Throughout history the genders have had different defined roles in every society. Males and Females have been given roles in society that they, from birth, are expected to fulfill to help ensure the continuation of their way of life. This was no different in late 18th, early 19th century colonial America. What those roles were... that is where most people today are completely misinformed. The role of women has been completely downplayed, and only through obscure research into the diary of a certain midwife in Maine could this misperception be realized for what it is; false.
Today, women, During the late 18th, early 19th century are perceived as being subservient to the men, and unimportant in all parts of life except for childbearing and housework. This perception comes from the fact that the information that is known about historic societies comes almost solely from the written records of their time. In almost all writing from early colonial American life, Women are barely mentioned, and when they are identified with reference to the dominant man in their lives, be it their Father or husband. Men were the one's who did all the important work in every town; they controlled the entire economy, political decisions, not to mention the women around them. This perception, however, is incorrect to it's very core.
The ability to write: to record happenings, business transactions, or legal rulings; this was the crucial skill which women lacked. The lack of writing ability was the most decisive nail in the coffin of the possibility for females to be seen as meaningful contributors in early Colonial American history. Men were able to leave a record of their role in society for posterity to study, and draw conclusions from; and of course every writer infuses their personal bias into their work. Women were not provided with the ability they needed in order to, essentially, give their side of the story. Given that one skill the entire modern view of their role in society would have been completely altered from the subservient one which is now falsely understood to be the truth of the matter.
Where this conclusion can be drawn from, where it is possible to destroy the credibility of a commonly held belief such as this, is in the writing of a women who by chance did receive an education. Through Martha Ballard's Diary, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich has deciphered that women were not solely unimportant child-bearers; they were, in actuality, a crucial piece in the puzzle that was everyday life in colonial America. Martha Ballard was a women who was highly connected with the community around her, and played a vital role in both the well being of the entire surrounding community, and even in the economic stability of her own household. In fact, the female side of society was quite possibly every ounce as import and and commendable as that of the oft touted Male side.
When the women weren't being educated in the same manner which the men were, they were learning the ins and outs of many household skills from various neighbors and creating connections which they would need to utilize throughout the rest of their lives. The Men had their own large interweaving network with which they identified with each other on both a personal and business manner. With the revelations from Martha Ballard's Diary, it can be known that the Women too had almost an exact copy of this, held in a different manner. Where the men met at town meetings, discussing political decisions, the women were together working on various projects that needed just as much as the decisions which the men were discussing. The women had a social network interconnecting all of them, just as much as the men.
Furthermore, while the women were going about their business in through their social network they held their own independent, important economy. At first glance one would assume that the entire economic stability of an early colonial American family; however, the women actually synthesized the skills they learned while not in school, such as weaving, gardening, and cooking, with the social network they created in their community to create an economically focused thriving web. They sold and bought all the household items which they created with each other, adding to the economic situation of their family to a large degree. They sold items to gain currency to add to that of their husband, and bought items necessary to the survival of their families. The female contribution to the families economy was much more then minuscule than one would assume.
Overall, history is not as it seems. Through lack of education, very few women were able to let the future know that they did indeed have an impact on the world they lived in. Women were not under the absolute control of their husbands, and they did not depend solely on their husbands for their livelihood. A household, or community, in early 19th, late 18th century was a contribution of both genders. Without the contributions of either one, the entire institution would not be able to function. Without the contributions of women, which are usually not acknowledged, the entire society would have been doomed to failure.
