How did gender roles change during the American Civil War in the Confederacy?
In ‘America’s Women’ Gail Collins writes of southern women during the Civil War: ‘For Southern women, the beginning of the Civil War offered unusual opportunity to get involved in public life. In this crisis, showing a deep interest in masculine concerns was not considered unfeminine. There were the usual wartime stories of young women who refused to allow draft dodgers to pay them court. But this early-stage patriotism came easily, most Americans, North and South, believed the war would be resolved very quickly, perhaps even before any blood had been shed. When their husbands actually saddled up and rode off to battle, an umber of women began questioning whether there was any cause they’d be willing to sacrifice their loved ones for. “Charlie is dearer to me than my country” admitted Kate Rowland of Georgia The women left behind knew they would have anew role to play, although they weren’t particularly clear what it would entail. Young women wrote in their diaries that they wished the
