Women\'s History Questions After Reading the Introductory

Women's History Questions

After reading the introductory texts, how has your understanding of women's history changed? What did you think women's history was before your enrolled in the course and compare that to how these historians define women's history? Do you agree or disagree with them?

Do women benefit from the American Revolution?

In developing your answer, recognize there is no single "woman" that encompasses all women in America. As a result, you must be sure to fully defend why your examples demonstrate the benefits or detriments of the Revolution for women.

The results of the American Revolution created a situation in which the treatment of individuals as property was challenged. The treatment of individuals as property carried real ramifications for women. One salient example is the freedom to use your power is a slave owner to coerce women into sexual relationships against their will. Many minority women that were sold into slavery or captured and forced into slavery were forced to do their masters bidding which often included sexual acts. Many of these women also had children from these types of relationships. The American Revolution challenged the concept that people could be held as property. And in my opinion one of the most beneficial aspects to women was that this offered them the potential to have some degree of freedom over their own sexuality.

WEEK 3: This weeks readings revolve around the idea that you cannot comprehensively study the history of American women without linking events with men and their roles and vice versa. Using the "Beyond Roles, Beyond Spheres" article as your starting point, consider how, if at all, the other articles and course materials respond to the perspectives of the various historians.

When constructing your posts, you do not need to compare the materials to all the scholars involved in "Beyond Roles" However, you do need to fully explain how the works do or do not correlate to the selected scholar(s) views concerning the state of women's history.

There are many points in this article that exemplify some of the different lines of inquires that are used to attempt to understand gender in history. Nancy Cott, for example, argues that we should not look to just the U.S. Or to Europe individual as man of the changes in paradigms were unraveling in both sides of the Atlantic. The linguistic ideas that she also proposes are also interesting and are used in many other works in the course and in history in general. Studying the discourses that are used in literature and society in general are also a popular way to look at the ideologies that are present in history.

WEEK 4: The readings and lectures illustrate that women in the workplace is not a 20th century innovation.

Discuss how women functioned in this changing market economy. What is unusual about the female experience compared to men as they adapt to new economic situations? What is normative about the events?

The Dublin article focuses on how many women worked outside the home in the early nineteenth century and in some areas the entire workforce was virtually dominated by women. The textile industries that developed along the river in New England serve as a good example of this. In Lowell, MA, only about a tenth of the female employees were able to live at home with their families. This changed the entire social fabric of the community and how individuals related to each other. Females in these communities would form powerful groups that could be used to protest labor conditions in the communities. This collective power gave these women some political power as well.

WEEK 5: There is seems to be a lot of ambiguity in 19th century womanhood. How are Americans negotiating circumstances where women claim a public stance on a subject based on the ideals of Republic Motherhood or the Cult of Domesticity, while others consider women acting in public to outside the realm of female propriety?

One of the interesting arguments presented on the transitional economy that began to embrace the capitalistic form was that women had more flexible roles in terms of their labor. They could work inside the home or outside the home fulfilling many different types of roles. By contrast, men's roles were predominantly more static. The flexibility in their roles was also thought to hide their contributions to the transitioning economy but ironically the additional labor that came from the female members of society was not mentioned in many of the subsequent narratives. Yet the household in general became more productive during this transitional time and more and more women began transforming their non-paid positions into paid labor in the local markets.

WEEK 6: What are the similarities and differences between the experience of women during the prior to and during the Civil War compared to women prior to and during the Revolutionary War? Overall do you think their lives were better, worse, or the same with the changes to society?

Please feel comfortable to refer to any readings or course materials from the entire semester to answer these questions.

There were many similarities and many differences in the roles of women during the two great wars mentioned. Their roles within the household were most likely static for many women in both wars because while the men were off fighting the women had to be responsible for all of the household affairs. However, in the Civil War women had developed different roles outside the household which also built a social fabric with members of the same gender. I believe that women may have had more social support during this war as many individuals had broader networks of relationships they could rely on for support. Women who worked outside the house in textile mills for example either had to return home or possibly let the household be managed by an extended family member. Such relationships and situations were most likely not present in the Revolutionary war and thus there would be different kinds of social relationships that persisted in the two wars.