Jorden St John
History 1376
April 17, 2017
Gender Paper
Between 1800 and 1850, how did definitions of womanhood change and shape
women’s experiences and actions in the United States?
The 1800’s had proven to be a very tough time for most women who were part
of the typical way of life. At the beginning of the 1800’s a woman’s independence was
almost none existent. Women did not have the power in the household that men would
have, nor did they have significant say outside the household. Men would make all the
financial decisions and often-even control voting that might take place. Although it took
a long time before genders would be considered equal, the changes that occurred to
womanhood during this time greatly influenced the foothold woman have when it
comes to fighting for equality later on. But even at this time there were many different
experiences a woman could live through and many different factors in a woman’s life
would come to affect that experience she has. Everything from regional differences,
social class/race, and the relationship between womanhood and manhood would come
to shape the woman’s experience.
Whether you were a woman born to a poor farmer family, or you were born in a
big city; it becomes very obvious that regional differences have a large effect on the
experiences a woman might have. If you were a woman that belonged to a family that
was part of the westward migration, you would have a clear role to serve the needs of
the family. This could include doing chores, taking care of the sick, and providing the
family with more offspring. This would be opposed to a man’s role in the house, which
can include making money for the family, voting and having control over the finances in
general. The average woman working a farm was oppressed in the power they had over
their own life, because there was no other choice than to work for the family, so it
already created an unequal environment, as woman could not do as they pleased. Not
all of America created the same living conditions for women, there were many woman
living in America that had a vastly different experience. If we look at woman who lived
in a more urban environment in large cities such as the ones settled in California, we can
