Life For Women During Colonial America

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.

Over decades women has always suffered from discrimination and the lax of rights. In the past puritans men were the only one who had benefits; however women play most of the roles. Massachusetts Bay Colony was a place where the masculine sex ruled, female opinion wasn't given importance at all. The Puritans were really strict people and they believed that women weren't capable of contributing any information to the town and church meetings.

Elizabeth, I'm right there with you. I was not very well informed in how women lived in the colonial period. Most of my education was overseas so I really needed to read more and become more familiar with US History. I was under the impression that women in the colonies were mainly homemakers that spent most of their time taking care of the house.

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

Traditionally in the eighteenth century, women had little effect over colonial affairs. Women of that time had spent their years working at home as farm wives. Traditionally in the colonial times girls learned their gender roles from the examples of their mothers, and by the time the girls were thirteen, they were expected to help their mothers in all tasks of the adult women. The tasks of women included taking care of the young children, buying and preparing food, directing the activities of indentured servants or slaves, and doing all the other household chores. Mothers were also often the primary spiritual instructors in the home. It was very difficult and exhausting, but some middle class and wealthy women had servants who would help them. But it changed temporarily during 1770s when women across Boston agreed to boycott, and as it is stated in article 5-7 that without them the boycott against the Townshend duties would fail. American women, ordinarily excluded from public affairs, became important to the nonimportation movement by making homespun cloth. “This surge in domestic

These widows were frequently left alone with several children to care for and the difficult job of taking charge of a farm or plantation. Many widows, who were without sons, remarried to seek out male assistance for the grueling and laborious work that was involved in the upkeep of the land. Extended families were often formed from these second marriages and caused for women to take control, which was unlike the usual patterns of family life. While women were granted much more freedoms within the Southern colonies, they were still expected to bear children. The standard wife would become pregnant every two years and throughout her life would have given birth to eight children. Even within the New England colonies, women’s lives had been focused on producing babies and raising them to maturity. Women were always looked down upon at some point and time during their experience of living in the three colonial

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

For the women who were formally indentured slave, marriage was the mark of their freedom. However, their marriages didn’t necessarily improve their living or work conditions. Women who were indentured slaves often ended up marrying other slaves or married less well-off than their masters, some women even married up in class (Dubois, ch.2 p.51-52).

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.

The Revolution and aftermath reflect a mostly unchanged the United States, sustained by the actions of the established government and Founding Fathers. Drawing upon a variety of first-person sources, Zinn argues that by extending slight concessions or benefits to the middle class or less privileged, the wealthy managed to maintain power while strengthening a base of support. The centralization of wealth best indicates the unchanging circumstances in the United States. “10 percent of the white population… owned nearly half the wealth of the country,” indicating an incredibly large divide in class. Requirements on a governmental position often included large amounts of property, thus excluding the majority of the population; the absurd requirements

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

A woman’s greatest time of independence was before she married. When a woman married all of her property, any wages, and rents and profits from real estate went to her husband. Post-Revolution reform made divorce a little easier, but it was still rare. “… although women won greater freedom to divorce, married women still could not sue or be sued, make wills or contracts, or buy and sell property.” Some newly educated women (above the laboring class) were even able to work and make their own money prior to marriage. A common occupation for the post-Revolution woman was teaching. Even as some American women were enjoying their newly found economic freedom, most women still felt their proper place was in the home tending to their family.

Early American life presented women with overwhelming demands to marry. Marriage was in such high favor for economical benefits, not romantic relations. Life depended on status, wealth, religion, race, colony and century one belonged. Women were considered lucky if they married well enough to have a farm their family owned and a husband with a good trade. There

Working in farmlands was not an easy task to do, but tobacco became the king of the lands and every hand was useful in order to cultivate it. Women were needed to work the lands no matter how fatiguing it was, and the only way they were able to make the journey through the colonies was to be in a contract as indentured servants. “The name derived from the indenture, or contract, by which a person promised to work for a fixed number of years in return for transportation to America” (America 75.) Working the land in the sizzling sun caused many servants to die from disease. Those who survived and completed their indentured contract could marry and even have lands with their husbands.

The roles of Colonial Women were directly correlated to their wealth. There were many different categories of women in Colonial America. Some of which are unmarried women and widows. It was difficult for women in early Colonial America. They were labored with the responsibility of helping men with their tasks in order to survive. As Colonial America evolved so did the roles of women; they began to run the house or farm, while raising children. The status of women, based on their wealth, determined the work they had to do. While women were perceived to hold jobs of lesser importance than men, they were actually more highly valued seeing as though they were in short supply in the colonies. Although women did a lot of work, they were still perceived as weak, lacking physical and mental strength of men, and were not emotionally stable. They were seen as less than men and were expected to obey them without questions. There