ipl-logo

Puritan Attitudes Towards Women

427 Words2 Pages

Barrett Neves
Instructor: Luna
History 1 Tuesday 8:10-9:30
9/28/15
Article Response, Part 1: Annotating and Paraphrasing
Saxton, Martha. "Bearing the Burden? Puritan Wives." History Today 1 Oct. 1994
28-33, Print
Topic: Attitudes towards Women
In Puritan communities women, were for the most part respected and held importance on the future of these communities. However not every women or wife within the communities was, some were mistreated. Men praised the patient endurance of wives with abusive husbands (Saxton 29). Others simply acknowledged their mothers, wives, or other female relatives as inspirational or spiritually influential to them (29). With the influence and strength women had it could and did bring them respect in their families. It would be an important heritage to women of the later era (29).
Topic: Obedience
For Puritan wives obedience and to be under the authority of man was essential. All agreed that it was essential to martial satisfaction and should exist regardless of the husband’s comportment (Saxton 29). In addition men envied the idea and practice of the obedience that women gave them. For women, submission to God’s will and the will of the men around them made their lives, ideally, …show more content…

When normally timid women, rendered even more so by pregnancy, triumphed over the terror of death (Saxton 30). If death did occur during childbirth, the women is heavily praised for their sacrifice. When it came to being a mother, women were religious teachers to their children. She was to work as hard as she could, instilling the principles of religion in her babies and catechizing them as soon as they can speak (31). To righteous puritan mothers the path of god was a must for their children. Mothers with this unique spiritual ferocity who gave more importance to their children’s salvation than to their physical lives, were exhibiting the highest form of human love a Puritan could imagine

Show More
Related
587 Words | 3 Pages

“People in “polite society” demanded that ladies live under the guidance and protection of their fathers, husbands, or other male relatives. Women could not

Read More
165 Words | 1 Pages

For the 19th century America, the two sexes were to be separated into distinct spheres, the man’s public sphere and the woman’s private one. It was most common for the two sexes to spend their time mostly in the company of their own sex, and advices were given to the younger members of the society on the proper way of behaving according to one’s sex. Even though both sexes had to be instructed on how to perform in each other’s company, it was the shaping of a woman that needed to undergo through a series of instructions on the proper way to be a woman. A woman had to follow the rules of the Cult of True Womanhood to be considered proper and wife material. Fanny Fern in her writing appeals on and discusses the attributes of piety, purity, submissiveness,

Read More
486 Words | 2 Pages

In the article “Traditions Subordinating Women”, Bonnie S. Anderson and Judith P. Zinsser explore the very strong opinions, theories and beliefs of female subordination within the eyes of various origin cultures through stories, passages and history itself. This article gives a vast understanding of a woman’s role, the purpose of her body, what is expected of her, society’s double standards and how literature and poems portray women. Before Christianity, there existed many old cultures such as the Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, Germanics and Celtics, who all came in agreement to preserving the subordination of women. A woman’s main duties were to remain faithful to her husband, to be fruitful and to preserve and nurture her home. A woman was incapable

Read More
580 Words | 3 Pages

Ervin Beisch Cheryl C. Smith’s, “Out of Her Place: Anne Hutchinson and the Dislocation of Power in New World Politics,” is an attempt to explain the plight of women and their suffrage during colonial times and especially during the puritan era. This article goes on to explain and describe the trials and tribulations of Anne Hutchinson for speaking out against the ministers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638 (Smith). The author wrote about how the male dominated society of the Massachusetts Bay Colony viewed the place of women in their Society. The author describes how Anne Hutchinson brought fear to the men and leadership the colony when she started teaching and voicing her opinion about the local ministers preaching about saving grace from good works instead of saving and redeeming grace from the holy spirit (Smith).

Read More
490 Words | 2 Pages

Around the late 18th to early 19th century, colonial American New England life was centered on living independently and being finally free from the British Empire after the Revolutionary War. Establishing control of a newly founded government with set functions and a first president, there were progressive changes that America had to act upon post-war. However, behind the political aspects that are greatly highlighted in American history, the roles of women in society, particularly midwives shouldn’t be cast aside. Although women were largely marginalized in early New England life because of their gender, nevertheless Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s A Midwife’s Tale is instructive because it demonstrates the privilege of men’s authority in society

Read More
2379 Words | 10 Pages

Throughout History, women have long struggled and fought for the same equality, justice, and rights as males in society. Historians have two opposing views of what life was like in Puritan society. One side argues that Puritan society was a golden age for women as they worked alongside their husbands, had an important role in the household. However, opposing historians argue that Puritan women were inferior to men in the society for five main reasons. Women were inferior because they were supposed to be silent company, they only received half the inheritance of their brothers, they were meant to have and take care of the children, they received harsher punishment for their wrongs, and they had to follow strict rules.

Read More
329 Words | 2 Pages

In colonial America, white women and white men had two different and distinct roles, whether it may be the first migration, the transitional period, or the revolutionary era, women had to the responsibility of taking care of domestic matters. In the early colonial period, women had the expectation and role of ensuring the colony’s survival and longevity through childbirth and rearing. As new colonies emerged and the original colonies of New England and Chesapeake expanded, women were not only responsible for birthing children, mostly boys that will inherit their father’s wealth, now they were also expected for the moral upbringing of their children. Women, in predominantly patriarchal religious communities like the Puritans, had to raise religious

Read More
893 Words | 4 Pages

Men and women also had different takes on sin. Women were more likely to read their sins as a pact with the devil no matter how severe the sin was whereas men paid close attention to the sin as an individual moment of weakness in which they would be able to return to their relationship with God. Believing that they could turn to the devil themselves, women were more likely to then accept that other women could be equally demonized.

Read More
718 Words | 3 Pages

Essentially, marriage in the 1700’s was seen merely as a means of birthing heirs and finding a way to financially support yourself, so it resulted in both men and women being devalued. It is universally known that women were often treated as inept and helpless rather than sophisticated people with autonomy and capabilities. In fact, during this time, “married women were consistently compared with minor children and the insane-- both categories of people considered incapable of caring for themselves. To marry a woman was, in one sense, to ‘adopt’ her-- or at least to adopt responsibility for all the circumstances of life with which she entered the marriage” (Teachman 39). Furthermore, when women got married, they would legally cease to exist.

Read More
906 Words | 4 Pages

In colonial North America, the lives of women were distinct and described in the roles exhibited in their inscriptions. In this book, Good Wives the roles of woman were neither simple nor insignificant. Ulrich proves in her writing that these women did it all. They were considered housewives, deputy husbands, mistresses, consorts, mothers, friendly neighbors, and last but not least, heroines. These characteristics played an important role in defining what the reality of women’s lives consisted of.

Read More
387 Words | 2 Pages

Women in the 1600s to the 1800s were very harshly treated. They were seen as objects rather than people. They were stay-at-home women because people didn’t trust them to hold jobs. They were seen as little or weak. Women living in this time period had to have their fathers choose their husbands.

Read More
395 Words | 2 Pages

The corruption women faced in the olden times were the social norm, and men were possibly unaware of any other way to treat women. In today’s times, it is a law that not only women, but everybody must be treated with respect without discrimination or racial injustices. While women face inequality at times, it is not normalized to treat women with disrespect. They are often misinterpreted and underestimated, but in the 1700s, women were expected to do one thing and only one thing: please the men.

Read More
3874 Words | 16 Pages

Some women were profoundly respected, whether as representatives of effective families, or for their age, intelligence and wisdom. There is no evidence that women' capacities were questioned in the pre-Christian period, and their relationship with wisdom and enchantment was outstanding. Their connections with both nature and the otherworldly were a wellspring of

Read More
571 Words | 3 Pages

Looking back to the Puritan society, the equality between males and females is one of the most controversial faults of the time. The Puritan’s did not view males and females as equal. The Puritans thought of women to be not important in comparison to men. The authorities gave specific rules and expected the people to follow the rules, or they would be punished. In modern day American society, men and women have some of the same roles.

Read More
1532 Words | 7 Pages

Women’s life was divided between family, marriage and religion. The women’s main concern and responsibility was the procreation. In those times, family was very big so the typical role of the woman was that to be a good wife and a good mother. Some of them tried emancipation but they were blamed by society for this. These were the witches,

Read More

More about Puritan Attitudes Towards Women

Related Topics

Open Document