ipl-logo

Women's Role In Puritan Society

1428 Words6 Pages

Females of the Puritan Community
In the early 1600s, in order to escape prosecution, the Puritan community relocated to the vast New World. The females of this community followed their husbands and fathers to America with blind faith that everything would be fine.. As Puritan females they were the heartbeat of the community and therefore endowed with a surplus of responsibilities. Life for these females was hard. Whether it be growing up under new conditions, dealing with the trials and tribulations of being a wife, disrespect, and so much more. While life was far from easy it, there were perks and joyous occasions that seemed to lessen the internal and external struggles of being a female Puritan. The views of women are reflected in how little …show more content…

Whether it be in their money, church, or respect, women were forced to live in their husband's shadow. As previously stated wives were responsible for the household. This reasoning behind this was in part so that the women would be to busy to meddle into affairs designated for the men (Westerkamp 39). A woman would not have the time or energy to do anything other than what was asked of her and that's the way men wanted to keep it. Women were convinced to have 8 or 9 children for this very purpose. All in the Puritan community thought of females much like children in the way that they should be seen and not heard. These absurd rules were even in their bibles. Verses insinuated that women couldn't have their own minds and that they decision making process for everything should be left up to their husbands (Glubok 30). Furthermore rights were so limited that they were almost completely dependent on men: “A wife’s dependence became not only a matter of cultural, social, and legal restrictions, but necessarily of concrete economics as women moved from the households of fathers to husbands.” (Westerkamp 14). Wives had no possessions of their own because everything they owned before marriage was given to her husband so that all of their possessions could be

Show More
Related

  • Dehumanization Of Women In The 1700's Essay

    718 Words  | 3 Pages

    Essentially, marriage in the 1700’s was seen merely as a means of birthing heirs and finding a way to financially support yourself, so it resulted in both men and women being devalued. It is universally known that women were often treated as inept and helpless rather than sophisticated people with autonomy and capabilities. In fact, during this time, “married women were consistently compared with minor children and the insane-- both categories of people considered incapable of caring for themselves. To marry a woman was, in one sense, to ‘adopt’ her-- or at least to adopt responsibility for all the circumstances of life with which she entered the marriage” (Teachman 39). Furthermore, when women got married, they would legally cease to exist.

    Read More

  • Puritanism In Colonial America

    1094 Words  | 5 Pages

    More than 80% of Americans have Puritan ancestors who emigrated to Colonial America on the Mayflower, and other ships, in the 1630’s (“Puritanism”). Puritanism had an early start due to strong main beliefs that, when challenged, caused major conflict like the Salem Witch Trials. Puritanism had an extremely rocky beginning, starting with a separation from the Roman Catholic Church. Starting in 1606, a group of villagers in Scrooby, England left the church of England and formed a congregation called the Separatist Church, and the members were called The puritans (“Pilgrims”).

    Read More

  • First Generations: Women In Colonial America

    615 Words  | 3 Pages

    The next chapter highlights the gendered division of labor and the difficulty to keep a family as a slave. Chapter six and seven moves on to the eighteenth century and shows how women have improved in areas such as more political participation and increasing social class of

    Read More

  • Women's Role In Good Wives

    906 Words  | 4 Pages

    In colonial North America, the lives of women were distinct and described in the roles exhibited in their inscriptions. In this book, Good Wives the roles of woman were neither simple nor insignificant. Ulrich proves in her writing that these women did it all. They were considered housewives, deputy husbands, mistresses, consorts, mothers, friendly neighbors, and last but not least, heroines. These characteristics played an important role in defining what the reality of women’s lives consisted of.

    Read More

  • Women's Role In Early American History

    417 Words  | 2 Pages

    Men believed that women served only one purpose which was to take care of the household. Being a wife and a mother was considered

    Read More

  • Similarities And Differences Between Anne Bradstreet And Mary Rowlandson

    1438 Words  | 6 Pages

    During the Puritan times gender roles in the society were very anti-feminist. Women were required to act as housewives and do womanly duties such as cook, clean, and take care of their children. Women had very little freedom as far as their rights were concerned also. Puritan writers, Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson both experienced the struggle of the anti-feminist movement. From their writings we see that they both were against anti-feminism and they tried their best to abandon the whole idea.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Puritan Society

    571 Words  | 3 Pages

    Attending church is mandatory and expected from everyone, in order to be accepted. The women were involuntary secondary to the men of this

    Read More

  • Essay On Colonial Women

    1301 Words  | 6 Pages

    The life women in the American colonies was treacherous, yet rewarding. There was so much death and sickness around at the beginning of the new world it is a wonder anyone survived. Had it not been for the nurturing and healing offered by women, this country may have never gotten itself off the ground. Women took care of the home, and the family and this remained the main focal point of the American colonial women. Although women’s lives changed exponentially over the century and a half, especially during the market revolution and the second great awakening, the true belief of what a woman was remained unchanged.

    Read More

  • How Were Women Treated In The 1600's

    387 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women in the 1600s to the 1800s were very harshly treated. They were seen as objects rather than people. They were stay-at-home women because people didn’t trust them to hold jobs. They were seen as little or weak. Women living in this time period had to have their fathers choose their husbands.

    Read More

  • How Did Abigail Williams Occur In The Crucible

    1202 Words  | 5 Pages

    The 17th century was an eerie period for the small village of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, especially for the common villagers. The Puritans were a strict group of voyageurs who traveled from England to escape the persecution of their religious beliefs. Ironically enough, the Puritans had been hostile to individuals who didn’t believe in their beliefs, such as Christians. Relative to how they lived, the Puritans of Salem have restricted any type of enjoyment. A vacation for them merely meant that they had to concentrate more on their prayer.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In A Midwife's Tale

    490 Words  | 2 Pages

    This shows the absurdity that lies in blaming one gender of the equation since it requires male and female to create new life. However, it was very common to engage in premarital sex and when no charges were made, some people married out of wedlock. From then on, women were sought out to only raise children and their capabilities were limited to do housework. Besides physical strength, the main difference between a man and woman’s genetic makeup is the ability for women to be pregnant which doesn’t correlate to one’s intelligence. In early American life, married women were basically subjected to their husbands with no rights to own land, any amount of income they would make, would be given to their husbands.

    Read More

  • The Economic Basis Of Witchcraft By Carol Karlsen

    243 Words  | 1 Pages

    Those that did not have husbands to do so, despite wealth, were

    Read More

  • The Judgments Of Hammurabi In The Tale Of The Eloquent Peasant

    1138 Words  | 5 Pages

    Women were not a part of a class, they were considered property. Men essentially owed their whole family. Men controlled the family and any property that they owned. Women had no power, authority, or voice in anything. If a man wanted to divorce his wife, he could do so.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Mary Rowlandson And Anne Bradstreet

    1438 Words  | 6 Pages

    A woman’s place in Puritan society was very limited during these times. A preface was added to her narrative by a puritan pastor as approval for her to publish her prose. Before her captivity Rowlandson didn’t know what a struggle consisted of. She was the typical housewife in a Puritan society. She never went without food, shelter, or clothing before her captivity.

    Read More

  • How Did The Homestead Act Affect Women

    1652 Words  | 7 Pages

    The women were expected to create a happy home, guard the religion, and the morality of her family. The unmarried and married women who tried to seek work outside the home faced limited employment opportunities because of their gender. Women were expected to only focus on domestic duties and her role were limited to continue living in the man’s world. Women roles were expected to be in line with the culture and norms set by the society. The American culture perceived that women were not intellectually and emotionally stable to be involved in the complex world of work and, therefore, women did not take up leadership and political roles.

    Read More

More about Women's Role In Puritan Society

Open Document