Within Her Power

by Linda Sturtz

This is an engaging and comprehensive study of property-owning women in the colony of Tidewater, VA during the 17th & 18th centuries. It examines the social restrictions on women's behaviour and speech, opportunities and difficulties these women encountered in the legal system, the economic and discretionary authority they enjoyed, the roles they played in the family business,their roles in the later, trans-Atlantic trading framework, and the imperial context within which these colonial women lived, making this a welcome addition to both colonial and women's history.

Genres: History

294 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 2002

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sturtz tells stories we almost never hear—focusing on how women could inherit property or what happened when their husband’s abandoned them or divorced them. The stories are fascinating, and the overall thesis that colonial Americans modified the English laws more frequently in their early years was compelling. When people weren’t as well trained in law in the early decades they managed to allow it to evolve to meet their own needs before they filled important positions with those trained in English law.

[Fresno Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea of the horrific nature of mortality rates in the 17th century tidewater, by no way was it a "golden age" for women's economic power in the colonies, the decline to a traditional patriarchical structure is clear once the colony stablizes