Women take part as a group and as individuals in nearly every war known to man but don’t go recognized very often. Part of the reason is that, until recently, only a small number of women have participated in the war as soldiers on the battlefield. However, just mentioning how women were in the war as battle more solid is really limiting the focus of this paper. The many roles women played in the Revolutionary War were not unique. It is impossible to find a war in which women have not been involved in. To really understand how significant women were in regards to the American Revolution, one must dive deeper into specific roles that they played.

According to Alan Brinkley’s "An Unfinished Nation," women weren’t seen as an equal mind to their male counterparts. Due to the mass departure of men for the war efforts during the eighteenth century, many stayed back to tend to the farm or family business. However, not all women were considered to be that fortunate — those families without any owned property led the women to come impoverished. The massive influx of economic inflation caused the success of women during the time period to not even get off the ground, often times their efforts lead to complete failure.

Due to the Quartering Acts during the late eighteenth century, the women and families who stayed back home were required to quarter British troops and soldiers. That meant they were required to house and feed the soldiers and troops at considerable prices. Not only were women treated less than their male counterparts, but the treatment and equality really went hand-in-hand because of how low women were considered to be, socially.

Those women who literally had nothing left back home or any chance at success joined their male relatives in the camps of the Patriot armies. If a women felt very inclined to actively participate in the war efforts, this was the hub for women tending. The traditional gender distinctions actually proved difficult to maintain due to the considerable numbers of women becoming involved in the war efforts, intermediately at least.

For some women, participating in the war was crucial to their existence, so they went as far to disguise themselves as men. This shift of men fighting for their liberty and the “rights of man” really cause women to begin questioning what their role in the social class system actually is.

To me, a world without equality for women and girls is like flying a plane with only one wing. To solve any of the issues of our day — from poverty alleviation to defending everyone’s human rights — we need to include all potential agents for change. This time period obviously skipped over the fact on how significant women’s roles in society are to the fundamental stability of not only keeping the household intact, but making sure the world is built with peace, justice, and equality for all.

There were those who actually opposed the English common law in which married and unmarried women had little to no legal rights. Those people were both high and low in society. The second President of the United States, John Adams, had a wife that could possibly be known to us as one of the earlier feminism agents. She made sure that when framing the new country we ALL fought so desperately to obtain, to “remember the ladies and be more generous.”

The physical abuse and tyrannical motives that men were able to get away with during this time period is something that of unheard of. Judith Murray takes it one step further by saying that women’s minds were just as good of those as men’s, therefore an equal chance for an education is crucial to society. Through much-needed changes in the social class system needed changes, the American Revolution only confirmed and strengthened the patriarchal system, instead of challenging it.

Yes, there were minimal advances in women’s rights during this era, but the challenges did not outweigh the current corrupt legal system. Women weren’t treated with respect, nor even equality was in sight during this time period. The advances made by women will go unnoticed until later in the nineteenth century.

In regards to how women’s rights changed over time, even today, there is still a fight for equality. The American revolution only encouraged people (men and women) to really think again about the role of the women not only in the household but in society as well. This new country that needs to be found really will attribute a higher value of women as mothers. Unfortunately, women and girls still suffer from conflicts and “the lawlessness of post-conflict environments.” At the same time, women are far too often excluded from playing a role in maintaining, restoring, and defending stability.

The American Revolution won’t immediately have an impact on women’s rights or even the role of women in society. However, the women that fight for their rights on the battleground won’t go unnoticed for very much longer. The liberty that the revolution set out to achieve will honestly further the role of women in society, and produce a new type of citizen.