Page 84 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

C H APTER Two

put it, a fr ontierswoman was relieved of her "chains" by the environment,
but she won equality with men through her own talents. One even
suggested that western women who voted be left alone because they
were not, at least in his view, creating social upheaval. 108
Meanwhile, European women visitors f o und little substance to
W
women's legal and political rights in the e st. Again, Harriet Martineau
and Fredrika Bremer were in the fo refront of critics. They fe lt that
women's rights were more f a ntasy than f a ct. V o ciferously, they contra­
dicted men who claimed that western women exercised actual rights,
and, in f a ct, were pushing to become more than equals of their husbands.
They also shushed men who brought up domesticity, saying that women
had a "providential mission in this world" and should adhere to it. 109
Given Europeans' conservative ideas regarding women's rights, it is
understandable that most would react with concern regarding women's
W
changing political situation in much of the e st. Male European visitors
f o und it difficult-yet not impossible-to grapple with the realities of
women's equality and rights. Female visitors like Martineau and Bremer,
however, came with what today would be called a f e minist mindset.
Because these women were educated and of the upper classes, they had
done more reading and thinking than most Europeans about women's
position. The f a ct that they traveled abroad and published their thoughts
also marks them as liberal thinkers f o r their time. Thus, it is understand­
able that men took one view whereas women took another.
The ultimate question is, given this glut of information and dispar­
ity of opinions, what was the average person to think and believe about
white women in the American W e st? The answer is simple. An individ­
ual could believe whatever he or she wanted. Accuracy of interpretation
was not the goal. Forming an interpretation of white women in the
American W e st, and criticizing them or lauding them, were the points
at issue.