Answer: 1. This ideal, of course, ignored the reality of women's work at home and was possible for only the wealthy. The market revolution therefore not only transformed the economy, it changed the nature of the American family. As the market revolution thrust workers into new systems of production, it redefined gender roles.Women and men were not equal in the 19th century. Women were seen as 'the weaker sex'. This particularly affected middle class women because they had no reason to leave the home or go to work. The middle classes took the role of women very seriously because they did not have to worry about things like poverty. In the early 19th century the roles of women in American society were predominately as cook, wife, mother, and general homemaker in a mainly rural setting. ... As a result, women gained entry into the workforce and from that grew to establish gender equality within the United States permanently. As the 19th century progressed men increasingly commuted to their place of work—the factory, shop or office. Wives, daughters and sisters were left at home all day to oversee the domestic duties that were increasingly carried out by servants.
