University:
Arizona State University
Course:
HST 200 | Historical Themes
Academic year:

2024
Views:

388

Pages:

2
Author:

Thuyoul US

ASU HST 200 (Historical Themes) Westward Expansion, 1840-1900 An Even More Challenging Life: A Pioneer Wife Even though males made up the majority of the population in the West, homesteading in particular promoted the presence of women, children, and a domestic lifestyle—even though it was not always an easy one. With the additional challenge of delivery, women experienced all the physical hardships—weather, disease, and danger—that men confronted. Frequently, there was no medical professional or midwife there to offer support, and several mothers and their infants perished from preventable illnesses. Although some women were able to work as teachers, chefs, or seamstresses in the newly established towns, they did not have many privileges at first. They were unable to vote, serve on juries, sell property, or file for divorce. Additionally, the great majority of women worked on farms rather than in towns to get money. Even in 1900, a normal farm lady would have to spend nine hours a day on household duties including cooking, cleaning, sewing, and laundry. Milking the cows, feeding the hens, weeding the family garden, and cleaning the barn and chicken coop took up an extra two hours each day. In 1879, one woman made the observation, "[We are] not much better than slaves." The spouses of farmers make up a third of the insanity institution due to the tedious, repetitive cycle of cooking, cleaning, and repairing. Despite this bleak picture, the difficulties of farming finally gave women the strength to overcome certain social and legal hurdles. Compared to their counterparts in the East, many of them lived more fairly as spouses, supporting one another in good times and bad. In the east, a widow's son or other male relative would normally take over the farm's administration. However, in most cases, a wife would take over if she became widowed. Because everyone on the homestead had to put in a lot of effort and contribute to the agricultural endeavor for it to thrive, pioneer women made significant decisions and were viewed by their husbands as more equal participants in the success of the homestead. As a result, it is not unexpected that the Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest, where female pioneers coexisted with men on the land, were the first states to award women's rights, including the ability to vote. A few ladies appeared to be well adapted to the difficulties that came with living on the frontier. Mary Carpenter refused to moan about the difficulties of farming in a letter to her aunt Martha from their Minnesota property in 1873, saying, "I try to trust in God's promises, but we can't expect him to work miracles nowadays." That being said, all that is required of us is to do our hardest, and we will undoubtedly make that effort. In the course of our duty, we may freeze to death, but it wouldn't be a dignified demise.