Jemma Fox

2016

Marriage and Courtship

Family was a big part of a woman’s life. Most women would have children and to have children you needed a husband. Women would rely on a husband for most things almost all women in Colonial America were married. An unmarried woman was considered to have failed her duties as a women because they were expected to have children and support a man’s property. The women were expected to provide for a husband not provide for themselves so not marrying was a let down her family. Also if she didn’t marry and can’t provide for themselves the parents have to so not only has she let down her parents, now the parents still have to pay to provide for her as an extra burden on her parents. If a woman does marry though and they live a happy life all’s well. But if a woman is unhappy with her marriage and decides to file a divorce she would be considered more criminal than if a man filed for divorce. Women were depicted inferior to men because Eve ate the poison apple in the Garden of Eden. The men thought the women were going to make another giant mistake that would alter the course of humanity.  “Marriage was the rock of a stable society it created order and provided restraints for that reason everyone had a duty to marry. An unmarried woman not only failed in her duties but also added to her parents burdens as they continued to feed and clothe her. The Bible taught that he had seduced Adam into sin by offering him a forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden. The colonists, it seemed easy action had branded women as troublemakers and temptress the daughters Eve in Colonial America were depicted In books and sermons as the weaker vessel women we’re supposed to be easily misled tempted by flattery and given to extravagance.” I think it is unfair that the people who wrote the Bible had something against women and depicted Eve, a very important religious figure as a bad person, so women were never treated equally. Women should be able to make a reputation for themselves instead of men judging them because someone wrote it in a book hundreds of years ago. It’s unfair that because women have a bad reputation, it is harder for them to support themselves. That’s why more women than men married. Women had a hard time making a living so if they stayed unmarried it made the parents still have to pay for the woman because they can’t support themselves. It was considered that if a woman broke her vows or the man did the woman was doing more of a wrongdoing. Women should be just as criminal as men if they break their vows. That is sexist and stupid. If someone was mad at their husband and broke their vows, then their husband also broke his vows they should be just as shamed as their husband. It is not fair that someone would look worse than their husband because someone was born a female. No one can’t help the gender they were born.      

Alexa Moskowitz
2015

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Women and their roles were essential to the creation of colonies. Whether it was upper class, middling, lower class, African, English, or Native American they were all crucial. Even though they were really important the men didn’t think so and they minimized them. But we now know that women were great at so many other things and that without them the colonies wouldn’t have survived. Women did so many jobs like: cooking, cleaning, soap making, candle making, farming, gardening, caring for children, tending to the sick people using herbal remedies, and much more, but nobody thought twice about them.