Womans value system in the late nineteenth century, between the

upper and middle class changed. In place was a more stressed idea of
femininity, the role of the woman in the household, and the family
dynamics. There was a distinct separation between man and women, since
the mens jobs moved from the fields to the factories. Jobs women would
do were becoming obsolete; they were now expected to be in the home.
Their roles would be changing. Women were expected to be domestic,
submissive, pious, and pure. Marli F. Weiner explains that the Southern
ideas of domesticity were similar to the Northern idea, however due to the
south having slaves, it altered to fit the southern ways.
Weiners essay explains that because of the change in economy,
that men would follow their work away from the home and farm and would
start working in factories and businesses, which in turn took away the work
women used to do such as spin threat and make candles.1 This changed
the dynamic of the home. Women because responsible for the creation of
an uplifting environment- a haven to which their men could return.2 In the
Northeast participated in more wide range reform movement, they felt they
had more in common with each other, and seemed to value that. However
in the South they were encouraging domesticity.3 Domesticity was not
just based on male vs. female; it was based on white vs. black as well. The
roles of women and responsibilities where different in the South because
they had slaves that would be responsible for the house, cooking, child

caring, needs. Wiener stated, Southern writers told women over and over
again how to behave to guarantee a happy marriage. Women not only
were expected to be good wives but they were also responsible for making
men into good husbands.4 Weiner also states Benevolence and charity
were the responsibility of all women, but southern women were particularly
urged to turn their benevolent impulses in the direction of their slaves.5
The difference between the Northern women and Southern women were
very different although both part of the cult of domesticity. Weiner ends
with, The ideology of domesticity in the South was a mechanism for
defining and controlling race as well as gender differences.6

In Mary Chestnut on Slavery and Sex, there is an account that says Men
& women are punished when their masters & mistresses are brutes & not
when they do wrong- & then we live surrounded by prostitutes.7 This
seems rather contradictory to Weiners paper. In Weiners paper she states
Religious teaching in the white South offered plantation mistresses explicit
instructions reinforcing the ideology of domesticity.8 Thus even the
mistresses should be showing kindness. Furthermore it says ideology of
domesticity that encourages mistresses to see themselves as materially
and morally responsible for those slaves.9
In Aint I A Woman? by Sojourner Truth, she talks about how because
the women speaking is a slave, that she isnt treated like a women, no one

opens doors for her, or helps her in the carriage, however she is strong like
a man, but no one treats her like a women. She says, I have ploughed,
and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me!10
However in Wieners piece she says that slaves as dependents that
needed the same protection and guidance white children did. Like children,
slaves were considered unable to care for themselves, so it was the
responsibility of slaveholders to provide for them physically, morally, and
spiritually.11 According to Truth this person was more then capable for
caring for herself, she is actually planting and farming for her owner,
proving that she wasnt being taken care of physically by her owner, she
was more then capable of taking care of things physically for herself.
Although Wiener wrote a great essay with a good explanation of what Cult
of Domesticity is, I dont believe her writings are actuate with real counts
that happened. It is possible that this is what the Cult of Domesticity was
out to be, however it is not what is successfully accomplished.

1 Weiner, Marli F. Domestic Ideology in the South, 1998.

2 Ibid
3 Ibid
4 Ibid
5 Ibid
6 Ibid
7 Chestnut, Mary Boykin on Slavery and Sex, 1861
8 Ibid
9 Ibid
10 Truth, Sigourner, Aint I A Women.
11 Ibid