Women Western Expansion Flashcards
Positive view
The West brought new freedoms for women, partly due to necessity and partly due to the distance from established and traditional patriarchal structures
Emergence of liberal attitudes
The development of new land in the West saw the emergence of new liberal attitudes in these places
Contributed to Wyoming’s granting of female suffrage in 1869 and Utah in 1870
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act of 1862 provided the opportunity for women to take land of their own
Regardless of sex, the act provided people with 160 acres of land for 5 years subject to whether they farmed it
Mixed view
Some women undoubtedly benefited from westward expansion e.g. the right to own property, and women’s political rights were far greater in the West than the South/East
Lack of universal experience
No experience was the same, with there being a variety of women’s’ experiences
Depended on how long they were there, where they were, reasons for moving West, aged, race and ethnicity
Negative view
The West was a lawless environment, dominated by men and masculine values
Women were generally at best isolated and vulnerable and at worst economically and sexually exploited
Difficult life
Many women who travelled west found life much harder than they expected and either had to return home, move on or turn to prostitution, hard manual labor or domestic service for survival
Diaries
Women’s diaries and letters home from frontier settlements frequently spoke of loneliness and danger
Disorder
There was little law and order in the West and alcoholism was rife; women were frequently the victims of domestic violence and sexual violence
‘Masculine’ values
Traditional ‘masculine’ values characterised the frontier, which left little room for women or men who did not conform to these
Lack of right
They were not permitted to sell the property, sue for divorce, serve on juries or vote. However, many lived more equitably as partners with their husbands than compared to the eastern US, because the challenges of farm life empowered them to break through social barriers.
Middle class women
Middle class women arrived in 1880s with their husbands and established boarding houses, organised church societies and worked as laundresses and seamstresses. They fought to promote family value and remove prostitution and other vice.
Prominent individuals
Annie Oakley an exhibition shooter.
Pearl Hart stagecoach robber.
