Mabel S. Notecard 10

# 10  Women’s Roles (Mabel)

Source:

Taylor, Deborah C. “Domesticity: the Female Role in Colonial America.” American History .

Quote:

“Enforced by law and reinforced by religion, domesticity was the main institution in a woman’s life, and the home was a refuge of English custom. Married women had no independent legal rights and were subordinate to their husbands. In the family they were expected to perform both productive and reproductive domestic duties. Their household responsibilities included cooking, cleaning, sewing, weaving, candle-making, butchering, tending a kitchen garden, caring for poultry, and performing dairy work. They spent much of their adult lives in the cycle of pregnancy, birth, and nursing while simultaneously raising older children and executing domestic duties. Mothers passed on “huswife” skills to their daughters, creating strong mother-daughter bonds. Wealthy women also managed servants and slaves.”

Paraphrase:

Married women didn’t have their own rights, they had to do whatever their husband told them to. They were supposed to sew, cook, clean, weave, make candles, butcher animals, care for animals, tend gardens, and do dairy work. Older women spent most of their time having and raising kids while teaching their daughters how to do the same. The rich women only did some of the stuff with kids, they had servants to do everything else. 

My Ideas:

This seems like a whole lot of work. Did the men ever notice or care that their wives might be overworked, or did they only think about themselves being tired? No wonder the women started the Non-Importation Act. What would happen when they got sick? Would they have to work anyway if they had no servants, or would the man have to do some of her work? Later, the article says that “model housewives were often compared to a tortoise confined to her shell- a secure and stable domestic world.” I can infer from this that women did not leave- or get to leave- their own house very often. I wonder, what would happen to women who disobeyed these gender roles and didn’t listen to her husband? I know that really vocal women were sometimes accused of witchcraft, so I can infer that women who acted like their husbands would probably be accused as well. In one article I read that slaves, servants, children, and wives were hit if they weren’t good. However, that means that white free men were not hit. I can infer that this was because they were supposed to be the master of their house. People also used public punishments for the same offenses, but again, not on white free men who could do what they liked unless it was against the law.