Year: 2014
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: More than a Housewife: Revolutionary Era Women in War 1 A woman and a housewife were one in the same.A colonial woman of the eighteenth century could not socially be considered a proper example of the former without performing the tasks of the latter.These duties included the maintaining of a home, rearing of the children, and hosting of parties.Traditional society instilled this ideal of motherhood and overall obedience into the minds of young women at an early age and continued to shape their lives throughout adulthood.It became even more paramount during the Revolutionary Era, as men were called to join the fight for independence, leaving their wives and daughters at home.At least, this was society's expectation.This barrier did not succeed in holding some women, though, as a brave number dared to venture outside of the domestic arena into the world of men.Driven by a variety of motives, ranging from a desire to prove their patriotic worth to an urge to reform societal demands, they left their predestined roles and followed the soldiers into a harsh reality of pain and sacrifice.While a majority merely traveled with the men to be close to their family, the more radical secretly donned men's clothing and participated in battle in an effort to show women's capability in secondary roles.Upon public notice of these actions, many women were ridiculed, shunned from social groups, and scorned for abandoning their duties to pursue a choice which was not theirs to pursue.Yet if these women had not volunteered their services in cleaning, nursing, espionage, and active combat, the patriots of the American Revolution would have lacked an essential force of their military operation.1 In addition, these necessary contributions were products of 1 Research on Revolutionary women begins with Charles E. Claghorn, Women Patriots of the American
Author: Claire Williams
Language: English
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Gender equality
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2565569799