Enlightenment, A Turning Point for Women
New Enlightenment ideas about women became a turning point in European history. Previously held medieval beliefs that women are second class citizens were challenged by new enlightenment thinkers. The Enlightenment movement created new ideas on human rights and equality, influential thinkers of this era debated what rights should be extended to women. While Philosophers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau clung to medieval ideas, Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Astell voiced strong arguments for more equality.
The seventeenth century medieval society was one of patriarchal rule. Men used religion to assert their authority over women. It was their "God-given prerogative" (Mckay et al., 464). Secular laws also allowed men to use physical force to enforce their will. Women were to be the caretakers of the home and children and once married could not get a divorce. Entering into a contract of marriage in the 1700s is discussed by Mary Astell in her, Some Reflections upon Marriage. Astell warns women that in marriage they will have the,“much harder bargain” as a woman becomes subject to her husband’s power. Astell compares a married woman in a bad marriage to a
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Science was used to,”propagate racial hierarchies and its use to defend social inequalities between men and women” (529). Not all philosophers of the Enlightenment advocated for women's equality. Jean-Jacques Rousseau continued to believe in the medieval thought that women are inferior to men. He argued that women were naturally born more passive and weak so, they are suited to be subordinate to men. Rousseau said that women and men were, “radically different beings” and there should be a rigid division of gender roles(520). Rousseau's opinion on women's role was challenged by the writings of Wollstonecraft and Astell and more people would soon join the fight for women's