Women in Colonial America

The position of women as far as Colonial America is concerned was very important. The majority of colonialists who initially landed in USA were mostly men. As they entered USA, they were amazed on seeing the kind of lifestyle led by the locals. Women were charged with the responsibility of looking after their kids. Second, women who came from an agricultural ethnic group toiled on their farmlands. Other responsibilities of women included making of tools and ornaments.  The work of native men included hunting and protecting their territories. On the other hand, the European women served as aids and wives. The native women labored hard from dawn to dusk.

Meanwhile, the colonialists started to bring in slave women. However, the native women who had less cash couldn't afford to hire the slave women. The slave women assisted with the various household chores such as cooking and looking after the kids. Majority of New England women were followers of Puritan religion. Additionally, the followers of this religion practiced witchcraft of the highest level. They were perceived as dirty. Second, they were viewed as the followers of the devil. Last, the colonialist viewed them as having a craving of doing evil. This resulted into scores of witch hunts. The hunts ended in the year sixteen hundred and ninety two (1692) with Salem's memorable trials. Scores of the women were severely punished for practicing witchcraft.

During the colonial era, women weren't permitted to oppose their male counterparts. This is in spite of whichever ill-treatment. In case a man deserted his family, his wife could be liberated from him by the colonialists. As much as the native women are concerned, the consequences of irresponsible sexual behavior were to a large extent brutal. Contrastingly, the consequences for men were less ruthless. On the other hand, there were no consequences of premarital pregnancy as long as the concerned couple wedded right away. Nonetheless, in a scenario in which a woman failed to identify the father of the child, she was compelled to identify him. This was aimed at making the man to be held responsible for the pregnancy.

Black slave women received ruthless treatment in comparison to the native women. These women were usually abducted from overseas countries. The abductors dragged them against their will from their motherland and into America. Majority of the black slaves worked as unskilled laborers. Furthermore, black male slaves were compelled to engage in either skillful or semi-skillful trades.  Black women were compelled to either till the land or construct fences. In the Northern colonies, black women were completely domestic slaves. According to me, this was more of a religious issue. I attribute this to the fact that most women received ill-treatment simply because they were followers of the Puritan religion (Helium, 2010).