Title: Traditional Roles of Men & Women in Families | Our Everyday Life
Headings: Traditional Roles of Men & Women in Families
Traditional Roles of Men & Women in Families
Colonial Family Units
Traditional Roles of Men in Families
Traditional Female Roles
Changing Roles

Content: Men were expected to provide for their families, but they also took an active role in rearing their children. Fathers taught their children to read and write, found apprenticeship programs for them so that they could learn career skills, disciplined their offspring as needed, and led the family in prayers or other religious activities. The father was considered the primary parent. Divorce was permissible under certain circumstances, but the father was normally granted custody rather than the mother. Traditional Female Roles
A woman needed to know how to sew, spin and weave, tend vegetable and medicinal herb gardens, prepare food, and make sure that any servants or apprentices were properly trained and satisfactorily met their obligations within the household. She bore children, nursed them, and made sure that they were dressed, fed and well cared for. At the same time, women were often involved in financial enterprises. Many women helped manage their husband’s estates or actively took part in a business or family trade. If her economic responsibilities interfered with her parental duties, a woman might leave her young children in the care of a servant or older child while she worked. Changing Roles
It wasn't until the nineteenth century that the roles of men and women within a family became more rigidly defined.