Women: What Were They Doing?

Type :

Presentation

Pages :

3 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

05/27/2008

Category :

History & geography

Sub category :

Modern history

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Summary :

Introduction
The regard for women as possessions
The common colonial woman
Conclusion
Work cited

Abstract

In the period precluding the 1700's, many different societies existed together and the future shape of the world was taking form. Christopher Columbus had discovered North America for Spain, Cortez had conquered the Aztecs, and Europeans began settling in American Colonies. Disease was killing the Indians and Nathaniel Bacon had burnt Jamestown to the ground. Martin Luther was preaching his spiritualistic belief of "good works" and Powhattan was leading the Chesapeake tribes. Estevan the "Moor" was traveling westward with Andres Dorantes and William Penn was creating the Quaker haven of Pennsylvania. But where did women figure into the equation? Did they not yet exist? Of course, who could forget the determined Anne Hutchinson, or the mighty Queen Elizabeth the First, but what of the rest? It is quite overwhelming to discover that there was no villainous female conquistador or explorer, that there was no female equivalent of John Calvin, that out of the millions of names in history textbooks, womens' compose a minute minority. This stark reality is so disconcerting when, in all actuality, women of the time were experiencing the same trials and weathering the same obstacles as the rest of the world, but socially to a higher extent than their biological counterparts.