What was the role of the women in Middle Colonies?

Question: What was the role of the women in Middle Colonies!?

Like what was the jobs, and basically what did they have to dp!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Edit: saw your note - "just staying at home" - I'd like to throttle you :p - you have no idea !.!.!.

cleaning, scrubbing floors on their hands and knees with a brush and lye soap, tending animals for food, tending chickens for eggs, milking cows and goats, preparing hunted food for cooking, skinning rabbits, killing chickens, turkeys, skinning and boning fish, slaughtering animals for food, growing their own foods, tending gardens, hand-milling flour, baking bread, making clothing, sewing home goods, hand-laundering clothing, having children, educating them, taking care of their husbands!. Occasionally some women were entrusted with their working minds and intelligence and were able to impart wisdom to their husbands - see history about Abigail Adams, she was John Adams Rock of Gibraltar!. My grandmother who died in 1965 did all the above - she died young, many of them did!. Some women still perform these jobs today!. Oh, one thing I did forget, if they were living in town, or a city, the women usually worked the same long hours as their husbands did, alongside them helping - and took care of the house and family as well!.
http://womenshistory!.about!.com/od/workla!.!.!.

Oh, and you won't find photos but may find paintings or photo reenactments that depicted the work they did - photography didn't come into existence until the 1800's and could not depict people in action due to that it required a long exposure and people had to stand still for pictures!.
http://i157!.photobucket!.com/albums/t45/m!.!.!.
http://www!.geocities!.com/homespunlhg/dre!.!.!.
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Image:Jean-!.!.!.
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Image:Jean-!.!.!.
http://www!.usc!.edu/programs/cst/deadfile!.!.!.

P!.S!. - I got carried away, I haven't gotten on a soapbox in awhileWww@QuestionHome@Com

They woudl have done a great deal more than just laundry and cooking (as a comment above suggests)!. They would have been responsible for spinning and weaving wool and flax into cloth to make clothing (a woman could walk 20 miles in a full day's spinning)!. They would have brewed th ebeer that people drank instead of water, grown vegetables in their kitchen gardens, made their own butter and cheese, brewed home remedies for treating illnesses, preserved food for the winter months, made their own soap and candles!. Women were expected to be the family doctors, and care for the sick!.

many women ran businesses while their husbands were away, and some women were in business on their own account!. Some jobs, like keeping a tavern or an inn, were seen as particularly suitable for women, but they also ran all kinds of other businesses, like shops or printing presses!.

Midwives were a critcial resource, and they were all women!. In New Amsterdam, midwives were public servants who received rather large salaries!. The normally apolitical matrons of Boston went on a virtual strike when their favourite midwife came under attack by the church elders!. About a quarter of the doctors in colonial America were also women!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

they supported the home!. just as the farmers did and still do!. Most women at that time cooked cleaned took care of the children, if any, and even assisted the husband with his work!. one very tough period, real work!. kinda like today, women, if married many times work as well and take care of the home and kids!. Never a dull moment!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

serve the men, cook the food, raise the kids, nurse, and make it home!Www@QuestionHome@Com

laundry and the dishes!.!.!.!.!.and cookingWww@QuestionHome@Com

cooking and harvestingWww@QuestionHome@Com

They're the ones that have the kids!.
DUHHWww@QuestionHome@Com

she was more like a house maid
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