Women's Role In The Civil War Essay

The Civil War lasted for four years and it affected many lives. All types of people were impacted by the war. Many were children, leaders, African Americans, women, medical staff, and soldiers. Each person who was affected was never the same again. The Civil War didn’t just affect people physically but it also did emotionally and mentally.

The lives of women were effected in two major ways during wartime. The first and most obvious effect that war had on women, is not having a husband at home to take care of the task conceptualized as a “man’s job,” which forced women into new roles. Secondly, women gained a temporary political voice. These two major effects each had their own long term consequences that varied based on which war was being fought. During the War for Independence women filled the roles of men and ran the households, kept shops open, worked for wages to support the family, and other “manly task.”

But what is rarely mentioned is all the behind the scenes work women were responsible for while men were off fighting in the military. The war disrupted their ordinary lives, and the everyday roles men were employed in needed to be filled. Women throughout the United States assumed untraditional roles to so that life would continue, now being involved in politics, factories, businesses, commanding the household, and helping during

This was very intriguing to society because the roles that that they took on were not expected of their gender. Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America 's Independence illustrates the historical events of different groups of women and simply how women from a variety of backgrounds existed. The relationship between men and women of this time was questionable. Women exhibited signs of bravery and responsibility.

Since the men were gone women began to have a more prominent role within the household by having to assume responsibilities they otherwise would not have had. From the documentary “Mary Silliman’s War” we know that women were not so caught up in the politics of the fighting and generally opposed it. We also know that women helped as washer women in refugee camps for displaced citizens or at army encampments. Gender roles did not change drastically after the war had been fought, but the new roles they did experience were an

Women’s life in the 1600’s were not your idea life. Women in the 1600s roles were very limited. Women were considered to be inferior to men. They were consider to be the weaker sex, physically and mentally. The thought was that women needed a male figure to take care of them. Women were single there Father or brother would look after them until their married. Then there husband would take over that responsibility. Women who were happy were married. Marriage was desirable for men and women. Men were considered to be the head of the marriages. Even though men were at the top they couldn’t beat or mistreat their wives. If so they would’ve been prosecuted or prevented from living with the woman. The men received the social rights to full educations, to property, and to vote, and the women were seen as, essentially, second-class citizens, relying on their husbands or fathers for near everything. Women at this time had a minimum level of education. Women were only allowed to get their education at home or at an elementary school; the luckier, upper-class women were sometimes gifted with private tutors. They weren’t allowed to enter professions such ass law, politics, medicine, politics and other high professions. They were mostly allowed to be cooks and maids. The lower jobs of society. Women usually had no life out of their home. Women who were owners of their own businesses establishments were called “Feme Sole Traders”. They didn’t have any help or support for them. They were looked down on. Women who were not

Women were place in forts by high-ranking officers to watch over the soldiers while they are sleep. On top of all of this they worked in houses as cooks as well as nursemaids and laundresses. In this war women took jobs doing war work while the men were

Spies, war nurses, and soldiers are what you’d expect to read in your favorite fictional stories. However, they actually existed in our own history. Furthermore, to the surprise of many, women were the ones called to fill these roles. Without their contributions during the American Revolution, many men would have starved, been killed in combat or from disease, or would have been captured by enemy camps. These women sacrificed themselves for the good of their country, whichever army that may be.

Between 1861 and 1865 men were obligated to leave their homes and fight either on the union or confederate side of the United States. As a result women were forced to maintain the households while the primary breadwinners were gone. The Civil War challenged the ideology of the roles of women in the antebellum era. The roles of women in the north and south transformed tremendously and became a pivotal aspect to the war. One duty women took during the Civil War was become supporters of their male loved ones, which proved to be influential since it raised the morals of the men and gave them something to survive for.

(pbs.org) But a source of labor was high in demand since most of the men left to fight in the war. This opened up many opportunities for the minorities in America, especially women. Before the war, women didn’t have outside jobs. Their role was to tend to family affairs and stay at home while the husband worked to make a living.

There was a huge number of women who joined the Continentals in battle. One of them was “the renowned Mary Ludwig Hays,” also called “Molly Pitcher,” who “took her husband’s place behind a cannon when he [had] fallen” (Gillon, pg.204). Furthermore, there were a number of women who had neither participated nor contributed to fight against British in the revolution war, but they had done something else, such as developing the Volunteer organizations. In Philadelphia, for example, Esther DeBerdt Reed developed the Ladies Association of Philadelphia.

During the Civil War the whole country was changing. Many able men were being sent off to fight a war that no one knew would last as long as it did, and fighting in neighboring states against fellow U.S. citizens, friends, and even relatives. Relations between the North and the South were as hostile as ever and divided, but the lives of the men and soldiers were not the only thing changing. The Civil War greatly affected the roles and duties of women and children. Women and children in the North and South had to take on the roles, responsibilities, and jobs of the men who were away fighting.

It was not uncommon for women at this time to work in factories with many working in ammunition factories. The women who worked in the ammunition factories played an important role in the war effort by doing some of the most important work (Kim). These women worked extremely hard and it was argued that they put their lives in danger almost as much as the men enlisted in the war. They worked long shifts, typically 10-12 hours a day, working with highly-explosive materials (Munitions Factories). Most, if not all, factory jobs required women to operate machinery which was heavy and dangerous, causing many injuries.

Women have always played an important role in the history of the United States. Throughout different time periods, their roles in society and in government have changed in many ways. Whether women were helping the war manufacturing effort, striving for suffrage, helping soldiers during the war, or just raising their children; their roles have been influential to the social structure of the United States today. Their desire for equal rights, their willingness to help American soldiers, and the absence of men in the workplace are responsible for the changing role of women.

Even after the war, women were urged to stay at home to take care of the children. On the other hand, males would deal with financial businesses to keep their family out of poverty. These gender roles were embedded