Women's Role In Colonial America

Analytical Paper # 1: Woman in Colonial America Woman have always played an important role in history, and also helped shape America into what it is today. Throughout history, the importance of gender roles was firmly established to maintain strong family structures. Which also meant, that woman had little to no rights in comparison to the men in colonial America. Woman in colonial times began to take notice of their inequality, and despite the hardships, pain and trials most of the woman experienced, they still succeeded in enduring some of the differences between their opposite sex. The social inequality many women had to face might have been the reason why many women opted to stay with the Natives after being captured.
In colonial times, men dominated the world not only in power but also in number. A woman’s identity and property were always connected with the men in her life. As a child she would have been subordinate to her father, and upon marriage her identity and property then transferred to her husband. So even as a young child, woman had very few choices.
Referring to the book, laws regulated her action and limited her identity in society. A woman was a legal incompetent, as children, idiots, and criminals were under the English law (14 Berkin). When woman were married they were stripped of all property, and everything she had became her husbands, to direct, manage and use. Married colonial woman had no voice, and their success and happiness relied completely on her husband. During the 17th century, women’s work was extremely difficult, exhausting, and under appreciated. Most colonial women were homemakers who cooked meals, made clothing, and doctored their family as well as cleaned, made household goods to use and sell, took care of their animals, and sometimes maintained and tended the farm. Middle class and wealthy women also shared some of these chores in their households, but they often had servants to help them. Women were also the primary care givers for the children, and they often had many children. Mothers were often the primary spiritual instructors in the home, especially in the latter part of the Seventeenth Century. Men did not often step outside of their traditional gender roles. There was simply no need for it. They enjoyed all the freedom
they wanted.
Women, however, lacked the same type of freedom, and often got into trouble for achieving positions of power. Women who “broke the roles” faced public ridicule, and occasional legal admonishment for their actions. Just like every other aspect of life, men also controlled religion and the churches. In the case of Anne Hutchinson, although she was not allowed to speak in church because of her gender, she felt certain that Biblical teachings entitled her to freedom of speech in private confines. Consequently, Hutchinson often invited people to her home to discuss sermons and spiritual matters. The church leaders were shocked by her behavior. Despite her insistence that scripture defended her actions, they tried her as a heretic and removed her from Massachusetts Bay. So it was dangerous for woman to step out of the traditional role housewifery, and woman were also accused of witchcraft. Men had been socialized from birth to be in control of their
families and society. Their collective insecurity about their social place contributed to their harsh treatment of women who stepped outside the traditional gender roles of Colonial life. During the colonization of North America, there were many wars between the colonists and the Native Americans. The Puritans waged brutal attacks in the name of God and their own privileged destinies (43 Berkin). As Berkin explains, England’s white settlers pursued an aggressive policy of invasion, usurpation, and extermination, which led to war, bloodshed, and a pervasive sense of insecurity for many (43). The Indians fought for their land, because the colonists tried to take it over because they felt that they had better use for it. In the struggles, and attacks between the Natives Americans and the Colonists, there were many people taken captive by the Natives. The Natives wanted the colonists that they had captured, to adopt their way of life, and live and adapt to the tribe. Many tried to escape, mostly the men, but most woman opted to stay because life in the tribe was considerably more desirable. Woman also adapted better than men and that’s why many of them choose to stay. Some also believe that the adaptation of these women to the tribe was an act of rebelling against the Puritan society. So given the difficult life that most colonial women faced, it should not be surprising that many women, when captured in Indian raids chose not to return to their communities and spent the rest of their lives as adopted members of the tribe by whom they were captured.