Colonial Women In The 17th Century Essay

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.

This movement was the building blocks to why women have the rights we have now. The Women 's Liberation Movement was one of the more known feminist movements that happened after World War II. This event motivated women in developed countries to want the right to be something other than a stay-at-home mom and housewife. Women felt they deserved to be treated like men, meaning wanting the same pay and job opportunities.

The two characters that represent humility, modesty, and helplessness are Mariane from Tartuffe and Belinda from The Rape of the Lock. During the 17th and 18th century, women were not treated very nice. They had little authority regarding anything. Women were owned by the men, and whatever the men said, the women would do.

Not only were they expected to reside in the home but women were also tied down through marriage with the expectation of blindly following their husband without challenging their authority. Kate Chopin’s short story, “Story of an Hour”, uncovers the chilling truth of how women were perceived to have longed and enjoyed marriage during the 18th and 19th century when in actuality many felt confined, trapped and imprisoned due to what society and men wanted them to do. The story reveals that the impending pressures of having to become a good wife and mother along with patriarchal societal oppression oftentimes pressures a woman into experiencing a psychological breakdown that can result in fatal consequences. Chopin begins the story with the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, being told

Mama deals with many forms of gender stereotyping throughout the play, both from society and from her own family. In this time period, women were paid a lot less than men and were still seen as lower-ranking and submissive humans even though they endured difficult tasks during wartime (Gardiner). Women in the 1950s were treated as inferior than men; therefore, men were taught to be the head of the house over a woman. Throughout the book, Walter and Mama fight over the head of the house.

The Renaissance’s attitude towards gender and sexuality was completely different from that of the Middle Ages, which considered women as dangerous sexual creatures. "For the first time in Western history," for example, "men stressed the fact that females should be educated. The Platonic orientation in humanist thought may have spurred them to do so" (Bell, 182). (mohja)Actually, the primary purpose behind the call for women’s education was not to heighten her position in society, or to “overturn her subordinate domestic role”, but to make her a better wife and mother. Indeed, it was only the high rank women who were allowed to be educated*.

Elizabethan and Jacobean periods are the eras in which Shakespeare’s plays were developed and the characters of his plays were influenced by the social context. The way women were treated, their social status, the roles that they were supposed to accomplish and the expectations set for them in those times are reflecteIn the England of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, as well as in the rest of Europe, women were considered to be inferior to men and their roles were very well defined: “daughters and wives, sisters and mothers.” (Kemp Theresa D., 29). These roles, the women’s social standing and their marital status had a crucial part in defining the women. Also, it has no importance if she was a mother, a wife or a widow, her personality

Using these words, the authors draw the line of distinction between the roles of “the saint” and “the whore” (200). Secondly, independent women in fairy tales were often associated with the concept of evil because they menaced the patriarchal order itself (203). No longer relying on men for emotional or economic support, these women were harder to control (203). However, back in the days when these tales were crafted, “most women had not been by tradition so fortunate as to enjoy the economic independence that would enable them to run their lives as wished” (203). As a result, their roles in society were entirely defined by their relationships with men (207).

Women now are much more intelligent, powerful, and of course beautiful. Compared to the 18th century where women were described as more like servants towards the husband, they could not say anything or do as they please just like in the story; even in marriage. In this time, women were below men, and this is because men have been given this power of supremacy over their wives once they became husband and wife. After reading this story for the first time, it was very clear right way that during that time women was portrayed as a prisoner to their husbands. However, this should be common knowledge that marriages in all different forms are not always about mutual feelings.

These powerful leaders influenced women to become increasingly independent through the decades. Many people, groups, and ideas not only altered the image of women and what defined feminism, but what women could do in society, and what women could dream of doing. The appearance, actions, and ambition of women through the 1950’s and 1960’s was influenced by many people and ideas. Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s women’s appearance changed.

Women segregation started to become more active when females, including some men, had gathered at the Seneca Falls Conventions in 1848 (History). The convention was organized by reformers named Elizabeth Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The meeting consisted of about 300 abolitionist activists’ women, and 40 were men. During this meeting, the group discussed about women equality and voting rights. Once the meeting had begun, there were various mentioning of women suffrage.

Married women were to being living demonstrations of their husband’s convictions about the superiority of marriage to celibacy, be models of wifely obedience, and Christian charity. But some aspects of european women’s lives continued, such as the power in which women had in society. During the Reformation Protestants did not break the medieval idea that women were to be subject to men and for male philosophers. Protestant emphasis on marriage made unmarried women suspect, for they did not belong to the type of household regarded as the cornerstone of a proper, godly society, making unmarried and widowed women regarded as a low status in society. Such obstacles saw the attitudes and experiences of European women barely change from the Reformation to the Enlightenment.

Looking in from the outside, the journey of Women’s rights was a lengthy one, and it has come a significant way from what it began as. It was a long road to freedom that started with just a few women protesting together for change in the mid 1800’s to the large movement it is today. What started only as an effort to put women on equal footing with men in the voting realm blossomed into a full on fight against gender norms and independence through protesting, speeches, and gatherings. Gender norms or ‘roles’ are (as defined by Webster’s dictionary) “a set of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex” and they are one thing that modern feminist have set their sights on to change for the better. Traditional gender roles have continued to exist for hundreds of years through perpetrators such as religion, government and society, and its effects have been felt by every woman, whether they realize it or not.

Latin America, in the late 19th century, was a time for the flourishment of independent nation states and a new social and political view for the people that fought for independence. The structure of the colonies, in the colonial period, were established by a system based on race which influenced many aspects of life in Latin America and in the years to come. The Spanish and Portuguese set up administrative systems, such as the cabildos, viceroyalties, and audiencias in colonial Latin America, in order to manage local municipal governing and maintain rule by the crown. In order to extract resources from the colonies, the Iberian crowns set up a cascade system through which laws passed from the crown to be implemented by the cabildos.

Major continuities and changes regarding various views of women in the years between 1450 and 1700 include both the continuation of disdain towards women and the emergence of the idea that women are equal to men. Women were often thought to be of less value than men, an idea that originated early in history and progressed throughout this time period. Some men and women began to speak out against inequality and, whether directly or indirectly, influenced new ideas causing others to believe in the power of women. Many views of women in the years between 1450 and 1700 continued to show the age old idea of women being seen as the inferior gender. James Sprenger and Henry Kramer wrote that women are more likely to be attacked by the devil because they are more naive than men (1).