Lives of Women in the Renaissance

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Lives of Women in the Renaissance

The renaissance began a momentous time in the history of Western Europe. Many new forms and styles of arts, literature, and customs emerged during this period. Economic, social, and cultural changes affected the lives of everyone. Particularly the role of women in society was affected. There were four categories of women: wives, mothers, widows and daughters. Within each of these categories, certain duties were expected. Jacob Burckhardt once wrote, 'to understand the higher forms of social intercourse in this period, we must keep before our minds the fact that women stood on a footing of perfect equality with men.'. It is a widely known fact that this in no way was true. Inequalities between men and women have always affected society. Men were constantly gaining up on women and spoke of them with contempt. They believed that woman was more sinful than man. This belief goes back to original sin when Eve had been seduced by the devil. Eve's actions made men assume that women deserved to suffer.

However, the Renaissance helped to narrow the gap between the two sexes. All women whether they are of noble blood, a shopkeeper?s sister, or a farm worker?s daughter, were placed on a higher pedestal then they had expected during this time. Women?s positions in society had effects on the Renaissance period just as great as any mans.

Noble women don?t appear to have a hard life, but when you look between the lines they have it just as rough as any other women of that time. From the beginning, young women were required to learn the basic household skills that they would be expected to execute as wives and mothers. These women did perform textile work, but they did it for luxury, they did not actu...

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...his time. The highest praise which could then be given to a woman was that she had the mind and the courage of men. Although they did earn some rights, women were still forbidden to hold office, paternal powers in the family, receive inheritance and many other things. The wealthy women who were fortunate enough to receive a small form of education potentially could have done much more if they were given the same opportunities that men were given. Labor class women who did everything around the house, from shearing the sheep to raising the children, were also highly depreciated. The Renaissance in Western Europe brought forward new ideas and as Renaissance is defined, ?the revival or rebirth? so was the circle of society surrounding the women. Women were given the chance to take the higher step in society, which they tried jumping on, but were often pushed back down.

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