Protestant Reformation Dbq

The leader of the reformers, Luther, during the sixteenth century once said: “All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.” Unfortunately, “All” does not include women nor their desires in the world of the Protestant Reformation Movement. Although the immense change the movement brought relieved millions of corruption and other issues, it has accomplished very little for women. The Reformation managed to enhance women’s lives slightly through education and even motivated many to fight for equality in the following decades. However, it also brought negative consequences which not only deprived the little control women had in matters other than the

household,

For example, the introduction of divorce denied security and benefits of women while favoring men. Since a woman’s sole function in society is marriage and childbearing, a divorce would cause her most loss, as now she would not be able to afford to raise her children without going to work nor have a stable home. In fact, a working woman was a sign of a divorced woman and even perceived as disgraceful and embarrassing. Even Protestant historians confirmed the fact that divorce has proved beneficial to the husband rather than the wife while it claimed to aim to do the contrary. To this day, divorce has been the leading factor in a family crisis and has reduced our disintegrated society to a vain and narcissistic one.

Ironically, the reformers also introduced a deeper understanding of marriage, despite inaugurating divorce as well. Reformers including Luther and John Calvin promoted marriage as a pure bond consisting more than an outlet for sexual desire such as a companionship. Although The Reformation recognized the value of women as tender mothers and devoted wives, they eliminated the only option for women that allowed them to exercise leadership and actively participate in society by

Unfortunately, this modern idea of female rulers seemed absurd during the 16th century and consequently caused

Europe to frown upon it. In fact, considered a definite threat to public order, people supposed that appointing female chiefs went against the law of God. Therefore, the society remained patriarchal and possibly even worse off for women as their options for community involvement were deprived under the cunning disguise of fixing corruption.

As stated before, The reformation has executed very little effort to achieve the rights and desires of women. Sadly, Reformers had accepted this unjust society and their narrow-minded norms as it was easier to implement it further rather than bring change.

Throughout history, the world has often neglected the subject of women and The

Protestant Reformation revealed nothing different. Although women acquired a small measure of freedom through the Reformation, they were still under patriarchal authority until the 20th century. Not to mention that the destructive impacts outweigh the favorable, at least for the current time period. However, this particular movement had long-lasting effects on women and their goal of fully attaining freedom and rights as