The girls of the American colonies were educated in order to grow and become fitting wives. After a woman’s homemaker education, she was ready for courtship. This took place at about 16 years of age. During this courtship, the woman did have full decision on which she was to marry. While it was ultimately up to her which man she would choose to spend her life with, her family did have some say. Before a man could date a girl, he would have to receive permission from her father. If he did not find the man fit to be married to his daughter, he would not permit the courtship to continue. If the family liked the man, they would put pressure on the girl to choose him. This idea of family involvement very much resembles the way it is now. The marriage choices of the colonial period were made very carefully because, unlike today, divorce or separation was rare if not unheard of.
After the woman was married, it was her duty to take care of the home. In doing that, she took care of the cooking, cleaning, maintaining the servants and overseeing the education of her children. These tasks consumed her day. While her husband was away she was the executive, but he was always the ruler and chief. “The husband is called the head of a woman. It belongs to the head to rule and govern. Wives are part of the house and family and ought to be under the husband’s government,” So while she was expected to run and perform all of the necessary duties of the household she really had no power within it.
The Essay on Close Relationships Between Men And Women part 1
Close Relationships between Men and Women Introduction The question, discussed in this research is, perhaps, one of the most widely discussed questions in today's society. Customary it is not discussed in an absolutely open way, but still it does not mean that the problem does not exist. Interpersonal relationships seems to be a great mystery of the mankind. People do not exist without ...
European women in the 16-century had a specific place in the lives of their communities. They were to perform traditional roles including preparing and serving the food, weaving clothing, and raising and educating the children. When settlers came to the New World they were appalled to see how the Native American women did all of the traditional and manual labor, according to European standards. They worked in and around the house, reared the children, prepared the food and created pottery. They also worked in the fields tilling the land and farming. What the early explorers noted was the men were leisurely enjoying their lives hunting deer and animals, fishing and building homes for their families. Doing things that the noble class of Europe did in their leisure.
The image of native women in Europe was established by stories and reports sent back to the homeland. As colonies started establishing themselves there was a skew in the ratio between men and women. The interests of the Virginia Company, the first company to establish settlement in the New World, was mining. Mining was soon determined to be a non-profitable investment, so the colonist quickly switched to tobacco farming in the Chesapeake region to make money. The primary workers for the Virginia Company were men, but as people stayed longer, women were seen as a way to help establish permanency in the colonies.
Women were needed in the new settlements and the only way they were able to make the journey across to the colonies was to contract themselves out as indentured servants for 5-7 years. Every hand was needed to cultivate the tobacco daily from winter to the summer months. The conditions were less than hospitable for these newly transplanted European women, even for those that came from the lesser rungs of English society many of the indentured servants died from disease, but those who survived their indentured period were able to marry and have land with their husbands.
The European woman’s role was greatly affected by the formation of slavery. Women, who could not afford slave help, were often permanently put back into household duties. The day began with starting the fire, milking the cows, and creating cream and butter. She then spent the bulk of her morning preparing food for the day and bread for the dinner. The afternoons were sometimes taken up by working in the garden, mending, or taking grain to the miller. Her time also was seasonal, as she had to raise the cattle, make sausage, preserve bacon, and complete the sewing of clothes. The workload obviously didn’t get easier for the women. They also had to take care of their own children. Only if the family was wealthy enough, did the wife have a slave that helped around the house
The Essay on Black Women Slave Men Slaves
The writings of Harriet Jacobs and Sojourner Truth exemplify that the sufferings of black women were far worst than that of their male counterparts. All slaves were forced to endure the physical and emotional turmoil of bondage, however, for the enslaved woman, race and gender presented a double oppression. Women slaves experienced peculiar wrongs and injustices to which men slaves were not ...
To cut costs on the tobacco farms, the institution of slavery in America evolved. The female slave was soon to be introduced into the colonial society. When this occurred, the European women returned to their traditional roles in the home. Female slaves were primarily brought to the colonies as an investment to the plantation owner. They were able to work like the men in the fields, and most importantly could reproduce more native-born slaves, which meant more property for the slave owner. They were only able to marry with other slaves secretively, because marriage between slaves was not recognized by the colonies.
Female slaves that didn’t farm the land next to their male counterparts were in the homes with the gentry class women. They cared for the children of the household, cleaned, cooked and assisted in any way necessary. Working indoors was not necessarily better than working outside. In the fields, there were groups working together out of the watchful eye of the master, but being in the house meant constant supervision and heightened risk of sexual exploitation Hard physical labor like doing the laundry, carrying water and routine chores such as emptying chamber pots and making beds was expected day to day. They were also at the disposal of their masters and master’s wives 24 hours a day.
