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. Women saw the rebirth of culture, art, literature, philosophy. They experienced that just like men. A lot of noble women were able to rule. …show more content…
Kelly-Gadol, says that women were not as educated as men. They were not seen as human, they were still seen as property. Even the women of power, Catherine Medici and Queen Elizabeth I, had to fight for their right to be seen as more than property. Yes, while the women of higher classes were able to rule, most of society was made up of peasants Women did not benefit from the Renaissance. Women did not have a Renaissance. There was no benefit for women during this period. Their role in society even regressed at this period in time. Some of the ways that women’s roles in society regressed are that they had no power, they were seen at property, they had little to no access to education or culture. A woman’s main role was to be a housewife and to have children. The first point of women having now power is that men had control over their women. They controlled what the woman was able to do, how the woman was seen. Any rights that a woman had was mostly due to inheritance. The main method of women gaining any sort of power was through their sons, especially when the husband died. The husband had to put into writing what specifically the woman would own or it would
Their actions proved that they were mentally capable of more than previously believed. Now women were expected to keep the morale of the household intact by supporting her husband (Berkin 154). A woman was also expected to educate her children in the same values of the republic, a role that use to belong to a male. However, now she was able to learn enough about government, politics and philosophy in order to teach her children to become good citizens (Berkin 155). 5)
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
Before women had gotten the vote, it was difficult for all women. They had no say in what was done or where they would work or even where they would live. They would be left out in the dark if something were to happen like their husband separating from
The next chapter highlights the gendered division of labor and the difficulty to keep a family as a slave. Chapter six and seven moves on to the eighteenth century and shows how women have improved in areas such as more political participation and increasing social class of
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
Women were not allowed to own land, keep any possessions they acquired from their lives with their parents or testify against rape. Women weren’t valued as much as men. Sometimes when they inherited land or belongings their husbands got to keep them in case of divorce, which rarely ever happened. The man in the relationship also got to keep any children born of the two. If a woman was ever raped by her husband she couldn’t testify against him because she would be accused of lying.
As women became more involved their ability to further improve their societal standing increased as they gained more power through reform. Women became more involved in the workforce. They were paid more, better protected, and more well respected. World War One showed the nation that women could fill the role of men and produce on a level that made them important. Women also changed the progressive era by focusing on the welfare of the poor and low class.
Women in the 1600s to the 1800s were very harshly treated. They were seen as objects rather than people. They were stay-at-home women because people didn’t trust them to hold jobs. They were seen as little or weak. Women living in this time period had to have their fathers choose their husbands.
The life of Women in the late 1800s. Life for women in the 1800s began to change as they pushed for more rights and equality. Still, men were seen as better than women, this way of thinking pushed women to break out from the limitations imposed on their sex. In the early 1800s women had virtually no rights and ultimately were not seen as people but they rather seen as items of possession, it wasn’t until the late 1800s that women started to gain more rights. The Civil War actually opened opportunities for women to gain more rights, because with many of the men gone to war women were left with the responsibilities that men usually fulfilled during that time period.
Women were subject to a wide-ranging discrimination that marked them as secondary citizens, which is what gilderlehrman.org says. “She had no right to own property in her own name or to pursue career of her choice.” In addition, the article states, “Women could not vote, serve on juries, or hold public office.” Women didn’t have any rights that they wanted and were mostly not allowed to do anything which is unfair. A married woman had no separate legal identity from that of her husband.
Laws gave men the power over women. They were expected to obey their male relatives and had few rights. Any disobedience is considered an offense to their religion. Women were not allowed to take any career. Their only job is to bear children and run the household.
Firstly, what was the women, in particular, in the eyes of husbands and fathers in the family? In early modern Europe, many people believe in that, the most appropriate place for women was the family which gives them certain responsibilities like obedient daughters, wives, and widows. Many books and theories included that women should marry and constitute their own family. These kinds of thoughts were strengthened by medical assessment about '' the biological nature of women, who were thought to be at risk of severe physical and mental illness if they did not engage in regular sexual relations.'' General belief in that time was that women were sexually more greedy, which came in sight in ribald
“Women could not be doctors, priests, judges, or lawyers” (Hopkins 8). For several years there was these bias towards men and because of that women were not entitled to vote, did not receive an education unless you were of royalty, and they were forced to surrender any land inherited to them to their husbands or brother. Women were also only allowed to move to a new community by marrying a man from a different
Women’s Rights In Romeo and Juliet Juliet being forced into marriage, showed how little input women had during the Renaissance period. Renaissance is a period in which the ancient writing of Greece and Rome, “Rebirthed”, or came back into practice. During the Renaissance period, women had limited, to no rights. They were required to follow orders made by their husband’s or superior male figure. This is presented in the play Romeo and Juliet made by William Shakespeare.
Introduction Women in the Middle ages were treated as the second class members within their social class. They were taught to be obedient to their husbands and were expected to run the household and raise children. Their role in the society, however, was much more complex, while some medieval women achieved a high level of equality with men. In the Middle Ages women had a secondary role, coming second after men.