Men's Roles In The Elizabethan Era

The Elizabethan Era was a time where men were in charge and women and children were expected to obey. Nowadays, men and women have equal roles in society and one gender is not better or smarter than the other. During the Elizabethan Era, men, women, and children all had specific and defining roles.

Men had a dominant role in society during the Elizabethan Era. Men could do many things that women were not allowed to do. A man was able to chastise his wife if he felt the need, as long as he was not cruel and did not inflict bodily harm, but a woman was never allowed to chastise her husband. Women were also not allowed to enter the professions with the exception being women could work in domestic services (Thomas). Another thing men could do that women could not was inherit family property (“Daily Life in the Elizabethan Era”). Women were not allowed to inherit property and so the oldest son inherited everything (Alchin). Women were also not allowed to act on the public stage or write for the public stage. Instead, young boys played the roles of women (Thomas). All discoveries were also accredited to men. During the Elizabethan Era, there were discoveries in astronomy, cartography, and land surveying that was accredited to men (Klingele). One last thing women could not do but

There were very high standards for women during the Elizabethan Era. Elizabethans thought that a woman’s outer appearance was merely a reflection of her inner condition (Papp and Kirkland). Women were valued for their beauty and qualities such as being submissive, passive, modest, humble, temperate, and kind (Zuber). A good woman was also obedient, modest, and had virtue and chastity (Papp and Kirkland). John Knox, a Scottish protestant leader said, “Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man” (Alchin). There were high standards for women in society as well as in the home, as their main job was to be