![]() ![]() The confidence that colonial women could have in their ability to support themselves without a husband produced a generation of women with a degree of self-respect that later generations would view as brazen, unfeminine, and unladylike." It never occurred to anyone that a woman compromised her femininity if she demonstrated competence in what were later defined as "masculine" skills. The extent of women's involvement in the economic activities of their communities clearly demonstrates that there was no notion of a confined sphere of proper feminine activity in colonial America. ![]() With the reclamation of women's contributions throughout the ages, I find myself motivated to conduct research that never would have interested me in the 1980s or even 1990s.įrom the chapter "Women's Work: Making Money," p 44 When I was in school, history lessons were filled with men and the manly things they did. But De Pauw's exploration of the roles women played in the economic, political, social, and political life of colonies in the 18th century is a pleasant exception. The prose of most history books is about as transparent as California tap water. ![]()
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