In the Civil War, what was life like for women at home?

Question

How were they affected if their husbands went off to war or something? What would they do?

Answer 1

They suffered terribly! They had to gather wood for cooking, gather water for cooking and cleaning, Gardening, raise the chickens, pigs, cows, and kids. Fix the house and fences. make clothes. earn money. today you get money by direct deposit. have home depot to but a new door. a supermarket for food a washing machine to do clothes. It would kill most any women today.

Answer 2

This is a really broad question.

To begin with, you are uniting all women into one catergory without distinction of age, race or class. All of these factors would help to create a different experience for different women. This will make the question harder to answer.

Secondly you haven't defined where "home" is. Depending on geographical location women would have a diiferent experience.

Thirdly, you appear to be questioning how women were affected by men going of to war.

I suppose the starting point here would be "what were the attitudes of men and women before the civil war?" Ideas of gender are all socially constructed and to understand the impact on the women you have to understand what the underlying ideas were. What did society view as feminine or masculine? For example, was it assumed that a woman's role was in the home, or in the plantation?

When you have found this answer we could examine how the civil war affected this social construct for different women. Could the house wives still be housewives if their husbands were at war or did they have to take on more "masculine" roles such as being the wage earner and family protector? Did working class women just continue to work? Did women on the plantation still do the same "feminine" functions on the plantation or again were some needed to do more "masculine" plantation roles?

In turn did this change create a new divide between women? The "masculine" versus the "feminine" or did they unify to protect themselves? Was race or class more important than being a woman? What defined these people? How did they define or think of themselves? Basically at this point the idea of gender and how it interacts with power, race and class comes into play. These catergories are not exhaustive as other factors could have served to create a unitary experience also.

Finally, that brings you on to another question? How were the men affected when they returned to find women were nolonger sat with the safe socially constructed idea of what feminine was. Was there a new power/ gender struggle?

Sorry, this doesn't really answer your question but I found pondering these issues quite satisfying!

Answer 3

The woman had to take care of the plantations and the household. They had to do the jobs as their husbands once did. Watch Gone With the Wind and it will give you sort of an idea on how women had to survive. In those turbulent times the Country was divided between the north and south. How do the women of today survive when their husbands and boyfriends are at war in Iraq? Remember history repeats itself.

Answer 4

Well they cooked, cleaned, reared the children, and generally lived a hard life whether or not their men were home. They might have even taken over any farming duties that the men might have ordinarily done. But the women were probably happy because they weren't beaten or abused by their husbands while they were away, which at that time was perfectly acceptable.

Answer 5

Women become the property of the winnig side!
Their husband mostly will be killed/wounded or made slaves.
In Muslim era they will become Muslims to avoid further
trouble and join the winning side.
Alternatively they can go to the jungles with their family to
avoid trouble.

Answer 6

Women in North: were rich, had servants, could buy whatever
Women in South: were poor, work on plantations, were busy

They all had a busy life and it affected most of the women, because of inflation and blockades and thievery.

Answer 7

life as it is has many faces.
one they did not have men to look afterthem,perhaps the ones left were weak or had their spouces with them.
second they had to fed for themselves.
they could not have sex since no man, perhaps they did a lesbian or mustabation, they had to med their own homes,or form some singing and sewing groups where they could share their problems.
oh man they were in problems especialy the thought of their men not returning from war