In general when one hears the words ?colony? and ?women? in the same sentence, one conjures up an image of a lowly, meek she-slave silently churning butter in the corner. Quite contrary to popular belief, it appears that women in colonial America did possess somewhat of a more important status than did their English contemporaries back home. However, anothre aopinion may argue that women, no matter race, were bound to their domestic lives of arduous, fatiguing work. Although I understand the first argument, I correspond better with the idea that the colonial period indeed was a time of independence and free will for women in America.

The first opinion unflinchingly argues that sixteenth and seventeenth century, colonial women of various races all shared the same secondary, subservient positions in which they were confined to household duties, secluded from the company of other women, and denied any real opportunities of education or a voice in politics. Back then a woman?s sole concerns were food preservation and cloth production, aside from cooking, cleaning, and washing. The more affluent women with servants didn?t have to engage in such grueling labor, but the

In contrast, the other side debates that seventeenth century women in America had a higher status and less social restraint than their English counterparts based upon four factors in colonial Maryland: sexual imbalance, late marriage, early death, and immigrant predominance. After Maryland was settled, their census of 1650 revealed that of the less than six hundred inhabitants, roughly two hundred were women. Over the years, statistics pointed to the fact that men greatly outnumbered women. This was advantageous to women because they became a desirable resource, not only for husbandry, but because their clever feminine wiles made them assets in business. In order to pay off their transportation costs, women enlisted in indentured servitude for a four to five year term. Obviously not viewed as the ?weaker vessel,? some women performed household chores in addition to field labor. Once a woman completed her term of service, she became a planter?s wife; women had a substantial amount of freedom when it came to husbandry because men were abounding and there weren?t any restricting fathers or brothers to scare off suitors. Also, women were marrying at later ages (at their own discretion), instead of in their teen years. Another statistic revealed that immigrant women in Maryland tended to outlive their husbands. This left widows with children to feed and tobacco plantations to run; Once again we can observe the strength and courage women of that era possessed. Countless wills of husbands disclosed the love and concern they had for their wives; in the 1660s, almost a fifth of men with children left all their property to their wives. Hu

Some common words found in the essay are:
Golden Age, Women America, Native American, Plymouth Rock, Professor Norton, colonial women, women america, colonial period, golden age, idea colonial period, idea colonial, women remarried, seventeenth century, church attendance, churning butter,
Approximate Word count = 1105
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)