Gender Roles In The Renaissance

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, in her article “Vertuous Women Found: New England Ministerial Literature, 1668-1735,” argues the ministerial writings of New England during the late seventeenth-early eighteenth century promoted an ideology of gender equality within a larger paradoxical environment. The dominant Puritan culture in which they lived created a separation of status within diverging social and spiritual fields. While legal, economic, and educational opportunities for women were severely limited in society, there existed a pervasive inherent equality among the sexes in regards to godly matters. (Ulrich, 37) To Support her claim, Ulrich relies heavily on ministerial literature, which consisted of marriage sermons, childbirth treatises, and funeral eulogies.

During the 1840’s, the roles of men and women to their communities became defined by the social and economic changes around the world. The role of women averted from assisting their husband in their jobs to attending primarily to their domestic duties at home. The crucial fact of what Victorians thought of as the “separate spheres” define the natural characteristics of men and women in society. Women were considered to be physically weaker than men however they were morally superior to them due to connections to the domestic sphere in society. Needless to say it has always been the duty of women to balance the duties of obliging to commands made by men and being a mother. Most of these traditional expectations for women were established prior

“Before the Civil War, laws and traditions restricted women’s choices.” In the passage “Breaking Tradition” by Kathleen Ernst women’s restrictions during the Civil War time are addressed through many ways of telling what they wore and relation back to their jobs, and how they began to protest these ways. Though their rights were restricted, the author was very effective with backing up how the Civil War changed the way women and their rights.

During the Renaissance daily life was very difficult for some people, if you were not part of the upper class. Daily life was was different throughout all of the social classes. Each social class was very different within each other. Some examples how they were different is,  the way they dressed and the kinds of jobs they could have. The clothing for each person in each social class differed greatly between the type of material and the style of the clothing. Education was treated very differently also, it was a main purpose for men and not so much for women. Food was also differed greatly between the social classes by what the people could afford.

Throughout the 16th century Reformation through the Enlightenment in the 18th century, was a period of time that saw both change and continuation in European society. One of the biggest examples of this was the role of women and how they should function in European society. Women in this era faced a large amount of hardships and obstacles from great leaders and philosophers such as Martin Luther and Immanuel Kant, who were both against the equality of women to men at this time. From the time period of the 16th century Reformation all the way up to the Enlightenment in the 18th century, the women of Europe were viewed as fragile and unworkable women whose main priority and purpose should only be being a housewife. As time progressed, women

A general rule is that respect for women is only found in a society in which monogamy is the rule. We must distinguish between the affected idolatry which was enjoyed by the customs of chivalry and the equality which was upheld by the Church. The doctrine of the spiritual equality of women, the sanctity of the marriage, and the rules of consanguinity, divorce and remarriage, though sometimes perverted to ambitious purposes, nevertheless were powerful engines influencing the Roles of Women in the Middle Ages, and raising their condition in the

Women have always had a significant role in history even though they were treated horrible in most cases. During the Medieval Times was really the first time women were allowed to become more than just a house wife. The fight for equality has always been a struggle and even in today’s society is still an ongoing battle. Although women of lower and middle class were treated poorly in the Medieval Times, some powerful women held great responsibility and were looked up too by both men and children; despite being admired, “men were thought to be not only physically stronger but more emotionally stable, more intelligent, and morally less feeble” (Hopkins 5).

In the nineteenth century many changes were happening in American. American just twenty-four years before got their freedom from Great Britain. This freedom helped shaped the country in the nineteenth century to what was known as the Market Revolution. Market Revolution shifted from self sufficient farms and communities to commercial farms and manufacturing interests. The Market Revolution reshaped the economy by the Industrial, the Transportation, Communication Revolution as well as the regional differences in America and the shift in gender roles in the nineteenth century.

Hutchison mentions to Mrs. Delacroix, “Thought my old man was out back stacking wood” (Jackson 106). This is precisely the way society previously was; both men and women knew their role and without any questions blindly followed it since it was what they had known to be right their whole life. Nowadays very rarely are women seen being simple stay-at-home mothers, not working or being submissive to men. Women have become dominant, many establish solid careers and provide financial stability along with their husbands to their children, some even maintain households on their own as a single parent. Throughout time there has been a major shift in the structure of families. In comparison to how far people’s perception of families has evolved, gender roles within a family have essentially become nonexistent and nothing more than an old custom in most

Throughout the course of general inequality, particular roles were implemented and solidified among men and women. Overtime, these roles lead to the development of patriarchal society. According to Allan G. Johnson’s article on Patriarchy, “a society is patriarchal to the degree that is male-dominated, male-identified, and male-centered ” meaning that it was a system where men were in authority over women which could be considered as a variation within The Takers philosophical supremacy (153).

Mary Beth Norton is a historian who specializes in women’s history, her interview with Barker-Benfield uncovers her experiences and involvement in discovering the importance of female involvement in the late 17th, early 18th century history. Mary Beth and professor Peter Lapsion’s He Said, She Said article both explain why gender roles were so important in shaping and revealing todays gender morals in society.

The Renaissance, a period of intellectual, political, and artistic rebirth, may have left women behind. The “Renaissance man” is the idea a well-rounded individual who is the best version of himself. This concept of humanism also encourages this ideal “Renaissance man” to be an active member of his community. Document D: Women And The Renaissance by Anthony Esler explains that the division between “the ‘domestic sphere’ of women and the ‘pubic sphere’ of men” originates in Athens. Ancient Greece was the perfect model of society in the eyes of Renaissance thinkers, which explains why the idea of “civic humanism” in the Renaissance only applies to men. An important part of being “the best version of you” means getting an advanced well rounded

In the Middle Ages, women are considered to be inferior to the men. They served as the secondary role and their power were relatively minuscule compared to men. Depending on their social class, some women had more power than others. If a woman and a man were to perform the same

The passive partner during sex, in the case of a man having sex with another man, was considered to be effeminate because he was being dominated and therefore taking the feminine role in sex. Women had a very low social status in Roman society because masculinity was so revered. When a man was labeled as effeminate, he lost his social status and privileges that came with being a man in society. In other words, any man who willingly took on the receptive role during sex with another man revoked his masculinity and privilege and took on the inferior status of women, so he were often ridiculed and scorned.

The argument presented is that women have been, since the dawn of time, demoted to the level of animals, used by men for procreation and pleasure, treated or maltreated as the master (man) deems fit. For her, this is “patriarchy – a system of female oppression stretching as far back as literary (and Biblical) texts could take us.” (2) Janet Saltzman Chafez describes seven areas of traditional masculinity in Western culture: physical (strong), functional (provider), sexual (sexually aggressive), emotional (unemotional), intellectual (rational), interpersonal (leader, dominating, disciplinarian), and other personal characteristics (proud, egotistical, decisive, uninhibited)(3) . Helene Cixous is concerned with the issue of a characteristically female or feminine mode of writing- ‘ecriturefeminenene’. “This involves the idea of a woman’s language by its diversity and multiplicity, a language opposed to patriarchal language, a language where fluidity opposes the order and logic of standard writing where women are assigned to the margins.” (4)Foucault “examines the social and historical contexts of ideas, such as school, prison, police force and asylum. For him, social scientific knowledge and power are inextricably