Gender Roles In Puritan Society

In Puritan society, the principal role of women was to create children. Every person was like thread, and they were weaved together in an intricate web in order for society to flourish as a whole. When women lost their abilities to reproduce, they lost their role and usefulness,

The stereotypical view of women is that they should have multiple children, clean, cook, and be obedient. Women had no authority or independence, women who were married couldn’t own property, or work unless given permission from their

Anna describes how “dark and light…only one of two natures; godly and right, or Satanic and evil” which shows the audience that in that society. Along with these Puritan beliefs, female social roles within both texts hold these morals, and women in these Puritan societies have pretty strict and set roles in these communities. For instance in the Crucible, Proctor exclaims to Elizabeth “you will judge me no more” which indicates to Elizabeth that she has no right to stand up for herself, yet still defends him and denies that he committed adultery in court. This demonstrates that women still have to be respectful of their husband are scared to speak badly of them. Similarly in Year Of Wonders, “Men doffed their caps, and women curtsied, just as [they’d] always done simply because that was all they had always done” showing that this was just the norm for the society.

In colonial America, white women and white men had two different and distinct roles, whether it may be the first migration, the transitional period, or the revolutionary era, women had to the responsibility of taking care of domestic matters. In the early colonial period, women had the expectation and role of ensuring the colony’s survival and longevity through childbirth and rearing. As new colonies emerged and the original colonies of New England and Chesapeake expanded, women were not only responsible for birthing children, mostly boys that will inherit their father’s wealth, now they were also expected for the moral upbringing of their children. Women, in predominantly patriarchal religious communities like the Puritans, had to raise religious

For example sons had priority over sisters, women had the right to inherit, and sisters had priority over their uncles and grandfathers. The women could inherit the land on their children if they die and had no kids of their own. They use the family laws possibly because the men were always out fighting and raiding. Women were not permitted to vote 8. The women punishment was they had to pick out stones out of boiling water with their bae hand.

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.

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.

The Puritan ways of the small town of Salem, Massachusetts, lead to each gender having a very set role in society. Men were to be the strong, detached ones, who did all the hard work. Well the women were subordinate, stay-at-home mothers, and could show no temper. These roles lead to the growth of distrust between a married couple. An analysis of John and Elizabeth’s marriage

More than 140 women came to Virginia from 1620 to 1622. Women in colonial America had extremely hard working conditions. They were called upon to enable household order. Women were to wake up early in the morning before the sun rose to the late afternoons after the sun went down to maintain the house while preparing meals (which could take hours) before the husband woke up, doing laundry, mending clothes, livestock, working in the fields and gardens, tending to the children (most mid wives had 5-8 children), and many other tasks. Most of all the women abilities were learned from their mothers.

Women had to abide by certain rules and principles in the Puritan Society. If they did not obey the specific rules they would be severely punished, or even killed. The women who did not obey the rules were also seen as dangerous. “The husband is called the head of woman. It belongs to the head to rule and govern.”

Not so Pure Sexism "The United States identified women as legal entities as late as 1875", this leads us to believe that women weren't even considered to be citizens even in the late 1800's, what must have been their image in society all the way back to the puritan time period?. Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" occurs in the early puritan time period, and it all starts when two girls are in a coma like state after they have been caught to be dancing around naked in the forest. The town is immediately lead to believe that they are involved in witchcraft. At the time, denial of accusations lead to the person being hanged, but surprisingly enough if you confessed to witchcraft, you were saved. The group of girls claim witchcraft at first but then continue with their lies to gain things out of it.

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.

Some women who tried to go against the set norms in most cases were ridiculed and scorned. Such actions made the American women also believed that being at home, caring, and supporting their family was their only duty (Wishart

The laws made are all for the benefits of men to control the women. The laws made are also based on the gender role assumption by the society. According to Hosseini (2007),”Attention women: You will stay inside your homes at all times. It is not proper for women to wander aimlessly about the streets. If you go outside, you must be accompanied by a mahram, a male relative.

Not only did men see women as unintelligent, they also saw them as weak and compliant. What made this worse was that women of higher status would have a lot of free time since they had servants to do everything. They would spend their time strolling around or doing ‘feminine hobbies’; this affirmed mens’ notion that that women were idle and did not do much, so they treated them this way. To see how dire their situation was, one must must only have to read A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While fictitious, this story does show one bit of truth, the way women were being treated during this era.