The medieval woman was allowed a larger measure of freedom and status than the usual image we have of the Middle Ages. Women were allowed to own property and inherit from their family. Some women were employed and some were in charge of businesses. Among the upper class, women were as educated as their male counterparts.
In Europe, women were allowed to inherit property from both their fathers and their husbands. In most cases, whatever the woman brought into a marriage in the form of a dowery was hers, even if her husband divorced her. If a woman was childless or her children were to young to inherit, she would control her husband’s property after his death. This was common because of the trend of women in their teens marrying men 10-20 years older.
Some women gained control of their husband’s property because they left for the crusades and the wife ran the business in the husband’s absence. Some men were gone for years and some never returned.
Women had control of certain areas of commerce of their own volition. Silk spinning was almost exclusively “women’s work” Women manufactured purses and ladies hats, too. And in some parts of Europe, such as Paris, they were allowed to run brothels and taverns.
In the Hollister Sourcebook, there is a picture from a French manuscript depicting a woman as an artist painting a woman. The caption states women of the Middle Ages participated in the business world in a way that only men would be allowed to in later times, which included “trade, banking, the direction of business enterprises, textile manufacturing, brewing, tax collecting, money lending, illuminating and copying books,... and a variety of other activities.”
Women could even belong to guilds and some taught their knowledge, not only in artisan occupations, but also reading, writing and arithmetic. A woman could be as educated as her male counterpart. Women also were midwives and often served as a sort of doctor giving medical advice and dispensed medications.
The town of Sardinia provides an interesting look into the life of the medieval woman. In Sardinia, a woman could own property and retain a separate title to her own property she brought into a marriage. It was the custom of ...
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...ld membership in guilds. They could conduct business and own property. Not only that but their status in the church changes in the Middle Ages to one of more acceptance and they become the subject for artistic expressions in pictures, poetry, songs and books. It was a unique period in history for women.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Erler, Mary, and Maryanne Kowaleski. “Women and Power in the Middle Ages”. The University of Georgia Press. 1988.
Hollister, C. Warren. “Medieval Europe: A Short History”. The McGraw-Hill Companies. 1998.
Hollister, C. Warren, Joe W. Leedom, Marc A. Meyer, David S. Spear. “Medieval Europe: A Short Sourcebook”. The McGraw-Hill Companies. 1997.
LeGoff, Jacques. “Medieval Civilization”. Basil Blackwell Ltd. 1988.
Shafar, Shulamith. “The Fourth Estate”. Methuen & Co., Ltd. 1983.
The role of women in learning and education underwent a gradual change in the Afro-Eurasian world and the Americas between the 11th and 15th centuries. As societies in Africa, Middle East, India, China, Europe, and America grew more complex they created new rights and new restrictions for women. In all regions of the world but the Middle East, society allowed women to maintain education in order to support themselves and their occupations. Women slaves in the Middle East were, however, prized on their intelligence. In Africa, women were trained in culinary arts. In India, women learned how to read and write with the exception of the sacred verses of the Vedas.
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.
...ing of home crafts, as the 17th and 18th century progressed, women became more than just a homemaker; they could own property, vote, and get a job.
Guardianship was also another way for cities to control the inheritance of the widow. As Merry Weisner stated in her essa...
Medieval society was completely dominated by men, making a women’s life at the time difficult. Medieval law at the time stated that women could not marry without their parents consent, could not divorce their husbands, could not own property unless widows, could not inherit land if they had surviving brothers, and could own no business with special permission (Trueman, “Medieval Women”). When a woman married a man, he would get any property she owned and she would forfeit any rights she had to him. When the husband dies she would get one third of the land to live on and support herself. Unmarried women who owned land had the same rights as men (Hull). Whenever a woman got into trouble it would be her closest male relative who would appear in court, not the woman herself (Medieval).
Before the 1700 and 1800s women in some of areas had the right to vote. They also had the right to inherit properties. Because back then the world did mostly farming, men and women shared the work. Also the men shared in child care.
dominance of men during and following much of the Middle Ages. As in the Wife of Bath's case women recovered some rights when they became widows. Sometimes a widow even successfully sued to recover land sold by her husband (Gies 44). "Medieval ideas were far from the Victorian notions that women did not enjoy sex. Physiologically, men and women were considered sexual equals -- in fact women were commonly credited with stronger sexual feelings than men" (Gies 48). Another misogynistic theory in the Middle Ages was that w...
Women in different societies around the world, during the Middle Ages, experienced different hardships and roles. These hardships and roles helped shape how they were viewed in their society. Some women were treated better and more equal than others. In Rome, Medieval England, and Viking society, women’s legal status, education, marriage and family roles were considered diverse, but also similar. In certain nation’s women have more or less power than women in other nations, but none equal to the power that women have in America today.
A huge part of the economical grow of the United States was the wealth being produced by the factories in New England. Women up until the factories started booming were seen as the child-bearer and were not allowed to have any kind of career. They were valued for factories because of their ability to do intricate work requiring dexterity and nimble fingers. "The Industrial Revolution has on the whole proved beneficial to women. It has resulted in greater leisure for women in the home and has relieved them from the drudgery and monotony that characterized much of the hand labour previously performed in connection with industrial work under the domestic system. For the woman workers outside the home it has resulted in better conditions, a greater variety of openings and an improved status" (Ivy Pinchbeck, Women Workers and the Industrial Revolution, 1750-1850, pg.4) The women could now make their own money and they didn’t have to live completely off their husbands. This allowed women to start thinking more freely and become a little bit more independent.
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,
Women could initiate legal proceedings, and they were responsible for their own actions. They could be the executors of wills and even sign their own marriage contrac...
Understanding the way women both were controllers of and controlled by social, political and cultural forces in the medieval period is a complex matter. This is due to a number of factors- the lack of documentation of medieval women, high numbers of illiteracy amongst women, especially lower class, medieval sources being viewed through a contemporary lens and the actual limitations and expectations placed upon women during the period, to name a few. The primary sources: The Treasure of The City of Ladies by Catherine of Siena and Peter of Blois’ letter to Eleanor of Aquitaine concerning her rebellion, highlight the restrictions women were expected to adhere to, and the subsequent reprimanding that occurred when they didn’t. Women were not passive victims to the blatant patriarchal standards that existed within medieval society, even though ultimately they would be vilified for rebelling.
The roles of women was an issue in medieval times and in The Canterbury Tales. In A Knight 's Tale, the women were portrayed as objects. To men they didn 't mean much. Women for them were there to help only when needed and didn 't hold an important role in society. Women were treated differently and had not much of importance.
Women had a very difficult position in society during the Middle Ages. The feudal age was known for its superstitions, and women were often convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Some of the more lucky women held professions of there own, such as blacksmiths, carpenters, and apothecaries....
In Alexandra Korey’s article, “Being a woman in Italy...in the Renaissance,” she argues that although the role of a woman in the present day has not been universally equalized, we have made substantial improvements since the conditions of the Renaissance era. She states, “Most of what we know...comes from documents, paintings, or other visual evidence that tell us much more about the patrician than peasant.” Originally, gender roles were highly influenced by the Christian story of the temptation in the garden, which affected many aspects in a woman’s life during this time, for she is seen as weak in comparison to man.