Gender Roles In The 18th Century

This is a great source for women's roles. It is a great source because it lists off the many jobs women had when the colonist settled and and after they had been in Maryland for quite sometime. Although the jobs varied house hold to house hold because of social status this is a great representation of what type of jobs women would of had during the 1700s time

To recap what many of us know, back in the 1600-1700's and before that of course, gender played a major role in everyday society. Each gender had their own role in everyday life and was expected to complete certain tasks each day. The point made above helps us briefly understand why woman were more commonly targeted as witches. To expand, a female as a whole, were viewed as a easier target for the devil to take over or posses. Because of this gender bias, men were viewed to be able to fight off the devils attacks. Now the main reason certain women were being accused of being witches is because all these woman had something in common. These particular females did not fit into society, or more precisely, society's norm at the time. For example,

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

The Market Revolution and the Second Great Awakening promoted the ideas of social mobility and and individualism which greatly influenced the shaping of gender roles in America in the mid 1800’s. Work and the home were now separated which made womens new job taking care of the house and family, they could work elsewhere such as in factories, but were paid less than men and worked long, hard hours, women’s place in society was changing, women began to challenge the rules of fashion and fight for their rights.

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

In the mid to late 1700's, the women of the United States of America had practically no rights. When they were married, the men represented the family, and the woman could not do anything without consulting the men. Women were expected to be housewives, to raise their children, and thinking of a job in a factory was a dream that was never thought impossible. But, as years passed, women such as Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Elizabeth Blackwell

I have to let the readers know how I stumbled upon this topic to introduce where I get my ideas from. It all started in the archive located on the second floor of the library in a dark corner behind a clear glass doors at the Hunter College. I have been attending Hunter College for four years and never have I stumbled on such an amazing place full of live history. I say live history because all the documents and books that are held in the archive are all preserved originals, which fascinated me. Thinking how people who lived more than century ago wrote and read the same things I’m writing and reading about excited me to my very soul. Archive research though fascinating is not an easy task that can be done in within fifteen minutes like how researches are done these days using convenient technologies at hand.

Prior to the American Revolution, women did not have the choice of having ownership of their own property. Whatever they had belonged to the husband, that was the head of her. “In her new status as feme covert, or woman covered, all that she owned became her husband’s property, even the clothes on her back. (Berkin, 5-6). In the 1760s, a women’s destiny was limited to marriage or spinsterhood. Their rights were much restricted. Women mainly predominately executed daily housewife activities such as scouring furniture, sowing, preparing a husband’s meal. “Her domain was the household, the garden, and the hen house…” (Berkin, 6). Roles differed depending on their social status and wealth, but overall women were not educated. If educated, it was finite to the basics. Men led the main role in economics, until the emergence of the American Revolution. Everything took a turn

During the Enlightenment and Revolution era, women did not have equal rights like men. All over the world women were expected to do certain things and act a certain way while not doing others. A woman is mocked and ridiculed if she does not follow these standards.Women’s roles were based around duty and obligations; thus, their rights were not political, gleaning from their roles as housewives (Give Me Liberty!, 242). The roles of women between the 16th to the 18th centuries were mainly to be housewives and were seen inferior compared to men. Throughout time, they gained a greater variety of job opportunities as well as increased education, and the women’s roles still did not carry the same weight as the men’s.

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

At the end of the 18th century and during the 19th century, there were many changes to public ideology that affected the way that women perceived their roles in society. Prior to these changes, women had adopted the beliefs of separate “spheres” separating work into public life and their duties as mothers at home1. Women stayed at home to take care of the children and provide a warm, welcoming home for their husbands to take refuge from public life. Women became aware of their lack of legal and political power after the American Revolutionary War ended as they were denied the right to the same freedoms that granted the right to vote to the white, property-owning male population2. Despite granting women more liberty to run businesses, farms,

Gender roles were sharply defined in the 19th century. Women were expected to stay at home and carry out the domestic duties as well as taking care of the children and educate them and provide a peaceful home for their husband. Women were seen as loving and caring. On the other hand, men were expected to work and earn money for the family. They would fight wars and were seen as strong and powerful. Men had more freedom and rights, such as the right to vote, than women in the 19th century. Society had created two completely separate spheres. In the medical field, men were doctors. There were laws in many states, such as, that prohibited women from becoming doctors. Women, who decided to practice medicine in the 19th century had to struggle with much opposition because it went against prevailing ideas about women’s role in society. Women belonged in the private and domestic sphere. Men belonged to competitive and immoral public sphere of industry and commerce. The women in medicine would face accusations that they were abandoning their sphere and threatening society. Due to these arguments and the fear of economic competition from female practitioner, male medical schools and hospitals denied women access to institutions. However, Elizabeth Blackwell, changed this idea of separate spheres when she decided to take on the medical field and become a doctor. Although Elizabeth Black had a natural aversion to the medical field, her

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

During the 18th century, women were treated like slaves. They had little authority regarding anything. Women didn’t have the right to vote or the right to own property. Only a spinster or widow woman could own and manage property until they married. Women were owned by the husband just as he owned material possessions. Many women were trapped in loveless marriages and those without families were seen as outcasts. The husband was legally entitled to beat his wife for disobedience. Divorces were rarely granted and women usually ran away from bad marriages. As you read, I will talk about

Women in the 18th century were looked at as voiceless objects in a world ruled by men. Women and men did not always have equal rights. In the 18th century women were mainly defined by their family and household roles. The woman did not really have legal identity apart from their husbands. Women were look at as slaves because all they did was be at the house and satisfy their husbands in what they wanted. Men would have total control over his wife’s property. The woman also did not have the right to vote unlike men. Some things that women did not have the right of was to vote, own property, could not sit in a jury trial, and could not be a part of a lawsuit. In 1830, a number of women in the United States argued for the right of woman to own their property and to divorce. In the 18th century gothic literature was happening. Gothic literature was in fiction, art, music, poetry, film, and television. Gothic tradition also includes sense with extreme emotion, fear, madness, and death. Death as a tomb, entombment was also used which is to be placed in a tomb be buried. A feminist writer, publisher, social activist, public lecture, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, said that women depending on men made them unquestionable slaves to them in the United States society. Perkins married the artist Charles Stetson in1884, which then both had a daughter named Katherine. A story that she wrote that can illustrate how women were like in the 18th century is “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The story “The