Preview

Oregon Trail - Women

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1153 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Oregon Trail - Women
Roles of Women on the Oregon Trail

Part I: What I know Women didn’t have it very easy on the Oregon Trial. They had many chores/jobs they had to get done. And those jobs were no walk in the park. They were hard, laborious, and dirty jobs. They were also often “handed” these jobs. Women were often taken granted for. In the men’s minds, they were trivial, but that was far from true. If women hadn’t gone on the Oregon Trail, it probably wouldn’t have gotten that far. Women and girls play a big rule in Women and girls had to adjust to very rough conditions.

Part II: What I want to know

I would like to know why were women treated lesser than men? How did women adjust so quickly and “silently”. I want to find out if women ever were thanked for the things that they did on the Oregon Trail. Furthermore, I would also like to know why women were given the jobs they got. In addition to that, I would like to find out how much time for women to learn how to do their jobs. And lastly, I want to know why women let themselves “suffer silently”.

Part III: The Search

Women had many jobs, that weren’t very easy. They had to cook, long hours hunched over the fire, often times making something for their family to eat out of nothing. Their long dresses could catch fire and hurt them. Now, that would be bad considering they had to walk about 15 miles the next day. The next job was that they had to clean. The trails were dirt, so could you imagine how much dust would collect in the wagon after a day’s walking? A whole bunch and the women had to clean (or dust) all of that dust. Women also had to do the laundry, which was a problem. It was a problem because most of the time there were no streams or rivers; and another thing that women had to do was unpack and repack all the things on the wagon so they could cross rivers and such. And on top of all that, Women weren’t allowed to complain, despite the hard circumstances that they were put under. But the Oregon Trail



Bibliography: 1. West, Pioneers. “Pioneers West Women,”2001 16th, March, 2013 2. “Research Center – Oregon Trail pg 10,” 1993 27th February, 2013 3. “Women’s Diaries describe life on Oregon trail” 2003 27th February, 2013

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    American Revolution DBQ

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A slave had nothing, and women were only seen a step up from slaves. They couldn’t own anything once they had been married. Women didn’t have any property rights and therefore couldn’t vote. Once the war started though, things began changed. Once the men went off to war, women were left to take care of all matters at home, on the farm, and the business. Some women even went with their male relatives into war. They were first seen by men as distracting and disruptive, and incapable of being in war. Women were very benefiting to the war cause. They did the necessary tasks, like cooking, laundry, nursing and raised moral. But they didn’t just limit themselves to womanly tasks. As seen in the Woodcut of patriot women, women frequently picked up arms and went in to combat. (Doc A) once the war was fought and men and women alike went home, not much had changed for the status of women. But there was a new question in the air concerning women’s rights. The talk of “rights as men” and liberty, brought many women to question their position and if they possibly deserved more than what was being given. Some women weren’t afraid to speak their voice. Molly Wallace wrote, “Many sarcastical observations have been handed out against female oratory; but what do them amount... No one will pretend to deny, that we should be taught to read. And if to read, why not speak?” she shared thoughts with many women…

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    It was important to have people doing the hygenical and essential jobs so that the soldiers had less on their plate. When men went off to fight, were wounded, or dead, their wives or other women took over their responsibilities for them. In document 2 it sights that women took over jobs like weavers, carpenters, blacksmiths, ship builders, and some transformed their own homes into hospitals. Without the women stepping up and taking over these essential jobs, men would have to stay behind and do them. That would’ve prevented them from fighting in the war. With women taking over these jobs, more men were allowed to fight and more could get done. In Document 3 the engraving of Molly Pitcher taking over for her husband at the cannons when he dropped from exhaustion, is another example of women stepping in for the men when they need to. Molly Pitcher was clearly not dressed in proper battle clothing yet she stepped right up to the cannon and took over in a moments notice. The engraving represent bravery and strength. It shows how women were able to pick up where their husbands left off and did the job well. They were able to fill roles…

    • 1732 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women were not as highly respected as men in the colonies. They were denied higher education and their ultimate task was to bear and raise children for their husbands. Women were almost treated as items. The only respectable option for women at that time was marriage. They were thought of as weak compared to men. Women also worked on the farms. Without them, the farm could not survive. They made cloth, garments, candles, soap, and bread stuffs. In the South plantation, women were successful as merchants or storekeepers when their husbands were gone. Some women became printers, publishers, druggists, and doctors. Even so, most women in the colonies did not live to their fullest potential.…

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Women’s Rights Movement began in 1848, and lasted for about seventy years. The years leading up to the movement were very difficult for women. Women were considered weaker than men, therefore they were not treated equally. Women at this time were made totally dependant on men, and they had very few rights in their lives. Some examples of their hardships include: they were not allowed to vote, married women had no property rights, they were unable to be fully educated, etc.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why were women getting treated differently? Women’s had right in the 1920, but before that they got treated differently. Women’s also had to stay at home and take care of the house and take care of the kids.…

    • 174 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the challenges that travelers faced was the long journey. “There were wagons of every kind, including well-built covered wagons and simple, open carts. Usually they were pulled by oxen, but some pioneers used mules. Not everyone sat in a wagon or cart. Some rode mules, and some even walked. From Missouri to Utah, the trip was generally uneventful. Several female pioneers wrote that despite the hardships, it was a "perfect pleasure trip.” (Ferne 4) Not everyone got to ride a wagon or a cart. Or…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Women Role in Late 1700s

    • 1902 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In the mid to late 1700's, the women of the United States of America had practically no rights. When they were married, the men represented the family, and the woman could not do anything without consulting the men. Women were expected to be housewives, to raise their children, and thinking of a job in a factory was a dream that was never thought impossible. But, as years passed, women such as Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Elizabeth Blackwell began to question why they were at home all day raising the children, and why they did not have jobs like the men. This happened between the years of 1776 and 1876, when the lives and status of Northern middle-class woman was changed forever. Women began to leave the house and begin work, and also began movements for equal rights for woman. They made large strides for equality, and really came far from where they were in 1776; however, they still were not close to having equal rights as the men in 1876. Many women campaigned to improve their lives, increase the wages of working women, and expand employment opportunities for women. This widespread effort became known as the temperance movement, and made a lasting impact on society, specifically the lives of Northern middle-class women.…

    • 1902 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life for the American woman in the 19th century was full of conflicts and struggles. Women suffered from a lot of discrimination, and were not allowed to vote, attend universities, speak in public, or own property, and were essentially forced to fight for their place within society. Regardless of these difficulties, women gathered strength in numbers and succeeded in establishing permanent social changes.…

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Elizabeth Blackwell

    • 3035 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Women face many challenges that men did not have to face. In the early days of our country, it was a man’s world. Women served their men. They were not offered the same opportunities that men were. To some extent, this still exists today. Women don’t always receive equal pay for equal work as their male co-workers. That was true in the 1840’s when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. That shows amounts of moral courage that many of us could never achieve.…

    • 3035 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Women in 1889

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages

    During the early 1800's women were stuck in the Cult of Domesticity. Women had been issued roles as the moral keepers for societies as well as the nonworking house-wives for families. Also, women were considered unequal to their male companions legally and socially. However, women's efforts during the 1800's were effective in challenging traditional intellectual, social, economical, and political attitudes about a women's place in society.…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    2). Sadly the rights for women weren’t passed until the 20th century. There were many woman figures throughout history following the right to vote. Edith Wharton was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her fiction novel Age of Innocence in 1921. Jane Addams received the Nobel Prize for Peace ten years later (Women’s History 1). All these women made history and proved to men that we can do the same things as them, and sometimes even…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Young girls could only dream of continuing their schooling and obtaining a higher education. Men, who had control over women, didn 't believe women were intelligent enough. God forbid they hurt themselves through straining their brains! In men 's minds, a woman should have stayed at home taking care of her husband 's house and children while he was away on business. Women were also expected to educate the male children before they were old enough to go to school and acquire more knowledge then their mother. Girls looked upon their brothers who would leave home to explore the world and start new lives with jealousy. Girls only had the option to dwell at home and learn the responsibilities of being a good wife and very much a slave to her future husband.…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    During colonial America women’s roles were that of maintaining the household, birthing and minding the children, and a supportive role to the man of the house. This role changed little over time until 1848 when the women’s rights movement started at the Seneca Falls Convention. It was at the convention when Elizabeth Cady Stanton gave a Declaration of Sentiments; she demanded equal rights including the right to vote for women. “Signed by 68 women and 32 men, it was a powerful symbol and the beginning of a long struggle for legal, professional, educational, and voting rights.” (Bowles, 2011, Chapter 2) Even though women were treated as secondary citizens, starting with no rights to presently nothing holding women back and all freedoms granted, because women never gave up, they worked hard to prove their point, and they maintained strength and grace through the hard years. While there were many events that guided the path of women I will focus on a few in my opinion key events; from the Suffrage movement, to military women of World War 1 and World War 2, women entering the political realm, the push for equal pay for equal work, the women’s strike, and the 1973 case of Roe vs Wade.…

    • 3002 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the mid and late 1800’s the Antebellum Era took place, including the American reform movement. At this time women were deeply focused on getting equal rights as far as expanding education, jobs, and the right to vote. Around this time period slavery was also heavily practiced. In this essay I will share with you how women went about fighting for their rights and promoting their rights.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Oregon Trail

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Oregon Trail was probably one of the most significant things to happen in American history. Because of this trail, it changed a women’s way of life in ways that they were now beginning to do things that they wouldn’t have done in times before the trail. This trail…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays