Women's Roles In Medieval Times Essay

Women in Medieval Times
Women of Medieval Times were held into different responsibilities based on their social class. Gender roles in Europe at the time were heavily influenced by the Roman Catholic Church. Women were to be held responsible for the man’s mistakes or sin. Religion played a big role in determining roles for the women in this time period. Women in Medieval Times had different roles depending on their social classes, ranging from peasant women to noble women. In the peasant class, women were viewed equal and held to the same expectations. Women in this social class had multiple responsibilities. Being a peasant they were expected to do field labor, care for children, prepare food, and tend to livestock. During busier times of the year you could find

women in the fields with their husbands, helping with crops. You could also find them in industries and factories. Some jobs here included brewing, baking and manufacturing textiles. The most common tool to find a peasant woman with was the distaff, it was a tool that was used for spinning flax and wool. On the opposite side, noble women were treated with much respect, but still did not have the power to have a say in the decisions of their husbands. Even though they were in a better area than peasant women, they were still considered to be property of their husband. In the noble class women were expected to care for children, and be in charge of the kitchen, and meals. Women were also expected to care for the estate in absence of her husband. In times of crises, they would fill the roles that the man usually took as well. Child baring was a big part in the role women had in the noble class. The main responsibility in this class was to provide her husband with a son. Given that children did not typically make it past the age of three women were expected to have around six to eight children on average. Some jobs in this class consisted of nursing, settling disputes, handle finances, manage the farm, care for household servants and even defend their home if it came to it. A big portion of her time was spent seeing that everything within the household was running well. The Church played a huge responsibly for the duties of these women.

Women were not allowed to move into high positions within the church. According to Simon Newman, “By entering a convent, women became married to the Church…” With that being said, women were unable to marry a man and bare children, they were expected to study and achieve academic knowledge, which was uncommon for women even in the upper class. If a woman were to be involved with the church, she could commonly be seen as a nun. The highest role a woman could become in the church was the position of an abbess or a superior to the abbey or monastery. Though the position was not as high up as being a priest or bishop, the role still had a decent amount of influence within the church. So, women in medieval times were held to many different responsibilities within this culture. Within their social class, the female was expected to stay to the norms, expectations and have as much power as their social class allowed. No matter which class, women were still viewed as second class citizens under the man, and were held responsible for his wrong doing. By joining the church, women had slightly more freedoms from the “norms” and were not expected to follow the same path as women in the

peasant class, and noble class.