What Role Did Women Play In The Colonial Era

Throughout the colonial era, most colonists came to America with the desire to partake of a new and better lifestyle, practice their preferred religion freely and openly, and ultimately gain more opportunity. However, they brought with them their old traditional beliefs regarding male and female roles. Although women played a significant part during the 17th century, the colonial societies were clearly defined as male-dominant and women as being inferior to men. Only men could be elected as community leaders, ministers and clergymen while women, in contrast, were not only forbidden to operate in leadership roles, but also were not allowed to vote, buy or sell land, sue or be sued in a court of law, hold office, preach, attend school, or own property (Tindall et al. 71).
Most colonial women took on roles as homemakers who cooked meals and made clothing and domestic goods to use and sell. Women also were farm laborers, tending to their vegetable gardens, watering their livestock, churning butter, milking cows, and so forth (Tindall et al. 70). Along with these duties, married women were primarily responsible for caring for their husbands, and as mothers they were responsible for producing and nurturing their children.
Once married, the woman became the legal …show more content…
During the 17th century, the belief of witchcraft was prevalent throughout Europe and New England (Tindall et al. 85). In 1692, several colonial women were thought to be the catalyst of mass witchcraft hysteria that affected the Salem, Massachusetts region. A group of young girls at the time claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused mostly older women of practicing witchcraft. The first women to be accused of witchcraft in Salem were seen as different and as social outcasts. The girls identified Tituba, an Indian slave, and two other women, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, as their tormentors (Tindall et al.