A Young People's History of the United States

Women were severely oppressed in early America; Zinn writes that “they could not control their own lives” (89). Men legally and socially controlled women in several ways, though women resisted their mistreatment and exercised independence (sometimes with great consequences).

The opening subsection reports that women led dangerous and controlled lives in the colonial era and beyond. Many women came to the colonies as indentured servants and were treated cruelly by the rich families that housed them. Many endured sexual abuse. Childbirth was often fatal. Zinn notes that “Black women suffered doubly” (90) because of the intersection of their oppressed gender and their oppressed race. Even as a Women’s Movement gained some momentum throughout the first half of the 19th century, few advocated for the equal treatment of Black and white women.

Throughout the 19th century, increasingly greater numbers of women joined the workforce, even though the domestic sphere (the home) was considered the “proper” place for women (as wives and mothers). Women found work in factories, particularly textile mills. While jobs could bring in independent spending money, employers paid women far less than men for the same jobs. Occasionally, women led strikes to protest this inequality and advocate for better working conditions.