Finally, the era of the American Revolution brought other changes to women's lives and altered the definition of their role in society and polity. (Norton 595)
She directed the household's daily affairs (under her husband's supervision, of course), and in his absence she could act on his behalf. Thus, although his role and hers were defined in mutually exclusive terms, they involved some overlap of function. She was positioned below her husband in the hierarchy of sex, but above her children in the hierarchy of age, and considerably above her indentured servants, who lacked the essential attribute of freedom. The delineation of the female role was remarkably consistent throughout seventeenth-century Anglo-America.
She directed the household's daily affairs (under her husband's supervision, of course), and in his absence she could act on his behalf. Thus, although his role and hers were defined in mutually exclusive terms, they involved some overlap of function. She was positioned below her husband in the hierarchy of sex, but above her children in the hierarchy of age, and considerably above her indentured servants, who lacked the essential attribute of freedom. The delineation of the female role was remarkably consistent throughout seventeenth-century Anglo-America.