Until more recent scholarly attention in the field of women's studies, the economic history of the colonial United States was presented almost entirely from a male perspective. In the early United States, women played various roles in shaping the new nation, but these roles often depended on distinctions of race, class, and geography. However, despite the differences, general trends existed, reflecting a common public attitude towards women at the time. Economic opportunities and the gender division of labor, often influenced by cultural values, for women differed depending on the colony, its individual demands, and local customs. In some colonies, the value of European women's labor was worth more in the New World than in their home countries, meaning that more economic opportunities could be found for women in the early United States; however, slaves and indentured servants had little legal protection and, therefore, less autonomy. However, after the establishment of the United States, women began to play a greater role in the public sphere, organizing the foundations of the women's suffrage movement and taking part in abolitionist societies. Before coming to the New World, European women occupied a specific role. place in society. Women were responsible for domestic tasks, such as preparing food, making clothes, and raising children. When settlers arrived in the new world, they were dismayed at the sight of Native American women performing traditional, manual labor. Unlike their European counterparts, Native American women not only raised children, managed the household, and prepared food, but they were also partly responsible for maintaining the land since the men often hunted. In Anglo...... middle of paper ......oston, Mass. : Houghton Mifflin. Print. Matthews, Glenna. Just a Housewife: The Rise and Fall of Domesticity in America. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005. Print.Wayne, Tiffany K. The Roles of Women in Nineteenth-Century America. . Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Accessed: Web. http://books.google.com/books?id=ka3tPEGVLqIC&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false Wellman, Judith. The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Women's Rights Convention. University of Illinois Press. 2004. Print. Welter, Barbara. “The cult of true femininity, 1820-1860.” American Quarterly 16. 1996. Accessed: Web. <http://www.pinzler.com/ushistory/cultwo.html>Westerkamp, ​​Marilyn J. Puritan Patriarchy and the Problem of Revelation: The Journal of Interdisciplinary History. Flight. 23, no. 3, Religion and history. pp. 571-595. Accessed: Web.