as dangerous.” When speaking of puritan women and church, women were not allowed to pray with the congregation or lead a prayer. The fact that women were viewed as dangerous should they not conform to their gender roles should really show just how ridiculous their belief system was. One can only imagine that the paranoia of women being witches derived from the belief

Men and women who lived in Norway during the 1800’s both were restricted to specific roles in and outside of the household. However, rarely in the 1800’s did Victorian men and women share the same responsibilities. If they did, you may have seen the “women working alongside husbands and brothers in the family business” (Hughes, Gender roles in the 19th century). This makes women seem as if they are compared to men as “physically weaker” during the time period of the Victorian era (Hughes, Gender roles in 19th century). Also, this demonstrates how women supported men and built them up so that men could fully use all of their capabilities to be successful at their jobs. Without this supporting system underlying the men, their businesses may have

women had to stay at home to make household goods to use in the 1700s-1800s

Today, women are believed to be equal to men however this was not always the case. During colonial times, women did not have the same roles as women do today; men and women had fixed roles in society. Roles between men and women do not exchange due to strict gender roles. Additionally, married women were not exactly considered as companions instead, as the husband’s property. Although gender roles were a significant issue among women in early America, another issue was the background of these women. Factors such as race, religion, geography/region, and social class were substantial to the extent of control a woman had over her own life. These factors significantly shaped the lives of these women. For instance, white women had differences

Throughout the witch hunts, women were the primary target; most victims being midwives, native healers, single women who lived alone, people against whom neighbors had a grudge or practitioners of ancient pagan rituals. Although not all were women, 75 to 90% of accused witches were in fact women (Levack,. p. 124), forcing one to question the affects of the harsh portrayal of women being placed on women.

Venice in 1604 was a patriarchal, wealthy, socially ranked, and religious society. Patriarchy and gender roles in the 17th century included women being in charge of the household and men involving themselves in politics. Men controlled what the women of the family could and could not do. Women were in charge of domesticating the household and focusing on representing their husband’s wealth in a positive way. Women in Venice were not educated and the literate women that were educated were “suspected of witchcraft” (Dornsife). Women were denied any political rights. According to Dana and David Dornsife, “religious and social changes gradually turned women’s education into a Christian training in obedient wifehood and devout motherhood.” Because