I’m happy to help. In order to understand why answer c is incorrect, let’s take a close look at the question stem. We are looking for the effect that the publications about colonial women mentioned in the third paragraph had.
Let’s zoom to that paragraph and see if we can describe the answer ourselves before looking at answer options. That paragraph says that those publications “have exposed the concept of a decline in status as simplistic and unsophisticated†and “assumed all too readily that a relatively simple social system automatically brought higher standing to colonial women.†That sounds like the opposite of what we read in the first two paragraphs, namely the “portrait of female colonists living under conditions of rough equality†(paragraph 2) and the “golden age†theory described in paragraph 1.
Answer C is definitely a close call, as it is perhaps plausible that the publications mentioned “provided support for historians such as Wilson†given that Wilson asserted that there was no golden age. However, note the leadup to the mention of Wilson: “Even scholars who have questioned the ‘golden age’ view of colonial women’s status have continued to accept the paradigm of a nineteenth-century decline from a more desirable past. Notice, therefore, that the publications actually cut against what Wilson asserted: that there was a decline in status (even if Wilson did not agree with the golden age theory.) Therefore, it is not correct to say that the publications provided support for Wilson.
I hope that helps! Please let us know if you have further questions.
BradGMay 2, 2019
Could you explain more as to why answer A is correct? I feel that exposing the "decline in status" concept is actually in line with the implications that the end of paragraph #2 has. That the view that the golden age didn't exist, yet women moved downward is status was paradoxical.
shunheJanuary 11, 2020
Hi @BradG,
Thanks for the question! (A) tells us that the publications about colonial women mentioned in the third paragraph undermined Dexter’s argument on the status of women colonists during the colonial period. Let’s take a look at Dexter’s argument. We’re told that Dexter argued that (in essence) women were pretty well off in the colonial period, being roughly equal to men (lines 1-24). What do the recent publications about colonial women tell us? They say that the decline in status was simplistic and unsophisticated, assuming too readily that a simple social system brought higher standing to colonial women. This counters what Dexter is saying, and so (A) is the correct answer. Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any further questions you might have.
hochakinSeptember 5, 2020
how does "the decline in status was simplistic and unsophisticated, assuming too readily that a simple social system brought higher standing to colonial women" undermine "women were pretty well off in the colonial period, being roughly equal to men"?
First statement was talking about the cause of women's higher standing, second statement was talking about women were better off in the colonial period. Are the recent publications undermining Dexter's argument because the publications refer the reason of women being better off in that period to a simpler society while Dexter thought the reason of women being better off in that period was because women were needed to grow the colonies (a need by the society instead of a result produced by simple society system)?
