Women Through the Years...

America’s Women – 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines.

So, I just finished reading the reading assignment for Women in America and it was really good. So good, that I continued reading well into the next chapter. I was actually surprised at the fact that I enjoyed it and even more surprised with what I read. At first it seemed as if women were really struggling. In the colonies, times were tough, and the women did just as much as them men (if not more) and got no credit for it. They couldn’t own land, get a divorce, or even defend themselves in the court of law. They died very young, often before their children reached ten. However, as time went on, and by the second generation of women colonist, I felt like they learned how to “work the system.” Some learned it was better not to marry in order to own their own land and some even owned their own businesses. Others just learned the system of marriage. Women would marry sometimes up to 4 or 5 different men in their lifetime. Every time a husband would die, they would inherit all his wealth and quickly move on to the next one. It was a little unconventional but I worked for them!