Talia Cohavi
Role of Women in the 15th-17th centuries The Golden Age, also known as the Renaissance, was a time of change and development in Europe. The role of women decreased during this time as the rest of society grew and prospered. Women were treated as secondary citizens and their role was to stay within their sphere of influence. Women were trained to get married, have and care for children, and take care of domestic activities. They often produced goods for the rest of the family, and sometimes even participated in work outside of the house. The male made twice the money that women made because women’s work was considered to be less treasured then the male’s work. Women were not allowed to get involved in anything that threatened the leadership of males in society, like running for political office. As Leon Battista Alberti said, “Men are by nature a more elevated mind than women…” (Doc 3: Gender Roles). Upper class women’s power declined in the Renaissance, as they had more power in the feudal age. Rich girls received
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Twenty-five women wrote their own books, there were two very successful painters, and a well-known actress. Probably the most well known of all of the women in the Renaissance was Laura Cereta. She received an education when she was young, and then married at fifteen. During the Renaissance a woman could either have an arranged marriage or choose to live in seclusion for the rest of her life. When Laura was widowed at the age of eighteen, she decided to dedicate her life to studying. Men felt threatened by her and the other women were envious. Laura had faith in women, and believed that they chose to be “empty” when they chose marriage. During this period, men believed that women who had knowledge were not women. Laura Cereta stood up to the forces of society and stepped out of the women’s normal sphere of
Women in society were always put as not being equal to men. During the Renaissance, women were inferior to men; women in different classes had different roles. Low class women were expected to be housewives and take care of everything to do with the house. Working class women were expected to work for their husbands and help them run their business. They would work along side with their husbands and then go home and take care of the household. Upper class women may have had servants and workers working for them but the women were still expected to take care of the house hold.
That being said, women were extremely limited in their role in society. First of all, women were expected to be homemakers. By homemaker, I mean the women w... ... middle of paper ... ...ay."
A ‘golden age’ can be interpreted in many ways; it can be a time of
During the postclassical era, major societies and religions developed various perspectives about how women should be treated and how they should behave. One viewpoint on how women should be treated included the idea that they were a symbol of enticement and possessed liberal and unintelligent qualities; making them considered unequal to men. Dissimilar to this belief, another standpoint concluded that women had equivalent roles as men and should be treated with respect. Women played both a demeaning and dignifying role in the post classical era in multiple significant societies and beliefs, which decided how they should be regarded and viewed.
The Colonial period was partially a "golden age." This time period possessed qualities that allowed women to advance as well and it had some aspects that held women back. Through population, lifestyles, and opportunities, womankind both thrived and was deprived of certain rights that limited women's freedom and choices.
Women in this era had just begun to secure some freedom from their typical cultural expectations. They were expected to take care of the children, cook, clean, sew and be presentable to society. As jobs were made available to women, only a low percentage of these women started to work outside of the home. This means that many women had chosen to stay inside the home to remain in the role of “house keeper”. Even though the woman attained some freedom they were still considered inferior to men. Men still had the most authority in the household and
Historians and scholars often overlook the part that women played in the Renaissance. Did women have a Renaissance? The period did not occur in a male only vacuum; women played an important part in the changes taking place across Europe. No matter a woman’s station in the class system, women, were still considered the sinful daughter of Eve, the downfall of man. Into this world stepped Isabella d’Este, one of the great women of the Renaissance.
Her chief arguing points and evidence relate to the constriction of female sexuality in comparison to male sexuality; women’s economic and political roles; women’s access to power, agency, and land; the cultural roles of women in shaping their society; and, finally, contemporary ideology about women. For her, the change in privacy and public life in the Renaissance escalated the modern division of the sexes, thus firmly making the woman into a beautiful
A woman was not seen as being equal to a man. This is clear in the laws dealing with marriage. Women were contractually obligated to remain with their husbands only, while their husbands were permitted to have a mistress or second wife. If a woman was caught with another man, she would be drowned (“The Code of Hammurabi”). Another thing that shows that women were not equal to men is the fact that they could be sold into slavery by their husbands at any time. Women did, however, have some rights such as the right to own property and the right to inherit and pass down that property. They also played very important roles in society. Some of these roles included shop owners, bakers, or scribes (Judge and Langdon,
The 17th and 18th centuries saw the embryonic stage of women’s quest for intellectual and social parity with men. The evolution of women’s fight for equal opportunities was bogged down by a long history of stereotyping and condescension. Women were weaker physically, bore children and nurtured them. The economics and culture of Europe at this time was strongly influenced by religion and resulted in prejudice against women. The dominating religions of Europe in the 1600’s and 1700’s (Catholicism and Protestantism), citing the bible, reinforced women’s roles as mother’s, wives, and homemakers. Women were considered the weaker sex both physically and mentally. Men and most women assumed that because women gave birth and produced milk for their infants, God intended that their place was in the home. Men’s egos, as well, did not allow for women to compete with them. Males thought their place was to rule, fight wars, provide income, teach and be the head of his family. Women were not accepted in academics, politics, church leadership, business, or the military. Despite these prejudices, women saw an opportunity in the sciences. As a discipline based on observations and deductive reasoning it did not necessarily require a comprehensive academic background. Since most women were deprived of the more advanced education that men received, it was the perfect field for them to begin their pursuit of equality. As a result, a growing number of women actively participated in scientific research in chemistry, astronomy, biology, botany, medicine, and entomology.
Throughout the years, rights between both genders has changed and provided women more equally rights similar to men. It took women hundreds of years to gain the same or similar equality as men, and even now there is still inequality in the workplace. Men originally treated women like objects and extremely poorly. It is known that during the Renaissance time period, society was a patriarchal society, in which men were the primary authority. Women were forced to live by rules and standards that were unfair and unreasonable in both the household and in the workplace. Women should have had the same rights as men instead of being treated as a minority and known as incapable for being independent because they did extreme amounts of work that were unrecognized.
The achievement of gender equality is one of the most important movements for advancement of society. In the High Middle Ages, however, it was even more challenging to bring such sensitive debate. Christine de Pizan, a highly educated and religious woman, chose an unusual pathway for a woman in her era that she became a writer to support her family. Christine’s work, “The Treasure of the City of Ladies,” could be seen as feminist because she offered a broad view of how an ideal artisan’s wife should be.
The Golden Age in the history of the United States of America, was the one that took place in the period after the Civil War and Reconstruction, which occurred between the years of 1865-1900, it was the era in which the country's great economic expansion pipe, which was from industrial north and west and a conflict occurred with great economic and social inequalities.
The Renaissance was simply “the green end of one of civilization's hardest winters” (Robert 10). In other words, catastrophic events swept through Europe such as the black plague, warfare, and starvation causing a high population of death rates. After an era of destitution, the Renaissance was a period of “rebirth” where individuals could express their intellectual thought through art, science, literature, and education. It’s true that people during that time express humanist ideals of individual achievement, but does the word “individual” contribute to both men and women (Ramirez 439)? As a result, in what ways did the Renaissance world view influence or impact social issues such as gender equality? The Renaissance highly influenced gender equality especially in terms of marriage, wealth ownership, and freedom of expression. With this is mind one should question, “did women have a Renaissance” (Kelly 1) or exhibit the same privileges as men?
The debate about the place of women in the society became a major focus in the social, political and economic arena because of the numerous changes experienced in the European society. This change was mainly brought about by the industrial revolution and the development of capitalism. This led to an increase in women’s labor opportunities in the vast growing industries, but they were often employed for less pay as compared to the male counterparts. The increasing development in women’s labor in the industries started to challenge the traditional notion that the women belonged to the house and that they were economically inferior. Additionally, the opening up of the education sector to increase the educational opportunities of the women led to some pursuing higher education amidst opposition.