Women In The Westward Movement: 1840-1880

This paper attempts to offer a portrait of ordinary women in the mid-nineteenth-century Westward Movement, covering their life on the Overland Trail as well as their roles in bringing civilization to new settlements and reestablishing traditional mores. In describing women's experience in the Westward Movement between 1840 and 1880, efforts have been made to look into the ideologies that had influenced women who participating in this great migration. Based on a careful analysis of the historical facts, the paper concludes that though women had to take on new responsibilities that challenged the established gender roles, they, in reality, were not liberated from traditional gender pattern, for they still judged themselves and were judged by others by the time-honored and socially-sanctioned women qualities.After a brief account of the historical background of the Westward Movement, the paper moves on to explore the challenges women faced throughout their Westward Movement experience, from their departure for the West to their encountering en route, and all the way to their final settlement along the frontier, illustrating the changing gender roles and women's conventional reaction toward them. By focusing on the overland trail and the early years of frontier life, the paper then analyzes the familial and social roles of women in the West, contributions made by women, and the influence of nineteenth century domestic ideology on frontier women.