Civil War Women Essay

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During the Civil War the ideology of most roles and responsibilities of women changed drastically. Typical stereotypes of women were put to shame once the men responded to the call to go defend their beliefs. Both women in the north and south took on new jobs that previous generations would never imagine attempting. The absence of men in the household forced women to step up and seize the new opportunities available.
The Civil War, or how many of the Unionists referred to it as "the Great Rebellion" or "the War of the Rebellion", caused many women to take on the jobs formally done by men. Prominent in the growing industry in the north, women in the antebellum era had already dominated the textiles, shoe-making and clothing business. After the …show more content…
The Southern home front was different than the North’s mainly due to most of the fighting done on their soil. Rapidly running out of supplies like shoes, initially supplied by the North, Southern women aided the soldiers by knitting and making blankets as well as other vital resources. With positions open, Southern women filled the Confederate government as clerks and some even became schoolteachers. Rising numbers of casualties caused the welcoming of women to be nurses. Originally denied when trying to become nurses, because the job entailed "sights not fit for a lady”, the Confederate Congress passed a law in 1862 allowing women to join. Across enemy lines southern female spies were able to smuggle ammunition and medicine under their skirts and in their corsets.
Freed women were not the only people affected by the war, female slaves were faced with many new choices as a result of the conflict. When the Union invaded the south female slaves were faced with a choice, flee to freedom or stay to see how the situation played out. Many fled by themselves or with their families while others bargained with their masters for privileges in return for staying. Some who chose to run worked for the union as cooks, seamstresses, nurses and laundresses, others tended
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