Chapter four of the text describes the Puritans and their yeoman society in New England. Although this society committed to family independence they gave their women very few rights and privileges, and always put them under men or their husbands. The role for these puritan and many other women in New England was simply to help and be dutiful to their husbands, they were called “helpmeets” for this purpose. Their duties included knitting and making shirts and gowns for the family, making candles and soap, churning milk into butter, cooking and many other household chores. Another major task given to women at this time was simply bearing children. In their lifetime most women gave birth to and took care of six to seven children.
Not only were women assigned to only certain tasks, but they were considered beneath men. They were even advised that if they were more intelligent or of higher social status than their husbands, this did not matter, the husband was still the head of the household. Even in court, women were prosecuted for fornication while very few men were. Women weren’t even given time for any kind of religious activity because of their domestic chores. It’s interesting though that even though they were given very subordinate roles, and were put below men, they were considered “exemplary or notable” contributors to the community and highly valued.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
15 comments:
I think that the Great Awakening allowed women to have a greater role in church which may have contributed to a slight change in thinking about their roles in society. I realize it was no women's rights movement but I think it helped to at least introduce the idea.
I think that although women did not have very many rights in society, they were still looked up to during the Great Awakening due to their roles in church, and their boycotts over taxation. They posessed power that the men didnt have, and in time came to be more appreciated.
The Great awakening, was a huge leap for women's rights I believe. From the boycotts, to the churches it showed that they were capable and willing to do things to impact their society. Even not dating men who weren't part of the boycott, which was mentioned in class shows that this was a giant leap and signs of an early women's movement.
The roles between men and women were completely unfair. Women in New England had all of the household responsibilites to deal with. They were not looked upon as equals to the men, but I think that the Great Awakening allowed the women to have greater roles at least in the churches.
I think that women had thier own enlightenment during this time. They got out of their houses and began to do more with the churches. They also helped pull thier own with boycotts. Since they did all of the shopping, they refused to buy the British goods.
Even though this religious movement in colonial New England gave women more opportunities through their roles in churches almost three hundred years ago, in some areas today they're still subordinate to men. Why do you think that is? How big of a role have works by Mary Wollstonecraft (A Vindication of the Rights of Woman) and other socio-political activists influenced the advancement of women in society?
To me this seems like a classic example of a women being the backbone of a household but then being shoved aside and given no credit for her work by her husband. Nice that times change these sort of things, yeah?
I also think the Great Awakening led to more rights for women. They were allowed to speak out in religious matters, they were in control of their own salvations, and sometimes could hold hold church positions. The English taxing also pushed them towards more gaining more political freedom,since they bought most household items. The boycotts on British goods were led by the women in colonial society. This definately wasn't a women's revolution, but I think it pushed them closer to it.
I think that the Great Awakening gave women the oppurtunity to have more rights and a chance to speak out and help society. Women were an important part of soceity and by boycotting showed they could make a difference and that they did have power.
It's sad that the women had such few rights and did not have very high roles in society, yet it's amazing how they were still able to play roles as they did during the Great Awakening in churches. And I find it pretty cool that they led the boycotts against taxation.
In response to the original post regarding women in New England, I found the female induced boycotts very intriguing since they were given low ranking importance in most societal duties but yet have the unwavering power to halt commerce. They are below men in about every obvious category but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, together they are powerful enough to deliver a pretty stinging blow to the New England economy. The men obviously did not think of everything...
As you said in your article, women's roles duriing that period in New England were "Helpmeets", they were subordinate ones in the family. Their lives remained tightly bound by a bunch of legal and cultural restrictions. They even couldn't get an equal role in the Chruches. Hence, many of them turned to Baptist churches which welcomed questioning women and allowed them to become spiritual leaders. This really helped Baptists win the Religious conflict later on.
Though women were looked at as subordinates, there was power in the tasks they were assigned. It doesn't seem as though they had to run many things by the men. This is very apparent when the women were boycotting against taxation. This really showed their strength and influence on the economy. When they were given power to form organizations in some of the churches, I feel that they were prepared to do this from their experiences. While men were considered the "heads of the households", women really determined how things ran and made sure that all were taken care of. In these seemingly pitiful roles at that time, women were preparing for more publicly commanding roles.
The Great Awakening was a great thing to happen to women. It gave women the right to speak out in public, which led to many boycotts during the American revolution, what with the Tea Act and all the imports that had taxes. Most of the men did not go out shopping for the groceries, so women were more able to voice their opinion on things because of their role in the Gerat Awakening.
I believe that the Great Awakening gave women more opportunities to make their mark. Women had always been overlooked and had been expected to do things around the house for the family. The Great Awakening allowed women to do more with the churches and have a chance to speak out. In the end, this resulted in women helping ith boycotting, which ended up helping all the colonists.
Post a Comment