Essay On Women In Elizabethan England

In the late 16th century England experienced poverty, starvation, increase in population, inequality amongst women and men, and lack of opportunity in the work force. During this time England was torn between two religions, Catholicism and Protestantism. England’s economy was primarily agricultural, workers were tied to their land. Due to the social inequality of the 16th century, women were limited to their rights and men were superior. Women worked in the clothing industry and men worked primarily on the farm. Due to the economic hardships in England, men and women migrated to London for a better life. The nation was under the rule of Queen Elizabeth, who surpassed the restrictions placed on women. This paper explores the shortcomings and hardships experienced in Elizabethan England.

Living in England in the late sixteenth century, people were dependent on status and occupation; the rich lived luxuriously while the poor were subjected to low wages, scare resources, diseases, and famine. “The gap between the rich and the poor seems to have widened in the 1570s and 1580s; wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of the few, and many people can’t even find a job” (Papp and Kirkland 4). Agriculture was the most important industry in the Elizabethan economy. The majority of people in the 16th century lived in the country, and were dependent on harvest and farming. Men were farmers and women were subjected to household duties such as domestic work and spinning wool to make clothing. As a farmer men were responsible for the fieldwork, plowing, weeding, mowing, herding animals, and harvesting agricultural products. People were financially deprived despite their occupation in farming and spinning; income was at its lowest:

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...izabethan times, the teachings of biology suggested that women’s bodies are cold and moist which suggest that they are passive, timid, and hesitating humans. Their bodies supported the concept that women were meant be dominated by men. “The supposed yielding softness and frailty of women’s bodies was all the proof anyone needed of women’s all-around weakness, for most Elizabethan firmly believed that the deposition of the mind is answerable to the temper of the body” (Papp and Kirkland 75). In Elizabethan England, women were controlled, restricted, and stereotyped. They played a role in which society forced upon them. Their existence was beneficial to the growth and development of man.

Queen Elizabeth the ruler of England, surpassed the restrictions held on women. She is an exception to the rules, contradicting many of the gender roles of the sixteenth century.