Gender Studies/History is not something I would have thought interesting at one point in time. My interest was the natural result of a struggle to find appropriate female roles for those of us who don’t wish to be a 1950’s idea of a housewife. Because of this I was struck by much of what Joan Scott stated in Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis. On page 1064 she states “I am troubled, nonetheless, by the exclusive fixation on questions of “the subject” and by the tendency to reify subjectively originating antagonism between males and females as the central fact of gender.” In my opinion the study of gender should be less about “traditional roles”, perceived or real oppression of women by men, or a modern political drive. When this is done, it seems to inadvertently take away women’s will, personalities, and choices that even the most oppressed had. The study of gender should be more about the people, their contributions to the world around them, and their internal motivation. (I also agree that “gender” should not be a synonym for “woman” but for obvious reasons I’m going to stick to women for now.)
One of my favorite women is Esther de Berdt Reed who was the First Lady of Pennsylvania in 1779 and 1780. Esther published a broadside in 1780 after General Washington reported poor conditions throughout the army. Her broadside, full of patriotism, references to history, and a desire to actively participate in the war, was signed only “An American Woman”. She are her friends then proceeded to go door to door to raise approximately $300,000 (note: I am unsure whether this is modern dollars or 1780 dollars; however, either way this is still a large amount). At the bequest of General Washington she and her ladies used this money to purchase linen and set to making shirts. She died in September of that year before her project was fully realized. She was only 34 years old.
Esther Reed is a prime example of a woman providing substantial help and support. She stayed within her boundaries as the state’s First Lady, but also used her position and her own will as assets. Far from the “housewife”, one can picture her sweetly but persuasively leaving her neighbors little to no option as she collected their money. This is a far cry from the submissive housewife idea we tend to attach to historical women.
I want to leave you with an excerpt from the broadside itself.
“ON the commencement of actual war, the Women of America manifested a firm resolution to contribute as much as could depend on them, to the deliverance of their country. Animated by the purest patriotism, they are sensible of sorrow at this day, in not offering more than barren wishes for the success of so glorious a Revolution. They aspire to render themselves more really useful; and this sentiment is universal from the north to the south of the Thirteen United States. Our ambition is kindled by the same of those heroines of antiquity, who have rendered their sex illustrious, and have proved to the universe, that, if the weakness of our Constitution, if opinion and manners did not forbid us to march to glory by the same paths as the Men, we should at least equal, and sometimes surpass them in our love for the public good. I glory in all that which my sex has done great and commendable. I call to mind with enthusiasm and with admiration, all those acts of courage, of constancy and patriotism, which history has transmitted to us: The people favoured by Heaven, preserved from destruction by the virtues, the zeal and the resolution of Deborah, of Judith, of Esther! The fortitude of the mother of the Massachabees, in giving up her sons to die before her eyes: Rome saved from the fury of a victorious enemy by the efforts of Volumnia, and other Roman Ladies: So many famous sieges where the Women have been seen forgeting the weakness of their sex, building new walls, digging trenches with their feeble hands, furnishing arms to their defenders, they themselves darting the missile weapons on the enemy, resigning the ornaments of their apparel, and their fortune, to fill the public treasury, and to hasten the deliverance of their country; burying themselves under its ruins, throwing themselves into the flames rather than submit to the disgrace of humiliation before a proud enemy.”
A facsimile of the original can be found here: http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/ladies-association-of-philadelphia/ladiesassociation_sentimentsbroadside/
A more legible version here: http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~ppennock/doc-Sentiments%20of%20An%20American%20Woman.htm
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