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The role of women during the renaissance
The status of women in the Renaissance
The status of women in the Renaissance
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The societal and political atmosphere for women was severely limited; women were expected to be homemakers and were frowned upon for working outside of the home if they were married1. They could
Women From the Renaissance In the book Giovanni and Lusanna by Gene Brucker, the author portrays the life of a woman who is neglected in a male-dominated society. Women during the Renaissance were separate and unequal to men, especially when the woman was in a lower social class. Brucker shows the reader that in a woman’s family life, social life, and even romantic life during this time period it was difficult to be taken seriously.
“Her domain was the household, the garden, and the henhouse, and her days were spent processing the raw materials her husband produced into usable items such as food, clothing, candles, and soap (page6).” As known by many, women during the 17th century were to maintain their households for their husbands. By the 18th century they were expected to not only maintain a household, but to take care of their families and be proper women. Then by the late 18th century women's roles changed completely to having to be a surrogate father, and main provider. The roles of women during this time period changed drastically in such short periods of times.
During the Renaissance, many people began to support the idea that woman should be able to have the same rights as men. “I am amazed by the opinion of some men who claim that they do not want their daughters, wives, or kinswoman to be educated because their mores [morals] would be ruined as a result… Here you can clearly see that not all opinions of men are based on reason and that these men are wrong”(Document
However, they were still suffering from equal rights with men. Women were only seen as “child bearers” and the head of the house, but rarely could make decisions about their pregnancy which often led to
Women started to take on a lot more traditional roles and worked housing the children and tending to farms. Furthermore women were expected to help men with hard labor tasks. Women were usually responsible for cooking; spinning; weaving; sewing; making soap, candles,
Throughout the 15th century through the 17th century the status of women is exemplified to be that of a subordinate position through the readings of “The Passion of Artemisia” by Susan Vreeland, McKay textbook chapter 13 reading and the DBQ “Did Women Have a Renaissance”. Traditional societal values and ideals, blinded many to the accomplishments and potential of females and continued to perpetuate a culture that valued and identified women with domestic work and motherhood. The institutionalized ignorance and ingrained bias of society helped to propel forward the systematic oppression of women whos minute sphere of influence equaled to less political power and property ownership. Subjected to violence, ridicule, discrimination and
Women were not a part of a class, they were considered property. Men essentially owed their whole family. Men controlled the family and any property that they owned. Women had no power, authority, or voice in anything. If a man wanted to divorce his wife, he could do so.
The stereotypical view of women is that they should have multiple children, clean, cook, and be obedient. Women had no authority or independence, women who were married couldn’t own property, or work unless given permission from their
Outside of the domestic realm, scholarly men established control over Renaissance women. For example, esteemed poet Lady Wroth was forced to remove her book Urania from distribution within two months of publication because Edward Lord Denny filed grievances about the content of her literature (Farrell et al. 155). Urania was a book concerned with the implications of women’s separation from men, such as a confusion about one’s true identity and a societal disregard for women (Farrell et al. 155). The fact that a man’s disapproval was a deciding factor in discontinuing a publication a woman worked hard to accomplish proves that placing women in a position of subservience to men in the culture of 16th century England allowed men to silence Renaissance women. The imposition of men in women’s scholarship is also made apparent in female
Women 1. Women were responsible for household duties and raising children. They also directed the family’s religious activities. Midwives delivered babies and cared for pregnant women. Wives often oversaw their husbands’ business on top of their
They were responsible for being the managers and workers of the household. It was their job once they were married to have as many children as they could, raise the children, and work alongside their husband to support their families. Wealthier women would complete their textile work they were expected to do such as spinning, weaving and embroidering. They mainly had to replenish household supplies, entertain their husbands’ visitors, supervise the servants, and nurse the ill (whether servants or family members). Poor wives would help their husbands on the farm by tending sheep and gardening.
In the essay, "Did Women have a Renaissance?”, Joan Kelly-Gadol, presents a feminist insight into women's role in society during the Renaissance and how women did not have a Renaissance. While Margaret L. King, who wrote, “Women and High Power”, offers the roles of women and learning from 1300-1800 and argues that women did . The question of, “did women benefit from the Renaissance?”, is an extremely loaded question. Like every argument or question there are two sides to every story. One way, like Margaret L. King to look at this argument is that women experienced the Renaissance just like men did.
There were high standards for women in society as well as in the home, as their main job was to be
They were taught how to be a good wife and mother. Marriage for love was not valued at that time; many women are given away for social status. Many young women were married off to men that were selected by their parents and were much older than them. These women were treated by their husbands as slaves, or their property rather than wives. At that time, these wives were only good for managing the household and showing off the family status.
