Gender Roles: The Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth century began with changes that would eventually revolutionize the food roles of American men and women. A series of innovations—steam engines, railroads, canals, and the first steps toward heavy manufacturing—pushed many small towns into becoming cities. Rural people came to the new cities for jobs, giving further impetus to their growth. Urban families adapted to a different kind of social and economic culture in which some earlier gender divisions were maintained and some were weakened.