Household: Basic unit of 18th century.
1.- Man 2.- Mistress: Wife and helpmate 3.- Children expected to assist the parent of their own sex 4.- Any servants or slaves.
Its male head represented each family; cast a single vote, service in militia or public office.
Women directed household's activities. Domestic and private role.
Mistresses directed the daily life of the household, her position within the home was secondary to that of her husband.
She was expected to follow his orders and he assured to control over the family finances.
Rural women's ignorance: Unable to precise value on tools lands or harvested grain even if they knew the total acreage of the land or the size of the harvest.
Urban women didn't know the exact income of their husband's.
Men didn't realize the potential benefit of letting their wives informed about family finances.
Woman accepted the division of the world into separated spheres.
Marriage Equality
Marriage
Marriage DayResponsibilities of: Poor, middle class women on farms? Cooking, baking, washing, ironing, milking cows, making cider, drying apples. Making butter, keep churn, pans, cheese hoops and strainers nice and sweet. Managing her dairy summer and supervision spinning and weaving in the winter. Planted her garden, hived her bees, hog killing time. Soap making, boiling "souse" candles.
Mrs. Cooper obsession with cleanliness.
Frontier areas: Wives and daughters in field, at harvest time. Men helped with woman's work. Some place they didn't have tools needed to do their tasks. Life in wilderness.
Middle class urban women? Didn't have to spin or weave They worked for shorter hours and at less physically demanding than rural girls.
Food preparation: cultivating garden, raising poultry.
Wives of artisans and shopkeepers helped in business.
Higher standards of cleanliness.
Even if they had servants they would complain about supervising them.
Mornings: Household work Afternoon: visiting friends,