The Golden Age of Colonial Women

Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126

Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127

Gutierrez, Christian

Dr. Shrout

HIST-410: Atlantic History

6 of November 2016

The Golden Age of Women: Truth or a Myth?

The decade is the roaring 20’s, women have just be given the right to vote and a young Elisabeth Anthony Dexter is about to originate a theory that would dominate historical ideology on women during the early colonial period. The idea of a Golden Age for women, which stated that there was a decline in women’s role in society starting the 19^th century. It states that due to an unequal sex rate and blurred social roles women actually had more rights during colonial America than their English predecessors.

Mary Beth Norton challenges the idea of the Golden Age by comparing women in 17^th century England, New England, and the Chesapeake Bay. She commences by comparing the Chesapeake Bay with New England women, in the Chesapeake mortality rates were incredibly high which meant reproduction was crucial for the success of the colony. Women, however, were in short supply which meant they often got married sooner and widowed at a young age, which supports Dexter’s theory, however, they often remarried right away because they needed a man to support them, a woman status in the colony was that of her husband. While in New England they still married young but mortality rates were stable and often marriages would last well into old age, which completely disproves Dexter’s claim. While in England woman will marry at an older age which meant they needed to acquire a wage earning job to support them till marriage. In this respect, English women had more autonomy .

Norton informs the reader of the social structure of the average colonial household being patriarchal, which meant the husband was the top of the social hierarchy and therefore had complete control over his wife, who would simply care for the children and do household chores…under hs supervision. She mentions the crucial role of practice and their distaste for women in power which helped cripple woman’s social status by not allowing them a role as spiritual leaders.

What I gathered from the reading was colonial English women had less of a social power than the Native American and African women. While colonial American women did get to trade with one another for spun wool or butter their native American counterparts were heavily impacting the economy. As Alec wrote for the Potosi readings “women soon dominated urban market vendors.”

…read more