In the time period before the Civil War moral reformers and the state of the working financial industry combined to lead many Americans to imagine separate spheres of activity for men and women. Most women of European descent lived lives similar to their European counterparts. They were legally and socially subservient to men they were stuck in a society with a daunting patriarchal structure. The exception, however, was working-class women who were more equal to men of their classes, but only because they were equally poor. Most advocates of the maternal commonwealth were white and from the upper-middle-class areas. Life was much different for women of the lower class who had no education. Many single, middle-class women took jobs in the newly formed cities. Jobs such as being a typewriter opened up and became irreplaceable to the modern corporation. Telephone services required operators to run and manage the switchboard, and the new department store required sales positions. Many of these women who worked these jobs found themselves feeling more and more independent even though the wages they were paid were low in comparison to male counterparts. For others, life was not as simple, wives of immigrants often took in boarders, extra tenants, into their already crowded tenement homes. By providing services such as laundry and cooking at a fee they were able to gain the needed financial help to pay rent.
Wealthy women in the south had their lives change from managing a home on a slave plantation to managing hired work. Sharecropping was a task both men and women took part in. Women in these conditions found themselves having to work two sets of job firstly working the fields throughout the day and secondly maintaining and working the house by night. In general, it can be seen that the higher the social class the greater the restrictions on women. American women did participate in the American Revolution but they were still expected to marry and have kids rather than pursue a career. Women were also unable to own property, something that was a condition for voting, they were essentially shut out of the political process. Men began to move away and work outside of the home at an increasing rate, which left women to maintain the house and raise children. This led to the ideology of republican motherhood; since they were raising children, especially male children who would become the future voters and legislators of America women held a very important role and were able to improve their status. Women couldn’t themselves participate in the political process but they needed to be educated some because they were going to raise and teach those who would later participate in the political process. This idea of republican motherhood allowed women access to education in order to effectively raise their children.