WOMEN IN THE WEST

ADVANTAGES

• They didn’t have as hard of jobs as men
• They worked in jobs that men couldn’t work in
• Ex: nursery’s, schoolhouses, fireside, public square

DISADVANTAGES

• Tasked with cleaning filthy sod houses, cooking/preserving foods, and caring for children
• Women often had to do farm work in addition to house work and caring for children
• Couldn’t vote
• Married women had no property rights
• Women were not allowed to enter professions such as medicine or law

JOBS

• Housework
• Teacher
• Establishing school houses and churches
• Shopkeepers
• Maids
• Restaurants
• Hotels
• Baking

SOJOURNER TRUTH

• She’s best known for her activist woman’s rights speech on racial inequalities, “Ain’t I a woman. She was born in slavery but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826.

MARTHA CALAMITY JANE

• Became famous for her unusual exploits alongside men.
• She lost both of her parents at a young age and worked as a scout to support her siblings.
• She became a legend in the West for her rugged personality, horsemanship, and shooting ability.
• Her legend shows how women are able to chart new lives out West.

MOST FAMOUS STAGECOACH DRIVER

• Charley Parkhurst was born a woman. Nobody knew he was born a woman until death (he lived as a man). His life is an example of the ways people could define their own lives.

ANNIE BIDWELL

• She became famous for attempting to “Christianize” and “Americanize” the Native Americans who worked on her family’s ranch.
• She was also active in many of the reform movements of the age, including the movements to outlaw alcohol and allow women to vote.

ADVANTAGES FOR MEN

• Men got the first chance to pretty much do everything
• Men had more rights
• The law favored men
• Men got better education
• Men got the better jobs

THE END