Separate Spheres.
The ideology of separate spheres, which developed in both the North and South from the time after the Revolutionary War through the first decades of the nineteenth century, held that each sex had its appropriate realm of activity and influence, which was determined by gender and divinely ordained. Men and women were different but equal, and their natures and roles were complementary to each other. Man's place was in the world—in commerce, the professions, and politics. Woman's place was in the home. The theory held that woman was morally superior to man and gave her an elevated role within the family—and, by extension, within society: In addition to the physical work necessary to maintain a comfortable home, she was responsible for meeting the family's emotional needs, providing moral guidance for her husband and children, and beginning and overseeing the children's education.... ...
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