Abstract
Recent studies have challenged a long-prevailing notion that free women held unusually high economic status in colonial America. The present study tests a corresponding idea that the 19th century afforded American women fewer occupational opportunities, with a resulting loss in freedom and status. Drawing from a large and broad sample of newspapers, we examine the distribution of occupational pursuits and changes in this distribution over time, and then compare these findings with observations from an earlier study for the 18th century. The theoretical implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the ideology of “separate spheres,” increasing divorce patterns, and the growth of the midwestern frontier.
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Schultz, M. Occupational pursuits of free American women: An analysis of newspaper ads, 1800–1849. Sociol Forum 7, 587–607 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01112317
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01112317