In Benjamin Franklin's life, we can assume that male and female spaces were different. His life indirectly revealed a difference between genders. Back then, men deemed more worthy than women. Gender greatly influenced education, workspace, and politics.
Gender played a big role in education. Men could decide if they wanted a great education. On the other hand, women weren't authorized to have one. As a boy, Benjamin and his elder brothers went to school. The text of the Authbiography of Benjamin Franklin mentions that Benjamin had brothers and sisters. However, Benjamin never mentions his sisters going to school and gaining a good education. Later on, only Benjamin and his elder brothers become apprentices. We can infer that women didn't have the option to get a good education based on this information. As we dig further into the autobiography, Benjamin converses with his friend Collin. Benjamin questioned for women's education. He questioned women's abilities to learn and if they were capable of studying. As a male in the eighteenth century, Collin thought the idea was rather improper. Collin declared, 'They were naturally unequal to it''. Collin didn't believe that women could be equal to men, hence they shouldn't study. Many men thought like Collin. Most men didn't like the idea of letting women being equal with them. However, women were fully capable of learning. Men refuse to see this and dismissed the fact that a female was just as capable as a male. The lifestyle of a woman wasn't easy compared to a man's.
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At the beginning of the text, it states that Benjamin's father had two wives. With both wives, he had seventeen children. Seventeen might seem like an absurd number of children, but it was normal. Wives are expected to have this many children if the husband deemed so. This indicated the average relationship between a wife and a husband in the past. Normally, wives and husbands could have many children. Despite having so many children, women often had to take care of them on their own. Men were usually off to their jobs to support their families.
One of the jobs men could become was a printer or to become an apprentice. Benjamin states that he was yet but twelve-years-old when he signed the indentures to become an apprentice. The way he emphasized the words ''but' and 'yet', we can infer that men are permitted to have suitable positions such as an apprentice, at a young age. It was pretty common for men to have jobs such as a printer. What about women? In Franklin's autobiography, he never named a female printer. He also never referred to a female with a modest career. Since women didn't have access to education, it's reasonable to say that they couldn't have decent jobs. Women could still have jobs, but they were very low ranked.
Benjamin met a poor woman sweeping the pavement. She was pale and feeble. The first thing that came to his mind was to question if she is employed. The shrill woman said she wasn't employed, and she was sweeping the pavement and hoped to get something. Even though she was weak, she still swept the pavement.
Determination is another skill for determination.
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