This paper is an examination of the roles of wome
This is an excerpt from the paper...
This paper is an examination of the roles of women in Colonial America during the 17th century, comparing the social position of women in the middle and southern colonies with that of the women of the New England colonies. Women outside of New England during this period were a much more diverse group, and their experiences were influenced by the religious and cultural forces that brought them to the New World, by the local economy and social structures that were being created in their new environment, and by their ability to influence their new surroundings and establish new patterns within them. Most of the social gains that women in these circumstances were able to achieve were driven by economic forces, and many of the obstacles they faced were, ultimately, also rooted in the control of money and property. The women who settled in New England during the early colonial period were a relatively homogenous group. The majority were Puritans who, seeking to escape the persecutions and unpleasantness of a life in their native England, set about recreating their old society in the New World. One of the most important components of this recreation was the maintenance of the relationship between men and women. Carol Berkin observes, "Seventeenth-century New England society carefully replicated the patriarchal family structure of old England" (26). Because so many of those who settled in the northern colonies had come from the same society, the typical New England household
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ut also encompassed economic hardship, social oppression, and the desire for adventure. They scattered over a wider area, often requiring households to become virtually independent, both socially and economically. Initially, many more men than women migrated to the middle and southern colonies, giving the women a greater range of choice in selecting husbands. More of these colonists arrived unmarried, and women who survived the rigors of childbirth also tended to outlive their husbands.
As the southern colonists began to carve out their new lives, they needed additional physical help, beyond the abilities of the members of a nuclear-family household, and this led to the establishment of an economy based on the ownership of other human beings. Elizabeth Fox-Genovese argues, "Black and white southern women differed from their northern and European sisters for a complex of reasons, first among which was the unfolding of their lives within a modern slave society" (29).
All these factors created a radically different climate for gender relations than the one that existed in New England. Under English law, women had few if any economic rights. Husbands were expected to support their wives, and their wills (or the common laws
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Puritan Quaker, United America, Colonial America, Western Europe, Seventeenth-century England, Paula Treckel, England English, Ruth Alexander, Lyle Koehler, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, southern colonies, colonies women, middle southern colonies, middle southern, southern colonies women, 17th century, women colonial america, women south, able achieve, women economic, seventeenth-century england, england society, mary beth,
Approximate Word count = 1560
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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