The Evolution And Background Of The Division Of Labor

Throughout history and as history has been studied, women’s labor is constantly overlooked. Whether it be European Americans, Native Americans, African Americans, or any other variation of person, it seems that men’s labor is always more appreciated and always given more attention when being studied. Whether or not a majority of people have learned about it, women’s history was an influential part of history, and it has been analyzed to an extent. Three major groups of women, the European American women, the Native American women, and the African American women, are studied in depth. The gender division of labor was both similar and different for these three studied groups of women in the colonial period. There are also differences in the socioeconomic groups, upper class, middle class, and lower class, of women in the colonial period. To first compare these three groups of women their individual structures must be analyzed.

The lives of Native American women were centered around a very spiritual upbringing and a lot of their labor duties included mostly field work and childcare. In an excerpt from Samuel de Champlain’s observations of Native American people, he mainly describes the manual labor that they did outside of the home. One of the main jobs that he talks about involves corn. Mainly the planting, harvesting, storing, and preparation of the corn. Champlain also describes other outdoor tasks performed by women, “for they till the ground...lay up the wood for the winter, beat the hemp and spin it, making fishing-nets from the thread, catch fish, and do other necessary things.” (The Voyages and Explorations of Samuel de Champlain, 2). Another source describes the primary work a Native American woman will perform in the household. Englishman John Lawson was appointed to survey the Native American lands and he took an account of the labors of the Native American women. Most of what Lawson describes is a lot of domestic work. For example, he says that the women, “cook the Victuals for the whole Family, and to make Mats, Baskets, Girdles of Possum-Hair, and such-like.” (Carolina Women Observed, 39). What he is describing is domestic work. Cooking the food for their family, making different necessities for the house all fall under domestic labor.

European American women performed duties primarily in the household, mainly because the house was associated with women’s labor and agricultural work was associated with men. In the essay “Women’s Work in Colonial Philadelphia” by Karin Wulf, she talks about the main tasks that women would be accountable for in the colonial period. Wulf talks about how in the colonial period much of the labor done was “gender-segregated.” What this means is that the men did jobs that involved more physical strength, and the women did more domestic work, or housework. The labors that domestic work includes is, “Cleaning houses; growing, butchering, preserving, and cooking food; making, repairing, and laundering clothes; caring for children…” (Women’s Work in Colonial Philadelphia, 69). In the primary source, “The Diary of Mary Cooper”, it not only shows the rigorous labor that women had to do, it also shows the effect that is has on the women. In her diary Mary Cooper talks about how she had to cook for large amounts of people and that this task makes her “very unwell…” (The Diary of Mary Cooper, 62) and “tiered almost to death.” (The Diary of Mary Cooper, 62). Cooper was also tasked with cleaning the clothes, cleaning the house, she bakes, she makes necessities for the house, and she does even more. The main tasks of European women in the colonial period was domestic work. African American women did somewhat similar work.

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African American women did a lot of field work, but they also did a lot of domestic work for their own family and their master’s family. In an account from an escaped slave, James Curry, he talks about his life and his mother’s life. He writes about different jobs his mom did, but one of the main tasks she performed was attending to her masters. She primarily did work for the master’s wife, she is referred to as mistress, and Curry says that mistress would punish her by “keeping her spinning in the house until twelve or one o’clock at night.” His mother would cook for her masters, look after her master’s children and still somehow have to find time to do the same for her family. Another job that a lot of African American women would be tasked with was working in the field. Whether they were producing rice, cotton, tobacco, or anything else it was a job that was very common among African American women. These working conditions were not ideal for these women. In “Narratives of Escaped Slaves”, which is a collection of essays from slaves who made it out slavery, it tells of how bad these field conditions were. An escaped slave, Mrs. John Little, describes her experience by saying, “I was employed in hoeing cotton, a new employment: my hands were badly blistered.” (Narratives of Escaped Slaves, 255).

All three of these racial groups had differences and similarities regarding the labor they did in the colonial period. A common theme that has been found in the labor of these three groups is that domestic labor is one of the main sources of women’s work. Native American women, European American women, and African American women all had to cook for their families, take care of the children, and perform other duties such as washing and cleaning. A noticeable difference, however, is that African American women had to do all these tasks not only for their own families, but also for their master’s families. Native American women and African American women share similarities because they both have labor responsibilities involving agriculture. Native American women were responsible for producing corn and other produces, and African American women were responsible for mainly gathering the produces in plantations. European American women are different because they cannot be associated with agricultural work, their only responsibilities were in the household.

Differences exist not only in racial groups, but also in the socioeconomic groups. The three main socioeconomic groups are upper class, middle class, and lower class. In her analytical essay, “Three Inventories, Three Households”, Laurel Thatcher Ulrichi describes the different home lives of European women who live in each of these different economic groups. The family who was considered upper class lived in a sizeable home and space. The wife’s main jobs were to milk the cows, bake, cook each meal, and tending to the fires. When it came to cooking the food, because they had a decent amount of money, they were able to have expensive food and different specialties. The middle class family had a decent sized home, but on a smaller plot of land than the family who was richer than them. This family had to perform more agricultural duties than the upper class family, and they also did not have as many resources. The author says that they had, “brewing vessels, but no malt; sieves and meal trough, but no grain; and a cow, but no cheese.” (Three Inventories, Three Households, 47). To summarize, they had to work just a little harder to get by than the family who was part of the upper class. The woman who lived in the lower class family had to work even harder. She and her family lived in a small home with almost no resources. Some of the jobs she had to perform was, “Chopping and hauling for a local timber merchant…” (Three Inventories, Three Households, 50) Similar to the other two women, however, the poorer family would also be tasked with cleaning, cooking, and all kinds of domestic work.

Native American women, European women, and African American women were all tasked with responsibilities that were both similar and different from each other. Native Americans and African Americans could be found doing the agricultural work and, like European American women, they could be found in their homes doing domestic work. Differences in labor also arose between women who are of wealthy, middle class, and poor background, these differences mainly being formed because of social status. Women in the colonial period worked hard for their families, they even suffered through horrible working conditions. This is something that should be studied by everyone of all age groups, because their hard work is an important part of America’s history.