Gender Roles in

Colonial America

A Historical Webquest

Created by Bryan Goldberg, Marcy Levine, and Brooke DeFranco

 

   
  






Living in Colonial America was not easy. By the time a child turned six years old they were expected to help accomplish tasks around the house. In order to survive, people had to do work by hand and had to take care of themselves. For example, gathering food and getting clothing were much more difficult in colonial times -- there were no supermarkets or shopping malls to go to. In fact, most of the colonial people did not buy their food or clothes but, rather grew the food and made their clothing. Men, women, and children all had different roles in society; They each had their own jobs and tasks in Colonial America.

               

 


           
  • In Colonial America, men made all the important decisions in the household. His wife and child(ren) obeyed him without any question. It was the father's job to discipline the children.
  • Men were responsible for building the houses that their families lived in. In addition, the men had to build the furniture found in the house. There were no stores where a family could go to buy everything they needed for their home. There were no construction companies that built houses either. This made living much harder for men, because it would often take a long time and a lot of work to build a home.
  • The men who were farmers used a number of tools to help their crops grow. They used tools like axes, hoes, spades, etc. The work on the farm was very hard and tiring, because there were no tractors, lawnmowers, etc.
  • It was the man's responsibility to have a good job and bring home money for the family.






 


  • It was the job of the women to prepare food in Colonial America. This was a very hard job, because there were no ovens, refrigerators, microwaves, or other modern kitchen appliances in Colonial times. The women cooked the meats and vegetables in iron pots which they hung over a fire on pothooks. It took the women hours to prepare a meal because everything had to be made from scratch.
  • Another job that women were responsible for in Colonial America was making clothing. They used wool from the fleece of sheep to make the clothing. To color the clothing materials, the women used dyes from barks, berries, roots, and/or walnut hulls. They did all the sewing and gathering of materials themselves.
  • Women played a key role in society by providing the food and clothing that were necessary to survive.
  



 


The tasks of children were different for boys and girls.

Boys:

  • Responsible for chores around the house as early as 6-years old
  • Go to school in the morning and work at home the rest of the day

Girls:

  • Helped cook and clean
  • Helped with chores around the house
  • Had very little schooling (They were taught by their mother)

           



 




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Some Review Questions!!! - CLICK HERE

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Gender Role WORD SEARCH! - CLICK HERE


 

Questions concerning this WebQuest should be addressed to Rick King