Women in the California Gold Rush

The California gold rush contained many women and families. The first people in the mining fields were families who had already come to California to farm. Women and children worked right alongside the men. The “forty-niners,” who were the people rushing to California in 1849, consisted of many men but a good number of women and children too. In fact, at least 10% of the overland forty-niners were women. These women came to California in 1849 and later for various reasons, some came with their families, some were going to join their husband, and others came single. Their contributions and experiences are commendable as they made their way in a male dominated society. [Harvnb|Levy|1990|p= xvii]

Many different women had roles in gold rush California, including prostitutes, single entrepreneurs, married women, poor and wealthy women, white, Hispanic, natives, Chinese, and European women. The reasons they came varied: some came with their husbands, refusing to be left behind to fend for themselves, some came because their husbands sent for them, and others came (singles and widows) for the adventure and economic opportunities. [Harvnb|Moynihan|Armitage|Fischer Dichamp|1990|pp=3–8] The trip was long and arduous and required giving up a home, no matter how modest, to travel to uncertainty. On the trail many people died from accidents, cholera, fever, and myriad other causes, and many women became widows before even setting eyes on California. While in California, women were also widowed quite frequently due to mining accidents, disease, or mining disputes. While it was not an easy place for anyone, life in the west did offer many opportunities for women to break from their typical work. [Harvnb|Levy|1990|pp= xxii, 92]

Prostitution

Many flooded into California to work as prostitutes and capitalize on the scarcity of women. The job offered good money, independence (for those working under their own free-will), freedom from the drudgery of factory or farm work back East, and the possibility of upward mobility by eventually running a brothel or gaming house. Prostitutes were not typically viewed as immoral, and many were in fact highly respected. However, some women, for example many Chinese girls, were forced into prostitution. Still others were simply raped rather than given work. The Native American women were especially susceptible to rape and sexual brutality. [Harvnb|Taniguchi|2000|pp= 153, 146]

Prostitution could further racial/ethnic tensions when one group, French prostitutes for example, became very wealthy since their success at the gaming tables and in the sexual business created resentment among miners who so often failed. [Harvnb|Johnson|2000|p=77] The very structure of pay rank also furthered racial tension – the lighter a woman was, the higher she was paid. [Harvnb|Levy |1990|p= 151] Prostitution occurred in organized brothels and individually, and saloons, gaming halls, or fandangos (which offered dancing, gambling, alcohol, and prostitutes) often accompanied it, which helped further stigmatize prostitution when middle class morality began to come to California in the late 1850s. [Harvnb|Johnson|2000|pp=164–168]

Other forms of women's work

Some women came to California with their husbands and children. These women were very important economically because they could help pan for gold or earn wages/cash while the husband tried his luck in the mines. The most popular form of women’s earning was boarding houses. Women could charge a lot to board men, and men tended to be willing to pay just to be in the presence of a woman. California was the only place that women could earn wages higher than men for equivalent work because women (especially white women) were scare, and the men would pay more to be in their company and have them do household tasks. [Harvnb|Taniguchi|2000|p=159] The money earned could then be used to invest in the mining endeavor, pay for groceries and other necessities, or save up to buy land or start a business. Due to the lucrative nature of “women’s work” in California, many single women moved there to gain freedom from factory life or domestic service. Since many men did not find their fortune in the gold fields, having a woman around to earn money with boarding, washing, cooking, sewing, etc. could mean the difference between survival and failure. [Harvnb|Moynihan|Armitage|Fischer Dichamp|1990|pp= xvii, 3] Additionally, some women even had their own claims and came out west with the specific intention of panning for gold. Of course if that did not work out, they had a back-up in doing “women’s work” to survive. As the mechanisms for obtaining gold became more complex and labor intensive, women moved out of the mines and into the growing towns to either marry, keep house, or work. [Harvnb|Taniguchi|2000|p=150] In the Southern mines, where there were fewer white women, Mexican and French women gained importance. This opportunity for upward social and economic mobility was something easier to do for non-American women than men. [Harvnb|Johnson|2000]

Marriage

Due to the comparatively low number of women in Gold Rush California, the marriage market was in women’s favor. While parental approval and economic concerns still played a role in engagements, they decreased in importance. Mixed marriages, while still stigmatized, were more common in California due to the diverse pool of women in which white women were a minority. Women also had more power in divorces than elsewhere in the United States. If women wanted to divorce husbands with whom they came to California or divorce husbands they met and married there, they could. As divorcees, these women did not receive the public scrutiny in evidence elsewhere because divorce was part of the new Californian culture. [Harvnb|Hurtado|1999|pp=95–105]

Starting in the mid-1850s, people began to “civilize” by settling into traditional economic classes and abandoning untraditional gender roles. Lone men sent for their families and middle class morality emerged. Also, the influx of white women, who were seen as symbols of purity and morality, changed the balance of male/female that had allowed ethnic women a higher place in society and now assigned some male groups “feminine” jobs (e.g., the Chinese and laundry). [Harvnb|Levy|1990| pp=173–92]

Property rights

Because of the high divorce widow rate as well as women’s relative independence in California, the 1849 California Constitutional Convention dealt with the issue of property rights. After a great debate reflecting national tensions, “common property” won. Women were allowed to own property, and Married couples were considered to be equal partners and all property was held in common. Upon a husband’s death, the widow retained control over the property. This system opposed the typically Eastern American view that upon marriage all property belonged to the husband – including the woman herself. California’s decision to stray away from the norm and instill equal partnership is based upon women’s vital role in the west and Mexican tradition. [Harvnb|Schuele|2003|pp= 169–174]

Notes

References

*citation|last=Hurtado |first=Albert L. |title=Intimate Frontiers: Sex, Gender, and Culture in Old California| place= Albuquerque |publisher=University of New Mexico Press|year= 1999 |isbn=978-0826319548.
*citation|last=Johnson |first=Susan Lee |title=Roaring Camp: The Social World of the California Gold Rush |place= New York |publisher=Norton |year= 2000 |isbn=978-0393048124.
*citation|last=Levy |first=Jo Ann |title=They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush|place=Hamden, CT|publisher= Archon| year= 1990 |isbn=978-0208022738.
*citation|title=So Much to Be Done: Women Settlers on the Mining and Ranching Frontier|editor1-first=Ruth B |editor1-last= Moynihan |editor2-first= Susan |editor2-last=Armitage |editor3-first= Christiane editor3-last=Fischer Dichamp |place= Lincoln |publisher= University of Nebraska Press|year= 1990|isbn=978-0803231344
*citation|last=Schuele |first= Donna C. |chapter='None Could Deny the Eloquence of This Lady.' Women, Law, and Government in California, 1850-1890 |title=Taming the Elephant: Politics, Government, and Law in Pioneer California|editor1-last=Burns |editor1-first=John F |editor2-last=Orsi| editor2-first=Richard J|place= Berkley |publisher= University of California Press| year= 2003 |pages= 169–174 |isbn=978-0520234130
*citation|last=Taniguchi |first= Nancy J |chapter=Weaving a Different World: Women and the California Gold Rush | title=Rooted in Barbarous Soil: People, Culture, and Community in Gold Rush California| editor1-first=Kevin |editor1-last=Starr |editor2-first= Richard J |editor2-last=Orsi |place=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press|year= 2000 |pages= 141–168 |isbn=978-0520224964.