Women's Roles During The American Revolution

It is clear to historians that in the past when there existed a farm economy, women enjoyed what could be considered as equality. Family farms had both women and men working on different jobs as men typically did the heavy lifting field labor, repair and woodwork working with large edge tools. On the other hand, women were involved with clothing, food preparation and preservation. Children were raised by both sexes and the farms relied on both the women and men and their contribution to the economy could be considered equal. The law on the other hand favored the men giving women fewer rights formally. It was however a time when almost everybody made their own clothing, shelter and grew their own food instead of buying this things and thus a
Families could purchase clothing instead of making it at home, buy ready food and canned food as early as the 1850’s as an alternative to preserving it themselves. Americans began reconsidering gender roles in light of these changes and the sweeping promises had been made by the American Revolution. Argument arose over the role of women in society and men generally thought that women should concentrate at home and that due to their loving and caring nature were suitable for child caring and what they referred to as “domestic art”. The man’s world was thought of as tough, competitive and harsh compared to the soft emotional, self-sacrificing and loving world of women that historians refer to as “sentimentalization” (O'Malley, 2004). Through this capacity of logic, women were denied the right to vote, involvement in politics, and work outside the home and were only thought to be capable of working to reform society through child upbringing. Women have had their rights denied, fought for them and still managed to achieve so much over the
This reform evolved in the 19th century and initially emphasized a broader spectrum of goals before it began to focus solely on safeguarding the franchise for the women in the country. The first recorded gathering that was devoted to fighting for women’s rights in the US was held in 1920 and referred to as the Seneca Falls Convention (The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848–1920, 2012). The principal organizer of this convention was Elizabeth Candy Stanton from New York. Despite it being attended by 100 people, two thirds of this number were women. A declaration of sentiments, grievances and resolutions to these were drafted. Amid the 13 resolutions that were set forth in the said declaration was Stanton’s goal of what she referred to as the “Sacred right of franchise”. The somewhat factitious suffrage movement that emerged from this convention then proceeded in a number of waves. At the start, women reformers only spoke about the social and institutional barriers present that seemed to limit women’s rights such as a lack of educational opportunity, economic opportunities and family responsibilities. Through this convention Susan B (a teacher) and Stanton forged an alliance that made them lifetime activists for women’s rights. They however lobbied congress unsuccessfully trying to get them to provide