Interview Question #4

Q: During the Civil War, what were the gender or class roles?

A: I would say that women were definitely looked down upon during that time period. The Civil War was considered a men’s fight. The women were expected to be nurses, to cook and to clean. The image of women that appeared in people’s minds were sacrificing nurses, romantic spies or women taking care of the house and the children. Men were pictured as the strong one in the relationship who would march off to war and fight. Well, actually women fought just as hard as the men did. The women who did fight in the war had to disguise themselves and use fake names to look more masculine. I always treated them just the same as the men though. I looked at all soldiers equally heroic and I never judged them for their gender. There weren’t a lot of women because they were back at home or just because they weren’t allowed. Of course the US army knew that some women had to be joining the army but they denied that women played a military role. Overall, I would say women were underestimated during the Civil War.