What place did women occupy in the American colonies at mid-eighteenth century?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Women were central contributors to the colonial household economies that involved all family members under the authority of the male heads of household, which in the colonies were often small landowning farmers. Women were expected to be good wives and mothers, and as society matured and declining death rates resulted in more stable families, women had fewer occasions to act on their own accord without the authority of fathers or husbands. The professionalization of the courts excluded women over the course of the eighteenth century, and the division of labor in households identified women's work more clearly as cleaning, cooking, sewing, and helping on the farm. Women's work increased also because lower infant mortality rates resulted in more time spent raising children.