<P> Part of the separate spheres ideology, the "Cult of Domesticity" identified the home as women's "proper sphere". Women were supposed to inhabit the private sphere, running the household and production of food (including servants), rearing the children, and taking care of the husband. According to Barbara Welter (1966), "True Women" were to hold and practice the four cardinal virtues: </P> <Ol> <Li> Piety--Religion was valued because--unlike intellectual pursuits--it did not take a woman away from her "proper sphere," the home, and because it controlled women's longings . </Li> <Li> Purity--Virginity, a woman's greatest treasure, must not be lost until her marriage night, and married women had to remain committed only to their husbands . </Li> <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> </Ol> <Li> Piety--Religion was valued because--unlike intellectual pursuits--it did not take a woman away from her "proper sphere," the home, and because it controlled women's longings . </Li> <Li> Purity--Virginity, a woman's greatest treasure, must not be lost until her marriage night, and married women had to remain committed only to their husbands . </Li>

Who were primarily affected by the cult of domesticity