Topic > The Role of Women During the Revolutionary War

Before the Revolutionary War, women's primary role was domestic. They were the producers of the house, taking raw materials and turning them into household goods. Women were the consumers and before the Revolution they led the boycott against British goods. During the Revolutionary War they became the men of the house in addition to the roles they already held. They became spies, nurses, propagandists, and even took command on the battlefield. After the Revolutionary War, the push to return to normalcy once again brought women back to where they were before the war as domestic producers. Inclusion during this period meant being viewed by society as an independent and self-sufficient person. Inclusion also means being able to express an opinion and have it heard. During the transition Women during the war ran farms and did many jobs considered only for men, and were independent in their homeland. All this disappeared when the troops returned and the new country tried to get back on its feet. Some women remained in roles as historians who chronicle the war and record history. However, this also did not last long. The United States adopted the graduate school concept from Germany. Women were not allowed to attend graduate school and so many of the remaining roles that women held that made them included in society at a distance became professionalized (Berkin). Most of their work became invisible and the women were called amateurs. Many historians consider this period after the war to be gender amnesia because everyone after the war forgot everything that women had done. Women barely got credit for their contributions. This amnesia caused women to lose what little inclusion they had and not many fought this due to the need to return to normality (Berkin). If the need to become a strong and stable nation had not meant a return to normality, women perhaps would not have been so backward in terms of