Women and Their Role in the Civil War

Women in the Civil War were important because they played important roles. They played as nurses, spies, and some even disguised themselves as soldiers. The women could only play one of these roles. For example they can only be either a spy or nurse or a soldier. They can’t be two like a spy and a nurse.

Women were considered frail, unintelligent, and unable to make decisions in eighteen-hundredths America. It was traditional wisdom that a woman’s place was in the home. The Civil War marked a turning point for women and their role in society. Through my research consisting of books, letters, speeches, and articles, I will tell the story of a time in America when women rose to satisfy the needs of the country when most men were away fighting the war. This essay will analyze the roles of women in eighteen-hundredths America, by evaluating how women’s roles had changed; they now were nurses, soldiers/spies, and public workers/activists.

A “True Women’s” life before the war was to make a clean, comfortable, nurturing home for her

In this essay i will explain not only the civil war, I will explain the impact women made on the civil war. U should read this to not only understand more about the women in the Civil war but to see that women can do as much as men. This essay will prove that women is as much good as men. You may never know what women did to help in the Civil war if u don't read this essay The Courageous Women of the Civil War

During the Civil war,women played very important parts. 400 women and more disguised themselves as men and fought in the Union and Confederate armies. A good amount of women served as spies and nurses. A handful of them disguised themselves as men and joined the war. The women at home took on the husband, brother, and father roles. In the past generations, women improved their educational standing, acquired greater access to manufactured goods, and secured additional legal rights by the mid-1800s. A majority of American women led daily lives that was focused mainly on their families, households, gardens, and crops. There was about 250 female Civil War soldiers that have been documented by historians and there was probably more. Women took

What’s Your Role? “In Analysis: the Role of Women During the Civil War” Laurel Thatcher Ulrich once uttered, “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” Laurel was a professor at Harvard University and an author. This is very crucial during The American Civil War. The Civil War lasted from 1861-1865.

About 150 years ago, one of the biggest wars in America’s history ended. Many people were involved in the American Civil War, including some that weren’t commonly talked about. Among those people, there were slaves, free blacks, women, and immigrants who fought or helped majorly in this war on both sides. Free African Americans would risk their lives to fight for the Union, while slaves would try to escape to the Union from the South to be able to fight. Women would be an immense help with nursing and other pivotal jobs like that. Even immigrants would help in some way. There were many minorities in the Civil War who helped in various ways and had an immense impact on the outcome of the war.

The roles of women in society have always been a topic for debate. Some think women should be in the kitchen cooking meal and having lots children. Others feel that women can contribute to society in ways that are not a part of the family home, but outside the in board rooms and operating rooms. This paper is going to argue how chauvinistic thoughts of women helped propel the female gender into great spies during the civil war. During the era of the civil war attitudes of women spying during a war was unheard of; women are often over looked as valuable associates in war efforts. Chauvinistic thoughts of women helped propel some into outstanding spies during the Civil War.

Whether a woman was the mistress of a plantation or the wife of a yeoman farmer, her life was defined by work. Only a small number of women, those related or

Subsequently, women inherently participated in this patriarchal society. A residual effect was women were often subjected to emotion, physical, and/or mental abuse. Morally, divorce was not an option as “a good wife acts not for herself only…and not for her own gratification.” Errington argues “publicly being a wife and sustaining the marriage was women’s work.” (52). Under these circumstances, how successful a women was in fulfilling her role as a wife would prepare her for arguably the most important role for women; being a

A house is not a home if no one lives there. During the nineteenth century, the same could be said about a woman concerning her role within both society and marriage. The ideology of the Cult of Domesticity, especially prevalent during the late 1800’s, emphasized the notion that a woman’s role falls within the domestic sphere and that females must act in submission to males. One of the expected jobs of a woman included bearing children, despite the fact that new mothers frequently experienced post-partum depression. If a woman were sterile, her purposefulness diminished. While the Cult of Domesticity intended to create obliging and competent wives, women frequently reported feeling trapped or imprisoned within the home and within societal

When Brady classifies herself as “a wife and mother” she is automatically labeled with the responsibilities that were enforced by societal beliefs of that era (Brady 229). Women were considered inferior to men and struggled to gain equality. Husband's required too much of their wives as to their physical needs; “I want a wife to keep my house clean.” Their social needs, “When I meet people at school that I like and want to entertain, I want a wife who will have the house clean, will prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my friends, and not interrupt when I talk about things that interest me and my friends.” In addition, their sexual needs, “I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who makes love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who makes sure that I am satisfied.” (Brady 229-230). Women did all these things everyday to please their husbands, although they received no fringe benefit in return. The cultural values that were viewed at this time emphasized the discrimination and equality that Brady desperately wants her audience to

Based on the poems “Gravy” by Corrie Lynn White and “She lives in a Pat of Butter” by Jade Ramsay, women are forced to be a role model in family life and domesticity. Although women generally need to give a great amount of effort to be the best mother or wife, the social expectations from both of the poems want women to be perfect especially in domestic life. In fact, there was even a time when female domesticity became the culture of some upper and middle class Americans back in the nineteenth century (The Cult of Domesticity). Their purpose was to limit woman’s influences only to family life or handling chores around the home. Both of the poems show that the expectations of seeing every woman must definitely have a happy life after marriage

The woman’s sphere was the home, and thus it was her job to make sure that it was running smoothly and a haven from the aggressive pace of the outside world for her husband. Women made all the decisions about the decoration of the home and if there were servants, they were in charge of them as well. Servants were viewed as an extension of a woman, if one’s servants were unruly, it reflected poorly on a wife’s status in the cult of true womanhood. As women began to take pride in their homes and children, industries flourished. Household conveniences such as stoves, carpet, flower gardens, and decorative items became readily available.

The cult of domesticity brought a new view on women’s role and associated virtue with the moral quality of a woman. Virtue for a woman represented her worth which was measured by her innocence and beauty. At the cost of being dependent on a man a woman was provided with protection and financial stability. Through cult of domesticity some women were able to avoid the disadvantages of being a female in the work force. At the time all that was available to women were low paying jobs like domestic servants, factory workers, and seamstresses. In return all they would have to do is fulfill their obligations to their husbands which was to provide love, companionship, and provide a get way from the stress of the work day. Women being able to stay at