Women's Role in the Family

Women's Role in the Family

Women's Role in the Family
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 5 to 7
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.07

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		childcare, provided, custody, divorce, economic, colonial, reality, overseas, depression, based, housecleaning, mills, inherit, textile, gain, public
	content words:		Under English, World War II, United States

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Women's Role in the Family
By Sharon Fabian

¹     In colonial times, families were large, and every member of the family had an important role in helping to provide everything that the family needed. The men hunted and farmed and maybe worked at a trade. The women cared for the children, cared for the garden, and made candles, soap, and other necessities. They also cared for the cattle, cleaned and spun wool for clothing, and made medicines for the family.

²     There is a "reality" show on the PBS stations in which people try to live in the same way that the colonial people lived. If you watch this show, you will see that life was not easy for anyone.

³     There were some added hardships for women who lived in America at that time. Women had very few rights related to either their family or their property. In the eyes of the law, women were almost invisible. They had no legal rights. Women could not own or inherit property. Once a woman married, she had even fewer rights. Married women could not sign contracts; their money was not even their own. They could not sue for divorce, and if their husband divorced them, women usually lost their children. Women and children were treated like property that belonged to the husband. Women were not even expected to speak up in public; usually their husband spoke for them.

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