From: Anonymous Six
Date: 1/31/00
Time: 9:17:20 PM
Remote Name: 165.121.80.66
Anonymous Six History 67 William Cutler Week three
Historians themselves have not been able to come to a single conclusion on what role women played in colonial times. “Some scholars point out that common law as well as English custom treated women as inferior to men” and “Other historians, however, depict the colonial period as a “golden age” for women”(American Past and Present, Divine, Breen, Fredickson, and William’s, Chp.3, pg69). From the use of my source I was able to come to the conclusion that women were not included in the same jobs as men in the New England community. Women performed task such as cooking, washing, cleaning and gardening and a wide variety of household chores. Many of them in New England were married and so acquired whatever role necessary to please her husband. Many of these women sold poultry, vegetables and tapestry in-order to contribute to the household. The life-styles of women in the colonies of Virginia and Maryland were similar, yet entirely different. Due to the reliance on the tabacco farming many of the women though not accustomed to harsh toiling labor, were suddenly propelled into the labor force. Many of these women worked in the field yearlong with the men. Many didn’t survive, but those you did even though numbering a few scores married and raised families. After marriage they acquired the same identical roles of their counterparts in the north. Only until the acquisition of slaves were the women able to raise themselves from the minimal roles they played in colonial society.