Patriarchy In Medieval Times

Throughout many time periods, women have been penalized for thinking, speaking, and acting out against their societal norms. From birth, a baby boy that is smiling and giggly is referred to as handsome and happy, while a smiling baby girl is noted as being a flirt. When an individual’s actions do not meet their gendered stigma, the world is aghast. Medieval women have created a name for themselves as the rebels of history, and quite possibly started the societal awe towards those women who did not do as they were told. Through the stories of Abraham and Christina of Markyate, it is clear that even in different time periods, medieval women mystics had a unique, and often successful, way of standing up against the patriarchy. It is through the

The man was the powerful sex in medieval times; he was able to act as he wanted with women sexually, was not expected to marry, and was not restricted by society on a proper way to act. Women on the other hand were supposed to hold up a certain image. They were required to be obedient by becoming a wife and having children. As Julia Smith says in her essay, The Problem of Female Sanctity in Carolingian Europe c. 780-920, “It is also particularly common to find that, even after taking the veil, women’s lives remain shaped by their family cares and attachments” (25). That being said it was not enough for a woman to be married in a patriarchal society, but rather they must also remain silent unless it was in the role as a mother. As a mother and wife, they often did not have the power to speak out on their beliefs, have an education, or do anything but remain under the umbrella of this

This choice to abstain and be a woman of the church was often made at a very young age, and as Warner cited in her work Alone in All Her Sex, “As long as a woman is for birth and children, she is different from man as body is from soul. But when she wishes to severe Christ more than the world, then she will cease to be a woman, and will be called a man” (cited by Sperberg-McQueen 57). That is to say that by repenting and becoming a hermit, Mary was destined to be like a man and therefore that was acceptable to her patriarchal suppressors Effrem and Abraham. Mary, though lost for a period of time, represents the perfect patriarchal female; one who though will never be a man can to some extent suppress her womanliness by losing her feminine figure and becoming contrite. Both Christina and the character of Mary go out of their way to do the opposite of what they are taught is