Women of the West

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, in the mid 1800s, the role of women in American society varied greatly throughout different regions of the U.S. but was generally subordinate to the role of men. The author points out that the north, a hotbed of liberal thinking, was constantly moving towards equal treatment of women and thus the inferior treatment was mild; female inferiority was the most extreme and outrageous in the south, where marriages and families were completely unbalanced in decision-making and general respect. The paper relates that, in the west, a new and ever-changing frontier, women faced not a completely pejorative environment but not one of equality; despite conceding the forward-thinking right to property ownership, western government was comparable to the South in its official standpoint on women and the underlying view of women was as inferior objects.

From the Paper:

"The respect and privilege gained as result of the important role the woman played in the West was mild to say the least but also showed the influence that the liberal North had upon the West. Distinctly more recognition than the women of the South at this time received, frontier women still lacked not only the recognition for their hard work and importance in everyday life, but also the social equality that should have accompanied the partnership between man and woman on the home-front. As previously noted, women took equal part in the chores of the household or farm, and for this they were granted certain privileges: "[The women of the West] did not toil completely in vain...through their labor came the slight respect which eventually led to the right to hold property...a major milestone [in the Women's Rights Movement]." This tangible victory, while encouraging, was not only long overdue but also lacked the whole-hearted respect that ideally should have fueled such a gesture."

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