Women in Early America (Coursework Sample)

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History
04 May 2014
Women in Early America
Women have played an important role in any form of society. They have changed the community in many aspects. Overtime, the roles of women in the community have changed depending on race, period and geography. America had three groups of women. These were the Africans, Native Indians and the Europeans. These groups of women played completely different roles in the community (Harris 66).
Even in the 16th century, women had an important role in the community. They were performing traditional roles such as weaving, rearing of children, pottery and kitchen roles. Women also worked on the farms. In the colonial period, tobacco farming became a booming business for the colonialists. Women had no choice but work as servants in the tobacco fields.
According to Kamensky (75), increase for labor in the tobacco fields led to slavery in America. The indentured servitude became less attractive. African female slaves were brought as an investment to the plantation owner. Female slaves could work like men. In addition, they could give birth to native born slaves. It meant more property to the plantation owner. Female slaves were allowed to marry with fellow slaves secretly. At that time, British colony did not recognize marriage between slaves.
The role of the European women was also affected by slavery. Those who could not afford slaves were permanently held back doing household chores. There chores were starting fire, milking the cows, cooking, making cream and taking grains to the miller. Only if the family was wealthy, could they hire a slave to do these chores.
Even after 1776 when the United States was founded, slavery in America was still limited to Africa natives. The status of women was still dictated by race, wealth of the family and religion. The constitution drafted in 1787 protected the slave trade until 1808 (Davis 99). This led to freeing of many women slaves, especially in North America.
The rights of women in the early America were governed by the state law rather than the federal law. In the North where slavery was banned after the American Revolution, black women gained rights to marry. They could own property. They also gained custody of their children. Theoretically, their rights were almost identical to those of white women.
In the South, women continued to be denied these rights. Racial prejudice still existed against both Native American women and black women.
In most states, the marital status of women dictated the legal status of free women. Women, who were not married, had the legal right to live where they wanted. They could also join any profession that did not require any designation for males. They could enter into contracts to acquire or dispose property. This was called personalty (Kamensky 69).
Personalty consisted of any movable properties such as cattle, cash and bonds. As long as they remained single, women could sue or be sued. They could serve as guardians as well as act as executors of states.
After the revolution war, there was improvement in equality of inheritance status of women. State lawmakers, abolished the inheritance law that favored the eldest son. They advocated equal inheritance for all children. This favored the girl child as this was not the case earlier on.
The legal status of women after marriage was different. She had legal rights, but no autonomy. On most occasions they depended on their husbands. The law called this coverture (Shields 89). Through marriage, the husband and the wife became one by law. It meant that the woman was incorporated as part and parcel of the man.
Corveture assumed that the family worked better if the husband was the head of the family and had the control of the assets. A married woman could own property jointly with her husband. She could not own property on her own unless she signed a marriage settlement with her husband. Any property that a woman came with in the marriage could be used by the husband in any manner without consulting her.
Under the law of coverture, a woman had a right to be maintained in line with the status of the husband. If the husband refused this, the woman had a right to sue the husband. During the waiting period of the judgement, the woman could run up charges at the taverns and the husband was obligated to pay for them.
However, women had no protection if their husbands proved irresponsible. In case, debtors confiscated the husband’s properties, the woman was entitled to hold on to the necessities only. These were two dresses, a bed and cooking utensils (Weatherford 66).
In terms of real property, there was a stricter law that governed women when compared to personalty. The husband could not sell realty that the wife brought into the marriage. He could use it, but not sell it without the consent of the wife. The woman also had realty rights to the real properties bought by the husband after their marriage. He could not mortgage or sell them without her consent. Few buyers were ailing to enter into an agreement without the consent of the wife. They knew the wife had the right to retain the property in case of the death of her husband (Salmon 125).
Women were entitled to dower rights after the death of their husbands. They could inherit a third of their husband’s real property. The husband could leave more than this if he desired to. He could leave her the entire real estate. However, he could not leave her less of the share of the real estates.
The dower legal tradition was carried over from the colonial time. These rules were meant to support the family as a whole. They worked when the families stayed together and fewer properties were being sold. They did not work in a society which was developing rapidly in terms of industrialization. In this era, lands changed hands frequently. In response to this, states began passing legal rights that equated married women to single ladies. These laws would favor a capitalistic economy whose basis is movable wealth (Shields 25).
In terms of exercising democratic rights in voting, women were particularly discriminated on the basis of their gender. It assumed that if a married woman voted, this would be like the man voted twice. The assumption was that a married woman would vote in the same way as the husband. These discriminatory laws kept women away from seats of leadership.
Men did not want to share power with women. No matter how a woman was, she could not vote. They assumed her vote would be influenced by the husband. In New Jersey, women who had property were allowed to vote. However, in 1807, lawmakers retracted this right. Women could not vote just as the freed black men.
After the independence, women were given bigger freedom from abusive and idolatrous husbands. During the colonial period, divorce was almost impossible. However, after independence the state saw the need to end abusive marriages. Some states granted divorce while others like the south, permitted separate residence divorce. In the south, it was difficult to grant an absolute divorce because of the adulterous state of the husbands with the slave women.
After the Revolution, child custody also changed. The courts surpassed the colonial laws that favored men in child custody disputes. They placed young children and daughters under the care of the mothers. The concept gave women power in their homesteads. On the other hand, men were given power in the market place. Women gained strength in the social status, which they used in the struggle for equality in the next century.
Political, economic and social change that impacted women in turn
The most radical struggles in America are the struggle for full equality of women. The American Revolution ideas raised the expectations of women. It inspired demands for equality and establishment of female academies that would improve their education.
By early 20th century women were now able to train for professionals and attend to college, though the number was not the same with men. Women began getting into professions that were male dominated like medical, corporate, law and clergy. Women were also able to initiate several institutions.
The women economic rule increased drastically in the society because of the educational opportunities. The education women got helped them enroll in professional careers that were meaningful in the society. The women's salaries and wages increased although not as much as men. It was a success for them because it was a huge step from what was there before Revolution. Women resistance to vote also began to fall down as the women were granted the right to vote in 1869
Women who made a Difference in the colonial society
Some of the important women in the colonial society included Judith Sargent Murray.  She was born in 1751 and died in 1820. Unlike other women, she neither taught in school nor was she an educational philosopher. However, she wrote wittingly in a plethora of essays ranging from ethics, politics and equality.
She is considered among the first women in America to advocate for the rights of women. Although she came from a wealthy family, she never had a chance of getting a decent education. Most of her knowledge was self acquired. This had happened to many girls at that time (Salmon 25).
She wrote an essay, "On the Equality of the Sexes’(Salmon 24). In her essay she challenged the fact that men were viewed to have a greater intellectual capacity than women. She argued that perceived difference in intellectual capacity was as a result of discrimination and prejudice. She said the perceived difference was because of the way the girl child was raised. Boys were given more opportunities to go to school while girls were not.
Murray was of the opinion that the order of nature demanded equality among men and women. Men had corrup...