<Li> Submission--True women were required to be as submissive and obedient "as little children" because men were regarded as women's superiors "by God's appointment". </Li> <Li> Domesticity--A woman's proper place was in the home and her role as a wife was to create a refuge for her husband and children . Cooking, needlework, making beds, and tending flowers were considered naturally feminine activities, whereas reading anything other than religious biographies was discouraged . </Li> <P> Physically, according to Wilma Pearl Mankiller, a "True Woman" was expected to be delicate, soft and weak . She should not engage in strenuous physical activity that would damage her "much more delicate nervous system ." </P> <P> Frances B. Cogan, however, described an overlapping but competing ideology that she called the ideal of "Real Womanhood," in which women were encouraged to be physically fit and active, involved in their communities, well educated, and artistically accomplished, although usually within the broader idea that women were best suited to the domestic sphere . The conflation of "Domesticity" and "True Womanhood" can be misleading in that dedication to the domestic sphere did not necessarily imply purity, submission, or weakness . </P>

How did the ideal of a cult of domesticity affect family life