Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets Women's History

Women's Roles in the Family Women's History

---

Women's Roles in the Family
Print Women's Roles in the Family Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Women's Roles in the Family Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 9
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.11

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		economic, helping, mid-1800s, inherit, divorce, provided, overseas, childcare, based, public, gain, trade, member, livestock, colonial, improve
	content words:		Under English, World War II, United States

---

Women's Roles in the Family By Sharon Fabian

---

¹     In colonial times, families were large, and every member of the family had an important role in helping to provide everything that the family needed. The men hunted and farmed and maybe worked at a trade. The women cared for the children, cared for the garden, and made candles, soap, and other necessities. They also cared for the livestock, cleaned and spun wool for clothing, and made medicines for the family.
 
²     There were some added hardships for women who lived in America at that time. Women had very few rights related to either their family or their property. In the eyes of the law, women were almost invisible. They had no legal rights. Women could not own or inherit property. Once a woman married, she had even fewer rights. Married women could not sign contracts; their money was not even their own. They could not sue for divorce, and if their husband divorced them, women usually lost their children. Women and children were treated like property that belonged to the husband. Women were not even expected to speak up in public; usually their husband spoke for them.
 
³     This was the law at the time, because laws in the American colonies were usually based on what the colonists had been accustomed to back in England -- English common law. Under English common law, a woman was not viewed as a person with separate rights either.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

Feedback on Women's Roles in the Family

Leave your feedback on Women's Roles in the Family   (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

Women's History

Women's History

---

United States

United States

American Government         Black History and Blacks in U.S. History         Children in History         Government Careers         Hispanic Heritage         How Can I Help?

Immigration         National Parks and Monuments         Native Americans         Presidents of the United States         Women's History

---

United States History

A Nation Divided (1840-1861)         A New Nation (1776-1830)         After the Civil War (1865-1870)         American Revolution         Cold War (1947-1991)         Colonial America (1492-1776)         Lewis and Clark (1804-1806)         Pearl Harbor         Spanish American War (1898)         The 1890's         The 1900's         The 1910's         The 1920's         The 1930's

The 1940's         The 1950's         The 1960's         The 1970's         The 1980's         The 1990's         The 2000's         The Civil War (1861-1865)         The Great Depression (1929-1945)         The United States Grows (1865-1900)         The War of 1812         Wild, Wild West         World War I (1914-1918)         World War II

---

50 States

Fifty States Theme Unit

---

Document Based Activities

Document Based Activities

Copyright © 2018 edHelper