an overview of what you can infer about puritan / New England colonial settlers, and the women's role
and it was interesting the extent to which women didn't want to earn any prestige
dignified death = if all people had to say about you was that you were pious and a good wife
and it seemed like women weren't directly engaged in the wage economy, insofar as it resembles anything today
but they did a lot of mgmt of the household finances, they did a lot of bartering
if you had extra of anything, you were expected to go around the neighborhood and trade it, for anything you'd want
a lot of women became assistants to their husbands (trades etc)
there was a provision in the law, of like, men could deputize their wives to act in their name
"yeah, my wife is representing me in business matters"
very involved in financial & logistics side of household
weren't really expected, even as young man, to strike out on your own
M > I remember something you posted from that book
there's almost no way to allow people to escape pretty nasty situations, without some concept of the individual as an economic unit
M > also applies to kids/teens
weird that we call it "emancipation"
S > child labor & teen labor are pretty different
"adolescence is really awkward for the legal system"
S > kids and teenagers aren't full economic participants until adulthood
M > seems that by age 12 or so, you should get some more rights
S > yeah, like, by age 12, you can open your own bank account and it's yours and your parents can't take it
M > weird that it's hard to convert your kid bank account to an adult bank account
M > yeah, the question of whether individuals exist (as economic units), begins in adolescence
S > once industrial machinery, people who are smaller or weaker (kids/women) can go earn money
M > even with farming tho... some stuff?
S > yeah, but based on The Good Wives, unclear if that really quite worked
S > finances as an individual is weird
M > image of a community that has some people playing a more internal role (cooking cleaning) and really enjoying doing that
S > yeah, and lots of people, in poly or coparenting situations or similar, would want to do this
S > but it's hard to home brew it... you probably would want to consult a lawyer, and most people aren't gonna do that
S > I want to read more about charter city projects
S > but also chesterton's fence
S > feels frustrating more people aren't trying to figure out how to make the unified economic arrangement good
M > could write with some likeminded women, something like "the feminist case for Mom as a career"
