Aid for debate: women in colonial America

[Nanobyte]

"Was the Colonial Period a 'Golden Age' for Women in America?"
Our standing: yes

I need to back this up with factual information, and have a sufficient standing for an adequate rebuttal. I am having severe difficulties with this topic; my teacher assigned it, and the opposing group chose their standing first, so I guess you can call this a debate "monopoly".. Anyways, any help would be appreciated.

And I should have this all organized by tomorrow night for all of you to pick at.

[ 11-21-2002, 02:01 AM: Message edited by: Nanobyte ]

[WillowIX]

Not my area of expertise frankly . But here are some sites that may aid you in your quest for knowledge

http://info-center.ccit.arizona.edu/...rp11/grp11.htm
http://www.mtsu.edu/~kmiddlet/histor...-colonial.html
http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/earlyamerica/

Originally posted by Nanobyte: "Was the Colonial Period a 'Golden Age' for Women in America?" Our standing: yes I need to back this up with factual information, and have a sufficient standing for an adequate rebuttal. I am having severe difficulties with this topic; my teacher assigned it, and the opposing group chose their standing first, so I guess you can call this a debate "monopoly".. Anyways, any help would be appreciated. And I should have this all organized by tomorrow night for all of you to pick at.

You are using one of the same texts as we are in my current American History class. We did this comparrison several weeks ago.

Our class assessment was, that compared to the lot that women in England and London in particular during this period of time, the women in the new world had a mini golden age, if you compare it to today well it wasnt. During those times, the American women were as important to the success of the colonies as ever, and while they had little in the way of freedoms, they had more in the colonies than in the old world..

All in all both readings (they are in pairs in this text book I believe) viewed the whole thing in a rather limited opinionated view. One side was written by a disenchanted angry feminist who based her opinions not on history but on her activist views. (Our prof, has worked with her on several occasions) the other side viewed things in too simplistic a manner.