From: Tim Patterson
Date: 1/31/00
Time: 8:02:50 PM
Remote Name: 155.247.168.59
What were the roles of women and the family in colonial America? Did they differ by region? The roles of women and family in New England were considerably different from their roles in the Chesapeake region. First lets talk about women. There is a certain amount of discrepancy on the roles of women in Puritan New England. Historians are torn on whether this was a time of gender inequality or a time of equality for the female population. The women of Puritan America worked on the family farms but not necessarily performing the same tasks as men. The women may have been in charge of the meals, cleaning and basically the maintenance of the household, while the men worked in the fields bringing back food and money, but neither roles were less important than the other. It wasn’t till the industrial revolution that women began to take an inferior role to men. Women in the Northern Colonies also took a large role in religion, more so than men, and thus making them more ‘holy’ so to speak, which was particularly important in the Puritan society. All in all, women and men lived next to each other in the roles they thought ordained. In the Southern colonies, the role of the women was slightly different. Because of the large number of men in the Chesapeake area and the small number of women, most women were guaranteed a hand in marriage, thus giving them some social leverage based on who they were married to. At the same time, it was difficult for most to start a family because as indentured slaves they couldn’t marry until their term was up. By that time most were to old to give birth (or at least a healthy birth). As a result, many women died in labor, much younger than the women of New England who lived in much healthier conditions. This also plays a part in the role of the family in these two societies. Life without a family was difficult in all parts of colonial America. In New England single people were able to get married at a relatively young age, thus creating the opportunity for a large family. Families remained towns where they grew up, and this communal attitude was seen in the way a family operated. All members of the family took part in the farm work and they all relied on each other for survival. A large family was detrimental to long life in the colonies. For this reason the Southern colonists had a high mortality rate. Most colonists that came to the Chesapeake Bay area came as indentured servants and had to work for a certain time period without marrying. By the time they were allowed to marry, their lives were half over and making a large family wouldn’t be biologically possible. The children that did survive birth were too weak to do the hard labor the New World demanded. The high morality rate added to the problems of community, being that there was none in the South. People died young and thus never really settled in anywhere. The Puritans were obsessed with the family unit while the Southern settlers barely had a chance to experience this in the New World.