ABSTRACT
Despite prohibitions against women serving in battle, northern and southern women played vital roles in the war. As we have seen, in the antebellum era white women had made progress in gaining attention for expanded rights and responsibilities; yet those advocating female suffrage and broader career options for women were a small minority of Americans before the war. In the magazines and novels women read, domestic duties were paramount with women taking charge of managing the home and raising the children. The vast majority of men and women embraced such traditional gender roles.
