Summary Of 'Breaking Tradition And A Family Affair'

Forever Changed Women have played an important role in history and currently today. In “Breaking Tradition” by Kathleen Ernst and “A Family Affair” by Gina DeAngelis and Lisa Ballinger, the changing roles of women are described. During the Civil War and World War II, women were needed to step up and fill in the jobs of men while they were away. The women do so while creating and leaving their mark in society and in history. In “Breaking Tradition”, the author focuses on how women’s roles changed in society during the time around the Civil War. Ernst states, “Before the Civil War, laws and traditions restricted women’s choices. People in “polite society” demanded that ladies live under the guidance and protection of their fathers, husbands, or other male relatives. Women could not vote or sign contracts” (Paragraph 2). In this time, the author conveys that women were looked down upon. Women were expected to follow what the male figures in their lives commanded, having no freedom at all. However, if a woman wanted to make a name for herself, it had to be done while being a “womanly job”. “Those women who wanted or needed to pursue “respectable” careers became schoolteachers, seamstresses, or hat maker, or gave private lessons in art, music, or …show more content…
She tells about the lives of poor white women, slaves, Native American immigrants, and married women. On the other hand, in “A Family Affair”, the authors specifically talk about women who had fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons in the war. Also in “Breaking Tradition”, the author tends to focus on what the women were expected to do in society. However, in “A Family Affair”, the authors focus on what the women actually did. The authors of both passages convey effectively that the roles of women in society changed drastically during the Civil War and World War