Symbolism, moral ambiguity, or attitudes toward women in American literature from 1776-1860 During this period, attitudes toward women gradually changed. For quite a long time, the important role played by women has been ignored. In society, they were seen as the weaker gender. Women were easily tied to roles such as caring for the family, having children, and raising children. It was considered their natural job. As a result, morality was largely based on gender lines and responsibility towards others instead of focusing on the culture of individual symbols, values ​​and ideas. Materialism has been widely used to construct aspects of gender. Isecke (33) notes that materialism was heavily relied upon, thus neglecting the important cultural system. As I saw in my essay, society contributed to challenging this norm by elevating the status of women, whereby they were seen as an important figure in society and who had the same rights as a man. According to Buckley (35), a woman's life was largely based on the moral, sacred and emotional sphere of life, which fundamentally included religious ties and family affairs. During this period an increase in the female population in the church was noted. To some extent, their growing numbers in the church even surpassed that of men. The role of women was therefore seen as that of spreading both moral and religious values. Through involvement in church activities, women could now be present in the public sphere of life. Women were also considered of little value when it came to economic matters. It was believed that they would serve better as mother figures for their children. They had to serve... middle of paper... and therefore have the right to marry. When the revolution ended, there was a need to change child custody rights. Courts were more than willing to let go of initial laws requiring men to take custody of their children in custody disputes. With the new laws, women were given the right to care for young daughters, but not sons (Buckley 101). . This act clearly indicated the moral influence that the woman had in the home, while the man's dominance was in the field of politics and commercial spheres. There was a clear differentiation between ideologies based on gender. Isecke notes that women widely applied the concept of moral motherhood to achieve social justice in later years. This marked a new milestone in how women were viewed in society. They were given more attention and their influence on society was widely appreciated.