Catharine Beecher: Women's Roles In Colonial America
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Colonists held an exceptionally customary disposition concerning the proper status and roles of women. Women had very little power or say in any matter. Women were considered to be the weaker sex, not as strong rationally or physically as men and considered less emotionally stable. They had no legitimate rights, which implied that they could not vote, hold public office nor participate in legal matters on their own behalf. To put it plainly, opportunities for them outside the home were frequently restricted.
Women’s roles in Colonial America were determined by their wealth, status, and religion. Women colonists were expected to help the men in an assortment of hard undertakings in order to survive. As time passed colonial women tackled more…show more content… She helped lead the effort to expand women’s roles through moral influence. Beecher was one of the nation’s most conspicuous educators. A lady of numerous abilities and strong leadership, she initiated the campaign to convince school boards that women were suited to serve as schoolteachers. Beecher worked vigorously for women’s education Catharine Beecher gave voice to the grievances of women; abysmally low wages paid to women in the needle trades, the physical hardships endured by female operatives in the nation’s shops and mills, and the minimizing of women’s intellectual aspirations. Catharine Beecher was an imperative transitional figure in the emergence of feminism. Angelina Grimké and her sister Sarah were the first women to break liberty limitations through their writings and lectures before audiences that included men and women. In 1837 Angelina gained national notoriety by lecturing against slavery to audiences that included men and additionally women, however this was not well received by many; thus the noose on women’s rights grew even tighter. Sarah Grimké in 1840 responded with a pamphlet entitled Letters on the Condition of Women and the Equality of the Sexes, one of the first modern articulations of feminist principles. She denounced the injustice of lower pay and denial of equivalent educational opportunities for women. Her pamphlet expressed outrage that women were “regarded by men, as pretty toys or as mere instruments of pleasure” and were taught to believe that marriage is “the sine qua non [indispensable element] of human happiness and human existence.” Men and women, she concluded, should not be treated differently, since both were endowed with innate natural