WOMEN IN COLONIAL AMERICA 1
Women in Colonial America: New England vs. Middle Colonies
Chamberlain University
HIST 405N United States History
, WOMEN IN COLONIAL AMERICA 2
Women in Colonial America: New England vs. Middle Colonies
The lives of women during the colonial era were very different from the lives of women
today. Women were expected to get married, have children, work in the home, and to obey their
fathers until they married and then to obey their husbands. Despite all the limitation women had,
they played a huge part in the growth and survival of the American colonies (Openstax 2019).
The experiences of women during the colonial era varied greatly from colony to colony
and among different ethnic groups. New England wives almost never worked in the fields with
their husbands and in German communities’, in Pennsylvania, women worked in the fields and
the stables. Unlike English colonial wives, German and Dutch had wives had more liberties.
Some owned their own clothes and a few other items and were also given the ability to write
their own wills that would dispose of items brought into a marriage. Puritan wives were very
subservient to their husbands because of the religious views. Puritan families were very large,
and the wives stayed in the home sewing, preserving food, cooking, cleaning, spinning, and
raising children. This was also the way females contributed to the economics of the society. By
the age of 13, the girls were expected to share all the tasks of an adult woman (OpenStax 2019).
Girls learned their gender roles from their mothers. Colonial women were taught how to read
but very few learned or were taught to write. They were taught to read so that they could read the
Bible to the children to raise upstanding and moral children (Openstax CNX). Mothers were
responsible for spiritual wellbeing of their children. A woman’s “job” was to maintain the order
in the house, encourage moral development within their children, and to be subordinate to men.
The house was a “woman’s domain” – one that established a stereotype that withstood the test of
times upwards until the second wave of feminism nearly four hundred years later. Women have
Women in Colonial America: New England vs. Middle Colonies
Chamberlain University
HIST 405N United States History
, WOMEN IN COLONIAL AMERICA 2
Women in Colonial America: New England vs. Middle Colonies
The lives of women during the colonial era were very different from the lives of women
today. Women were expected to get married, have children, work in the home, and to obey their
fathers until they married and then to obey their husbands. Despite all the limitation women had,
they played a huge part in the growth and survival of the American colonies (Openstax 2019).
The experiences of women during the colonial era varied greatly from colony to colony
and among different ethnic groups. New England wives almost never worked in the fields with
their husbands and in German communities’, in Pennsylvania, women worked in the fields and
the stables. Unlike English colonial wives, German and Dutch had wives had more liberties.
Some owned their own clothes and a few other items and were also given the ability to write
their own wills that would dispose of items brought into a marriage. Puritan wives were very
subservient to their husbands because of the religious views. Puritan families were very large,
and the wives stayed in the home sewing, preserving food, cooking, cleaning, spinning, and
raising children. This was also the way females contributed to the economics of the society. By
the age of 13, the girls were expected to share all the tasks of an adult woman (OpenStax 2019).
Girls learned their gender roles from their mothers. Colonial women were taught how to read
but very few learned or were taught to write. They were taught to read so that they could read the
Bible to the children to raise upstanding and moral children (Openstax CNX). Mothers were
responsible for spiritual wellbeing of their children. A woman’s “job” was to maintain the order
in the house, encourage moral development within their children, and to be subordinate to men.
The house was a “woman’s domain” – one that established a stereotype that withstood the test of
times upwards until the second wave of feminism nearly four hundred years later. Women have
