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Oppression Of Women During The Reformation And The Enlightenment

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Women in society have often been oppressed, marginalized, and subjugated by men. The oppression and negative attitudes towards women rose from their physical weaknesses, typical feminine personality traits such as compassion and sensitivity being perceived as weak, and inferiority and mistrust from the Bible. The inferiority is due to Eve being created from Adam to serve and keep him company. The mistrust from the Bible is due to the story of Eve corrupting Adam in the Garden of Eden and making him fall to sin. As history progresses, women have made great strides towards equality, but have faced many challenges. The Reformation and the Enlightenment were times of progress and changes towards the attitudes and experiences of women, but they …show more content…

One example of women being kept in their traditional role in society is seen through Martin Luther, the founder of Lutheranism and author of the 95 theses against the Catholic Church. Martin Luther believed that the role of women was to take care of the family. This belief emphasizes the traditional domestic role of women to care for the children and household. Women also remained below due to the teachings of John Calvin, another reformer and founder of Calvinism. Calvin believed that women were subordinate to men because of scriptural phrasing in Genesis. This shows that reformers took inspiration from the Bible to keep women in their traditional roles. In conclusion, the Reformation, which emphasized a priesthood of all believers, reading the bible, and direct translation of scripture, indirectly led to women being held firmly in their traditional …show more content…

One such example in seen in the reduction on witch hunts which typically targeted and killed single or widowed women. The reduction in witch hunts is likely due to the decrease of superstition because of the glorification of using reason and science. Another change was an increased amount of influence from women on society. During the Enlightenment women organized salons where philosophes would meet and discuss ideas. Due to the organizing of these meetings, some women were able to hear and be influenced by their ideas of equality, education, and reason. Because of this, a small amount of women made progress and broke free of tradition during this time. One example would be Mary Wollstonecraft, a founding feminist, writer, and crusader for equality. Wollstonecraft’s ability to go against the grain and break tradition made her a founding feminist. In conclusion, during the Enlightenment, women experienced less accusations of being witches, gained greater influence due to the salon movement, and a select few were even able to break free of tradition and domestic

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In the Enlightenment there was four Philosophers, John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Mary Wollstonecraft they all came up with ideas to improve the capitalistic, democratic world they lived in at that time. Intellectual theorist during the development era, seeked for improvement for their society and managed to come up with proposals such as individual rights. Mary Wollstonecraft was a strong believer that equality should be provided for females and males without being less worthy. Wollstonecraft states, “To render mankind more virtuous, and happier of course both sexes must act from the same principle.” She indicates that both male and female individuals should be able to have independence without concerning their sex.

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Wollstonecraft strongly believed,“...both sexes must act from the same principle…” (Doc D) Wollstonecraft strongly wanted both sexes to follow the same criteria and be given the same educational rights, so that women could be wiser and more virtuous. Wollstonecraft and Locke both believed that all should be equal and this supports that women are one of the groups besides religion that were not given as many rights as others. She also thought,“... women must be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge...to full fill their peculiar duties...to free them from all restraint…”

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Philosophers believed that men act like tyrants and act immature so they need to change their ways. In Document F-1 Mary Wollstonecraft says “But if women are to be excluded, without having a voice, from participation of the natural rights of mankind, prove first, to ward of the charge… there is not a shadow of justification for not admitting women under the same.” Wollstonecraft is fighting for equality, believes the only reason women are not equal is based off of old tradition, and it is time for change.

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Mary could talk and express her ideas fully without being stopped or spoken over, because salons allowed for everyone to be respected as philosophers. The reason why many women participated and joined salons and other philosophers was because they could, and felt comfortable in the space they were in. In a salon, they knew they were being listened and could easily influence mae philosophers by expressing their groundbreaking ideas. In conclusion, although during the Enlightenment women could not publish and spread their own ideas and work, they still shared and created new ideas that influenced male philosophers to publish and recognize it.

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One famous instance is Mary Wollstonecraft, who had a child out of wedlock and did not marry the father. Mary was self-educated and supported herself by writing fiction, non-fiction and translating literary works. But what truly makes her stand out was her 18th century book on the rights of women which she stated rights and liberties pertained to everyone, men and women. Another woman who vocal about women’s rights was Abigail Adams who did not hold back any when it came to expressing herself to her husband John Adams. Abigail implored to her husband as he was drafting the Declaration of Independence to not forget women who were a part of the new world and deserved a voice.

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Mary Wollstonecraft’s A vindication of the rights of women written in 1792 can be considered one of the first feminist documents, although the term appeared much later in history. In this essay, Wollstonecraft debates the role of women and their education. Having read different thinkers of the Enlightenment, as Milton, Lord Bacon, Rousseau, John Gregory and others, she finds their points of view interesting and at the same time contrary to values of the Enlightenment when they deal with women’s place. Mary Wollstonecraft uses the ideas of the Enlightenment to demand equal education for men and women. I will mention how ideals of the Enlightenment are used in favor of men but not of women and explain how Wollstonecraft support her “vindication” of the rights of women using those contradictions.

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The Enlightenment brings upon new ideas from “[groups] of writers and scholars who [believe] that human begins could apply to a critical and reasoning spirit to every problem they [encounter] in the world…scrutinizing everything from absolutism…to the traditional role of women in society” (Hunt et al, 514). A major turn of events in the Enlightenment arose specifically on the viewpoints of women and their role in society. Major debates sparked and it is the first time that women are able to express their views. Major contributors for the voice of feminism include Mary Astell and Mary Wollstonecraft, both supporters for female education. What came with the views of female empowerment came the views of those who saw females as merely caregivers to the male population.

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During the Reformation, many women were able to support the movement and their new religion as wives and mothers and became the backbone of the movement. Without their intellect, devotion to religion, and ability to care for others the Reformation could have been as successful. (Gale ebook) The Renaissance was about moving away from the Catholic church, especially in art and literature. Women were not only participating in this nuanced idea but they were able to use their own skills to support the movement.

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With the rise of civilization also came the rise of patriarchy-based societies and the slow decline of the importance of women in society. For the longest time the history of the world has been written by men who have been the head of the patriarchy and have forgotten the role of women in history. It is important to realize that women do in fact have a place at the table with men when it comes to importance in history, and are not just the ones cooking and serving the meal. It is women who tasked with raising the next generation. By looking at women of the past, people of the future can learn and evolve to fight oppression and gain their own power.

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They both believed that women had a very distinct role in society which was to be cheerful and follow and respect their partners. They also believed that they had little to no role in society or education and should only focus on being a good housewife, because of their inferiority to men. These ideas are continuous in the time period of the Protestant reformation through the Enlightenment because many of these ideas have been voiced by enlightenment thinkers. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant are two of the enlightenment thinkers who continued to express the ideas that women were inferior to men. Rousseau and Kant both believed that men and women

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