Women in the Scientific Revolution Era

1460 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The role of women in the scientific revolution

During the Middle Ages, except for those in religious positions, women were only seen as three things, which were daughter, wife, and mother. But in the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries, new opportunities in learning humanism arose for only those in the higher class families. Even though they started to educate themselves, the majority had no rights whatsoever in money matters as well as estate. From the 17th century and up to the scientific revolution, women’s rights had consistently been improving. However, during the revolution, the study of the human body brought to attention that the male brain is quite larger than that of a female. This revelation set back the female race back to a limited role, but this time this setback was argued for by men who believed they had “scientific evidence” that the female is inferior.
Up to the 1600s the role of the average woman was to be stuck at home and kept busy with the dreary work that went along with maintaining a home. Washing, cleaning, mending, cooking, and not even allowed a higher education except for reading and writing in the upper class ladies (excluding royalty) but then only when their husbands allowed it, they didn’t have much freedom. But some women did go on to read about humanism and were encouraged to study classical and Christian texts, but were forbidden to pursue careers in any field. Typically, girls were married off early in wealthier families as an instrument in their own quest for power, but women in lower class families found themselves with occasionally, the power to make their own choices in spouse. The women would have to obey their husband’s wishes, bear the children, and usually bear the brunt of the workload that comes with running a household...

... middle of paper ...

... tangled and ultimately trapped to complete their duties as mother, wife, and with no voice.

Works Cited

The Bible. Imprinted at London: By Christopher Barker ..., 1582. Print.
"Liberty Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution." Chapter 5 Page 1. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2014.
"The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The 17th Century: Topic 1: Overview." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The 17th Century: Topic 1: Overview. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2014.
Rutherfurd, Edward. London. New York: Crown, 1997. Print.
"Scientific Revolution." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 01 July 2014. Web. 08 Jan. 2014.
"Women Activists." Women Activists. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2014. .
"WOMEN INTHE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION ERA." Www.clark.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Jan. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Caged Beauty in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the early nineteenth century, women were measured as second-class citizens whose existence was narrowed down to the interior life of the home and the care of them children. After marriage, they did not have any rights to own property, maintain their wages, or sign a contract, and were unable to vote. It was expected that women be dutiful wives, never to hold a thought or opinion independent of their husbands. It was also considered inappropriate for women to travel alone or to speak in public. Women were also taught to cease from pursuing any serious education. Silently floating in their cages, they were seen as merely objects of beauty, and were looked upon as intellectually and physically substandard to men. However, among these simple housekeepers are social reformers, wonderful mothers, and powerful women of faith who changed the world by changing their own.

    Read More

  • Essay on Fate in Beowulf, Grendel, and Macbeth

    2183 Words  | 5 Pages

    Raffel, Burton. and Alexandra H. Olsen Poems and Prose from the Old English, (Yale University Press)Robert Bjork and John Niles,

    Read More

  • How Does Men Control Women In The Yellow Wallpaper

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women in this era had just begun to secure some freedom from their typical cultural expectations. They were expected to take care of the children, cook, clean, sew and be presentable to society. As jobs were made available to women, only a low percentage of these women started to work outside of the home. This means that many women had chosen to stay inside the home to remain in the role of “house keeper”. Even though the woman attained some freedom they were still considered inferior to men. Men still had the most authority in the household and

    Read More

  • Marriage in the 17th Century

    1536 Words  | 4 Pages

    In seventeenth-century England, being married played a far more important social role than it does nowadays. The position of women in seventeenth-century English marriage was dictated by her family relationships, with an importance on the inferiority of women. The law was strongly in favor of the fathers and husbands of women. It was a fact that married women had no financial rights that would make her independent of her husband and that everything that was hers was his. Men also had a right hit their wife’s in this time period without any consequences and sadly it was a common occurrence in marriage. A husband’s dominance or “rule” over his wife and children was pretty much seen as a king’s reign over the people in his country. A woman was regarded as a creature physically, intellectually, morally and even spiritually inferior to a man which gave man had a right to dominate her.1 So this lead to men being able to control their wife like nothing we have ever seen in modern times. Women were waiting on men hand and foot in a soci...

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In Sai Foster's The Coquette

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 1800’s a women had to choose a mate or a partner, who she would give everything to. Her rights and property were lost to her upon marriage, and everything, if she had received anything from their fathers then it would belong to her husband. Basically, the men controlled the women after they handed over their lives to living and caring for them alone. Even after the marriage if a woman so wished to get a divorce she would be denied that right, and could be even in danger of being arrested if she was to run away. Each women of different class had different roles they were divided or distinguished as Upper class, Lower class, and under class. The women of the upper class who were entitled to an inheritance, was usually from their father’s wealth. But as it is

    Read More

  • Cause Of The French Revolution Essay

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    Censer, J. (2001). Liberty Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution. Chapter 6 Page 1. Retrieved May 16, 2014, from http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/chap6a.html

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In Chaucer's The Wife Of Bath

    1152 Words  | 3 Pages

    At this time society was dominated by men, making women’s life extremely challenging and limited. The position and status of a woman ultimately depended on that of her husband. She was not given many rights unless it was allowed by her husband. Women had to withstand arranged marriages and there were times they encountered abuse from their spouse. What many people do not see in this society is that women longed for their own empowerment and they wanted to be given the opportunity to create their own success in life without being overshadowed by their husbands.

    Read More

  • Women In The Late 1800's

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women were not seen as breadwinners in the household but instead as a supporting role to their husbands. A woman’s job was to clean, cook, nurture, and entertain. Very few universities accepted female students. The few that did were segregated for women only and not highly regarded at all. Parents raised their daughters, preparing them to be good housewives and mothers with no support towards furthering their education. Women were not though to be as smart, strong, or capable as men and when seeking jobs, had a very difficult time obtaining the position. The few women able to acquire jobs were not regarded as highly as a “good” stay at home mother and wife would have been. A woman’s role was not to be a student or a professional, but to be a

    Read More

  • Medieval Women In The Middle Ages

    465 Words  | 1 Pages

    Most women, even those in privileged circumstances, had little control over the direction their lives took. The marriages of young aristocratic women were usually arranged by their families (but here it is worth noting that their husbands, too, had little choice in their partners). Once widowed, such women had legal independence and, in many instances, autonomy over considerable financial resources.

    Read More

  • Women During The Scientific Revolution

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rosalind Franklin, chemist and X-ray crystallographer, once said: “Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated.” Franklin is one of the few women scientists I ever learned about in school, and it is a shame that it is such. There is much more to women in scientific fields than the few names we learn. Their history and struggles to get where they are today is something hardly ever talked about. Although they are hardly mentioned in schooling, women in scientific careers are important and through their hardships theses fields would not be the same without them.

    Read More

  • A Feminist Perspective of The Lady of Shalott

    2170 Words  | 5 Pages

    113- The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. of the book. Vol.

    Read More

  • Women And Science 1988 Reflective Essay

    107 Words  | 1 Pages

    For many years, we’ve read newspaper articles and books all on women not being equal to their partners and being subjected as second-class minority. “All across Europe from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries these women found fascination in the natural science”. After reading “Women and Science,1988” I was would say it was interesting to read because I finally get to read about women and them enjoying what they like to and, on the other hand doing what men do. Coming up with their own knowledge observing many different things. I found that there was a lot of strength and courage that had to do with

    Read More

  • The French Revolution and Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities

    1486 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hunt, Lynn. “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Exploring the French Revolution.” Ed. Jack R. Censer. N.P., 2001. Web. 27 Oct. 2013

    Read More

  • Women's Rights during the Victorian Era

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    In life women had only one main goal; to marry. Prior to a woman’s marriage, a woman would learn the basic necessities and qualities of a typical Victorian Woman. She would learn ideals such as cooking, cleaning, weaving, raising children and plenty more. If a woman was well of in the financial aspects, she likely did not have to learn much or work as hard other women due to having maids at hand. Women at the time were typically unable to better educate themselves beyond minimal knowledge of household duties because in essence men ruled society. “A woman was inferior to a mam in all ways except the unique one that counted most [to a man]: her femininity. Her place was in the home, on a veritable pedestal if one could be afforded, and emphatically not in the world of affairs” (Altick, 54).

    Read More

  • A Long Road to Equality: Women in the Workforce

    1334 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is implied that since the dawn of time, women have been inferior to thy fellow man. It was not until the Age of Enlightenment, which began around 1650 in Europe, that the first ideas of women being as competent as men, lacking only education and not intelligence, began to circulate (Online MBA). As the end of the 18th Century neared, women were regulars in salons and academic debates, though schooling for women would come late down the road (Online MBA). Prior to the birth of the Industrial Revolution, women did not work. Those who did work were from lower class families and many of those were minorities. It was the primary idea that a women’s role was of that at the home; cooking sewing, cleaning, and caring for the children. There were many duties required of them around the house and their focus was to be the supportive wife who dutifully waited for the husband to come home after a long day at work.

    Read More

More about Women in the Scientific Revolution Era

Open Document