You had two readings this week - one was document 5 about Eulalia Perez, a woman in Spanish California in the early 19th century and document 4, about Mary Prince who was an enslaved salt raker also in the early 19th century. These two documents demonstrate some of the types of labor that women did in the early 19th century. During this time, a woman's "proper" role was that of wife and mother and her work was usually done within or around the home. However, we see that even though gender roles for women were very strict, women still had to labor outside of the home for different reasons.
The other elements to add to this are race and ethnicity. Eulalia was a woman of Spanish descent in Spanish California. Her Spanish bloodline placed her above other women in the region and even sometimes above men. As a Spanish woman we see that she had some authority over the Native American women and men in the Mission and she was given many responsibilities. However, being a woman still meant she had limitations and expectations.
On the other hand, Mary Prince was born into the system of slavery and therefore she no rights over her own body and life. She gained nothing from her labor.
Looking back at Anne Hutchinson's story we also see that she worked outside of the home and helped her community as a healer and midwife.
These are just three examples of the many ways that women labored before the industrial revolution and before women stepped into wage labor in large numbers.
PROMPT
What do you think about women's contributions during that period? Was their labor necessary and who benefited from it? Did anything surprise you from these readings?
**GUIDANCE**Treat these asynchronous discussions as you would treat an in-person discussion with yourclassmates. The purpose of these discussions is to use critical thinking and to exchange ideaswith your classmates. This is also a good opportunity to ask your classmates questionsregarding things you don’t fully understand. It's also an opportunity to help your classmatesif you understood something that they did not. You should not treat this as an essay and pleaseuse your own words and ideas on the material rather than simply restating the content. Youmust do more than give a summary of the reading.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDzj9vRw5yM&ab_channel=TEDxTalks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sdaATkniKk&ab_channel=RobertH.Smith