Gender Roles In Colonial America

During the time of 1600-1700’s women did not have the same rights as men in other words they did not have any rights at all. Women were treated very poorly with no type of respect. In the book called FIRST Generations WOMEN in COLONIAL AMERICA, by Carol Berkin it talked about various examples of how women were treated. Throughout my essay I will be explaining a few topics that were repeatedly in the book and I found important. Huge topic like gender roles, women population, and men being privilege. It was not easy for women around this time era, because they had to deal with a lot of hurtful things. Women were doing things we would not to today just so they can survive. Even though some women by becoming a mother meant to die soon.

First Generations: Women in Colonial America delivers a broad analysis over American women in the colonial period. It is evident that married women in colonial America were not considered equal to their husbands or to society in general. The rights of American women have come a long way in regards to civil rights. The control a woman in early Colonial America had over her own life was linked to race, religion, and class. Berkin organizes the first chapters according to race and region. Other chapters are organized by African American women, New England, and the middle colonies, Native American Women, and white women in the Chesapeake. Within each chapter, Berkin gives details about one woman from the region. European, Indian, and African women of seventeenth and eighteenth-century America were protectors of their native land, pioneers on the frontier, like-minded immigrants, and courageous slaves. They were also, as most scholars tend to leave out, just as important as men in shaping American culture and history.

After marriage, the husband was considered lord and master of the family. But not all the women were meek and submissive. By the 1700's, the woman’s status had rapidly improved in colonial America. A wife and child made as much as a man did. Although women did not have equality with men, their status greatly improved from their status in Europe. A woman’s station in life was determined by the position of their husbands or fathers. The women of the poorest families, compiled to work in the fields, stood at the bottom of the social ladder. One of the surest signs of the accomplishments a family had made, was the exemption of their women from the fields. Before 1740, girls were trained in household crafts and the practical arts of family management. But afterwards they began to study subjects that required reading and studying such subjects as grammer and arithmetic. The women of the upper classes occupied themselves mainly with planning the work of the home and with supervising the domestic servants. Along with these tasks the women also baked, nursed, and sewed. But there were many social restrictions placed on the women of that time. One such restriction was that a wife, in absence of her husband, was not allowed to lodge men even if they were close relatives. For

The book First Generations: Women in Colonial America written by Carol Berkin shares the power of control of a women’s role in the early part of American society was linked to her race and where she lived. In the book Berkin does a great job of giving examples of the life of the colonists. For example, we know that women white women had more freedom than slaves African Americans especially when it came to marriage. If a African American would want to get married to a white man it would be considered a “criminal offensive” ( Berkin 109).

Married women in colonial America were not entitled to their own property, were looked upon as completely dependent on their husbands, and felt the heat when it came to divorce (Document 4). According to Gettysburg College, men were seen as the “king and priest” of the household, which still holds true today in a sense. However, with time, women have gained more rights and have equal opportunities with males in the present-day United States.

Although English colonies were different according to their regions, colonists emulated English society by having similar religious beliefs and social structure. In English colonies, Christianity was sacred and worshiped. The Church of England, with authority of the Pope until Protestant Reformation, was recognized as the “official” colonial religion in Virginia, Maryland, New York, Carolinas, and Georgia (Brinkley, 2007). Colonies in various regions used the Church of England to worship the same beliefs of Christianity and Protestantism that established a emulation to English society. Likewise, gender roles were comparable. Gender roles, including childbearing women, were traditionally practiced by many colonists and their families. Since

Colonial America was a tough time for women because back then being married or not married defined every woman’s choices, experiences, actions, and their point of view in life. Imagine being a woman during this time and having your rights ostracized by your husband and having to follow whatever he says. Women’s marital status during colonial America determined her legal status. Through women suffrage movements in the mid 1800s women would finally get the freedom they deserve.

Do you believe in gender equality? Gender equality is when one’s rights are not distinguished by their gender. Well, women in the 1700s, faced high levels of oppression. Men overpowered them in every sense. Consequently, they dealt with repression in many ways. In addition, Society placed men on a pedestal of higher importance and this perception made women look inferior to their counterparts. Women fulfilled certain nurture qualities by being caring mothers to their children, and submissive by being obedient wives to their husbands. Conversely, when stepping out of the household, women had to meet specific dress standards created by men. Women did everything they didn’t have any say over. Society placed women in a box and weren’t held up to the same standards as their counterparts, men. Both pieces like “An occasional letter on the female sex” by Thomas Paine and “On the Admission of Women Rights of Citizenship,” by Marquis de Condorcet did an excellent job antagonizing the idea that women were being treated like property and standing up for gender equality. During the 1700’s women’s rights were significantly suppressed; affecting them socially, politically and economically.

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

The speaker reflects on the origins of property and possessions concerning the English men and women in colonial times when North America was discovered and inhabited. The speaker employs declarative sentences in the beginning discussing the possessive rights of the Americans and their land in North America conveying the assertive and authoritative tone of the speaker and the colonial people. There is also a sense of freedom and independence when the speaker declares for the Americans in that time period what was theirs and what was not illuminating the conflicting views and power struggle between England and the colonials in North America. “Possessing what we still were unpossessed by, Possessed by what we now no more possessed,” presents

There were many things that were unequal between men and women back in the 1800’s such as education, training, general rights and how differently each gender was treated.

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 in the 1800s weren't in the same societal level as men, but were treated as

A woman’s virtue was a major social control because it was the only guarantee that her child would be of the man’s lineage, bloodline, and status. This was a strict double standard that conceptualizes women as being inferior to men while holding them to a higher standard than men. These social customs where largely ignored in practice was the colonies were filled with high levels of illegitimacy which never fell below 40% between whites and mestizos and it was even higher for Native Americans and Africans. Women with status had the means of resisting the patriarchal control. They could exercise parental control over their children, and estates if their husbands gave them legal consent, they could also freely sell property. They maintained control of property they held before their marriage and if widowed they received their dowries and a portion of their husbands’ assets. Dowries functioned as insurance for the women incase her husband died. These laws enabled women to inherit and administer properties. This enabled well off women to use the legal system and the courts to negotiate better terms in the gender hierarchy.

The Importance of Women in the Colonial World Women's importance in the colonial world was an ever-changing process. They were seen as equals in early Native society but over the years women's roles have changed drastically. The books one has studied have great influence on how people view women in the past but others have little. Women have played a role from the earliest times even before written language, among the Natives, in their stories and legends of women beings. Women once had a role in every aspect of human lives but as the colonists and religious leaders from other countries started to migrate there role was changed and never reestablished.