History of Woman

In the colonial period, roles were gender specific within the social set up. Unlike in the present society where women can take up whichever role they please depending on their capabilities, the colonial women were restricted to what was defined to them. Men were quick to dismiss the women that sought to take up roles that were ‘beyond’ them. This is evident if you look at the approach taken by the puritan ministers who tried as much as possible to define the role that women played in the society. Such works were assumed the proper guide for women and their place in society.

To begin with, the central or main role of the woman was assumed a homemaker. The women had the responsibility to their families first then the rest could follow. This can be seen in the kinds of books written targeting the women folk. Titles like “The housewife” were uncommon. Such books contained guidelines or advice to women that intended to be ideal homemakers. In addition, the books would contain recipes that would help the women accomplish their cooking properly. Even when women did venture into “man territory” such as writing, it was no excuse for them to ignore their duties as housewives.

The woman was supposed to serve her husband and God. Consequently, she was expected to be virtuous both in deed and in mind. In being virtuous, they could pray for their husbands’ children and families as a whole. She was expected to lead in religion by example rather than by her word of mouth, in order to spur her family into the righteous path. For that reason, they could be not preach or interpret the holy word as it was a role reserved to the men in the Ministry.  They could only be hearers and believers of the holy word.

One aspect that was evident even for the women that did take a role outside those prescribed them; they still had to confine themselves to the realm of womanhood and their roles. For example, a woman writer could most probably have to write on matters that related to housewifery. On the other hand, the women themselves believed that posterity and providing for the family was the man’s task and as such was laughable. It was all too common for a woman with a different line of work from what is prescribed to them by norm was either shunned are discriminated against.

Of note also is the fact the even for women that that were wives of wealthy or powerful men that could afford to hire all the house help they could need, still had to play a supervisory role in the running all the house affairs. Their roles as housewives still had to be played though on a more hustle free way. On the rare occasion that a woman got the opportunity to run ‘manly’ affairs such as the family estate, she still had to observe how she spends her time. Extensive freedoms on how to spend one’s time were only the reserve of the men folk in the society.  The women could only own property in the absence of their husbands such as after they have died. Under normal circumstances though, the considered to be part of the husbands’ property.

The expansion of the women’s economic roles was gradual but when it did, their roles were mainly concentrated around their traditional roles. It was not common for them in cleaning, weavings, healthcare centers, day care and educational centers, and sowing businesses. However, slave women were considered business I themselves. They could be traded freely in the market place or even advertised on newspapers.