Nancy F. Cott in The Bonds of Womanhood tries to develop a picture of Puritan femininity in New England at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. The Women’s Sphere was the idea that the domestic side of life was meant to be run by women. This was the sole place for women in a functioning society. It is her contention that the development of the “Woman’s Sphere” was a necessary part of “shattering the hierarchy of sex.” (200) This is a contentious claim because the development of the Women’s Sphere is often considered to be a reincarnation of prior formations of sexual hierarchy. While on the surface, this criticism seems to be valid, it neglects to take into account a proper grounding and understanding of the Women’s Sphere. The work is invaluable because of this nuanced look at the development of external and internal views of women during this period. This nuanced stance has lead to its importance in feminine scholarship.
Cott sees a diminishing of women seen as inferiors in this period. That inferiority of women was replaced with the idea of complementarianism, that women were designed for equal, yet separate duties and roles. Traditionally, this has been viewed as a strategy of control and submission of the part of the male-dominated culture. Cott identifies three major ways people have viewed this development from a historiographical viewpoint. The earliest view saw women as victims of the ideology of domesticity that was created by men for men. This was based off examination of primarily literature by men on the women’s place in the home. A later view exposed by early feminist scholars sees the creation of the Women’s Sphere in the same light as the first view, but added that the women crafted creative forms of resistance to the domination of men and used the idea of the sphere for their own ends, such as greater education and influence. This viewpoint was based off the publications of women authors. These authors were usually the exceptions to the domestic framework and therefore not representative of women as a whole during this period. Using the unpublished and private accounts of women a third view came to light, one that saw women of this period using and being active collaborators within the ideology of domesticity. The “Women’s Sphere” became a subculture that was accepted by women.
In accepting the last viewpoint, Feminism sees the cooperation of women with domesticity as antithetical to the success of women in general. It is important to note that Cott defines feminism as the social, educational, political, legal advancement of women. This approach is misaligned because it imports modern sensibilities onto the situations of the past. In reality, the Domestic Sphere was always there. It only became clearly articulated as a women’s space during this period as the means of production shifted away from the home. This move did not create the sphere, as is commonly held; it created the realization of the separate spheres of men and women. Something that is often lost is the accompanying realization that the sphere of women was an important sphere, one that was essential to the success of society. It is because of this last fact that it was such an important development in the progress toward gender equality. It lead to the rejection of women as the inferior sex and replaced with a complementary view of women.
Cott takes a thematic approach to her topic, first dealing with work, then domesticity, education, religion, and finally sisterhood. In each chapter, she charts the development of how women were viewed, both by society and internally. She draws off a variety of sources to come to her conclusions. There is an excellent sampling of primary sources. Cott examines letters and other private papers, such as diaries and journals, both publish and unpublished. In addition, she surveys what ministers and preachers were saying of the topic of women. Cott assigns great importance to the role of religion in the lives of men and women. They took God seriously and Cott therefore takes their views on God seriously. The sermons not only help to get a since of the public view of women, but to also to understand where internal views were coming from.
The work is both informative, innovative for its time and yet succinct. The brevity brings up concerns about how well the work is applicable to the nation as a whole. The work confines its study to one region of the country One can see the importance and transitional nature of women’s roles viewing the book in conjunction with Catherine Brekus’ work, Strangers and Pilgrims the book deals with women preaching during a similar period. Brekus’ work suggests that the implications of Cott’s study can indeed be applied to national trends.