In the Colonies European American women led a relatively free life, while all except a very few African American women were true slaves, and as such, lived in a vastly different manner.

In Europe, tradition held that women be esteemed, but being inferior, they must be guided by men. English Common Law allowed a single woman upon reaching legal maturity, a few rights. She could own property, retain control of her monies, and enter into contracts, but because in Europe a single woman was viewed as unproductive, she was generally discriminated against. Married women basically ceased to exist and had no rights other than those granted by her husband. Upon marriage, a woman became “one with her husband.”

Luckily for women in the Colonies, although Colonial Law was based on English Common Law, many restrictions and codes were greatly relaxed. Attitudes for the most part, were much more lenient. Single and married Colonial women often worked outside the home and/or engaged in business and other pursuits considered to be in the male realm. They owned property, voted in some elections and even chose their own mates. Rape and physical abuse of any female were punishable by law. They

In traditional gender roles men performed those tasks considered harder - farming, hunting and manufacturing, while women performed “lighter” domestic chores of preparing and preserving food and goods as well as raising the children. However, a few women engaged regularly in “manly” pursuits. They were accepted and even admired as Riley points out with the observation from William Byrd, a planter in Virginia, about his neighbor, “a very civil woman who showed nothing of ruggedness or immodesty in her carriage, yet she will carry a gun in the woods and kill deer… and perform the most manful exercises as well as most men in these parts.”

If under English Common Law, the rights of single women were limited, they were non-existent for married women. When a women married, she ceased to exist – she became a feme covert or a hidden woman. English law actually held that a wife did not exist outside of her husband. Riley states “by marriage, the husband and wife became one person in law.” Married women could not enter into contracts, own property, vote or control any monies.

African American women had no say in who they were “mated” with. Owners often ordered matings much as with livestock, because he thought the cross would be good. Marriage ceremonies were sometimes performed between African American men and women according to their customs and beliefs, but the slaveholder did not often recognize such marriages. Spouses, as well as children, were commonly sold off and never seen or heard from again.

English and European tradition held women in esteem as wives and mothers but viewed them as morally and intellectually inferior to men. Accordingly, under English law, a single woman was under the control of her father or eldest male relative until she was of age. Upon maturity, she was considered a feme sole, or a single female and was granted limited legal rights including the right to engage in business or work and retain control of any monies and property owned. However, since the family and home were at the heart of European traditions, single women were often viewed as unproductive and discriminated against. Pressured to join the household of a male relative and serve as an unpaid servant performing domestic chores such as spinning, they were commonly labeled spinsters.

Some topics in this essay:
African American, Law American, Common Law, William Byrd, Accordingly English, European American, European Americans, african american, american women, English European, african american women, Margaret Brent, Paradise Earth”, english common law, colonial women, married women, english common, common law, european american, single woman, american woman, control monies, retain control monies, women enter contracts, tradition held women,