The research paper was a very interesting assignment, and it was my first experience in writing one. I enjoyed this assignment because we got to choose a topic that we like or even were passionate about, which generally was not something that was done in high school. I decided to write my paper on Women in New France and their roles. This was an intriguing topic for me as I am very interested in women’s rights and I wanted to learn what their roles were like during this time period and even how they were viewed. Although this project was something I was very interested in writing, I struggled with trying to choose a direction that I wanted to take with it. In the end, I think this research paper turned out very well. Here is a small part of my research paper on the Roles of Women in New France:
As well, a common belief of Jesuits was that women were allies of Satan. This is because, “They were particularly dangerous as sexual, pleasure-seeking beings.”[1] They thought that because women were weaker than men and needed to be governed by them that women were also “more easily duped and seduced by Satan.”[2] Women who showed even the slightest hint of independence, of spirit, a hint of operative sexuality, or who were not controlled by their husbands or fathers were considered to be unnatural.[3] It could be interpreted that these views could come from the fact that men simply did not trust women and this is why these views were formed. These views the Jesuits had against women were originally from France and were carried over to the colonies.
Despite the beliefs of many people, “women did not believe their primary role was to please.”[4] In New France women had many other duties, such as helping her husband maintain the farm. In many cases, “Farms could not function without women’s dairying, poultrykeeping, and gardening.”[5] Women in New France worked very hard, but were still viewed as inferior to men. In 1825, females in the labour force were twenty-seven percent higher than at the end of the nineteenth century.[6] Perhaps in the early nineteenth century there were more job opportunities for women. Women were viewed as homemakers and mothers, but during this time women had to work in order to help provide for her family.
Since this was my first research paper, at first it was difficult to figure how to write it, and even start it. However, after I wrote this paper I felt as if I had a grasp on how to write a research paper and this helped with other classes I had to write major papers for. One of these classes was English, where we wrote a research paper as well. The research paper for my history class in a way, helped me to prepare for my English research paper.