Suffer Not a Woman to Speak (R)

In Suffer Not a Woman to Speak, the role of a woman in early America is discussed. The author begins by discussing a woman’s role, or lack there of, in the church. He then focuses on the discrimination women faced by law in early America.

A woman’s role in any church has been near non-existent since early days. Beginning with Adam and Eve, in the bible, Eve ate the forbidden fruit, giving women a bad reputation for the next few thousands of years. This seems unfair, considering Adam ate the forbidden fruit as well. Women were never given leadership roles or even the opportunity to obtain them in the church. Anne Hutchinson was the first to step out of this and hold her own prayer meetings. This was accepted by the religious leaders, as long as she stuck to the Puritan values. Although Anne did break the one rule she was given, the situation may not have come so far if she had been allowed to become a publically religious leader to begin with. Fortunately, in some religions today, women have progressed and are able to hold a leadership position in their church.

In law and politics woman were treated completely subordinate to men. Married women were treated as property and the article even makes a comment of them being compared to slaves. Common Law, imported from Britain, practically allowed men to beat their wives and gave women no status in society. I do agree with the fact that single women were given more rights due to the fact that they did not have the protection of a husband, however, I can only agree with these views based on the values of the early American society.

Women have been treated inferior to men since the beginning of time. The reasons why women were treated so secondary to men is partly understandable, because these views were the only ones people had been brought up on throughout their lifetime. Although I can never agree with women subordination, it is obvious that women have overcome this obstacle and risen in status as well as come away from their strict original role as a homemaker and moved on to become greater, stronger, and more recognized in society.