РефератыИностранный языкWoWomens Roles Essay Research Paper Depending on

Womens Roles Essay Research Paper Depending on

Womens Roles Essay, Research Paper


Depending on a woman^?s role or class in society, she could be restricted or


praised by her words and actions. As in almost any civilization, money brings


certain advantages, the greatest one of the Renaissance times being education.


The upper class women were taught that silence towards and obligation to their


husbands was considered proper. Eloquence was equivalent to silence in the


male frame of mind. Keeping with the theme of male dominance, it has been said


that “Woman^?s attempt to rule is an act of treason.” (2) Any act of liberation


was seen as a violation against God, otherwise the people they called “men”


(2). The speech of a woman has been compared to “the naked of her limbs” (4)


inferring the spoken thought of a woman with any basis in intellect would be


shameful, embarrassing or something even to look down upon. Therefore, because


any outward act of intelligence was a “violation,” this could be seen as a


distinct limitation.


But it has also been said that a woman could “speak very elegantly and she was


able in all those languages to answer ambassadors on the sudden.” (1)


Although, it was only being applied to Queen Elizabeth I, the statement can


also be applied to other such greats in the past like Queen Isabella of Spain,


Anne of Brittany-Queen of Charles VIII, and of the mid 1440^?s- Isotta Nogarola


(5). The idea of a woman^?s intelligence was not completely denounced in


Renaissance times; everyone knew that it did exist, but the people went out


about repressing it in such a way that it was viewed by the majority of people


as something disgraceful and disreputable.


Within the homes, for upper class women, some of the problems as mentioned


above remained, but where not as severe always. Moving on, the upper class did


have some leverage when it came to their inner family circle. For example, the


wealthier families paid nurses to breast feed their children. But, then again,


because of this, the wealthier women bore more children, each time risking


their lives; for the morality rate of childbirth was 10% in all women. The age


range for the wealthy women to have children fell somewhere in adolescence


while the range for the poorer and merchant classes was their mid-twenties.


One of the most important thing when it came to raising a child was to make


sure that he or she had all his or her needs fulfilled, most importantly, once


again, being necessity of knowledge in social skills and humanitarian studies.


The poorer and merchant classes could not afford a formal education but men


and women alike were trained in some kind of trade. The wealthier families


could afford tutors. Reading was stressed, but the concept of silence and


eloquence being interchangeable was still stressed among women. Yet after


understanding the significance of a quality education, the two main goals of a


woman^?s education were still to develop the belief that male was superior and


to master the tools needed to raise a family properly.


Even still, it was difficult to obtain this kind of quality education in the


humanistic studies that so few women fulfilled. According to Laura Cereta,


“^?Knowledge is not given as a gift, but (is gained) with diligence.”*. The


ability to learn is in all women. She continues to re-enforce that women have


not banded together strongly

enough in their fight for a quality schooling


when she states,” (But) where we (women) should be forceful we are (too often)


devious; where we should be confident we are insecure. (Even worse), we are


content with our condition.”* . Women have not been strong enough in their


fight for knowledge even though Cereta clearly points out throughout her


writings they had the definite mental capability. It was society that hindered


them.


Continuing with the motif of hindrance, because society limited women in a


number of ways in getting a quality course of study, many entered the convent.


This way, they could receive a quality education for free. Both upper and


merchant class families would put their daughters in convents for one basic


reason; they could not afford to marry both daughters because the dowries of


each would be lessened and not as “attractive” when making marriage


arrangements. Though this seemed to be an advantageous way of learning, it did


have its faults. According to Christen de Pisan, “Some say that clerks or


priests have written your works for you for they could not come from feminine


intelligence^?” (7). As once can see, it was not only in the “social” aspect


that women have been neglected the recognition of mind, but also in the church


where one would conceive respect is almost obligatory. But then again, the


church^?s prestige in general was declining.


Also, in the convent, they were forced to practice chastity. Women who bore


illegitimate children not only faced the banishment and bring disgrace upon


their families, but taxation, imprisonment and banishment. Women had a


multitude of opinions about the convents. Some saw it as a “house of


detention,” but others looked at this more positively. As I stated above this


was one of the few places that a women could receive a meritorious education,


mainly with a focus on the humanities. In the 10c, a woodcut by Alfred D^? rer,


he shows a 10c nun giving self-written Latin satires to Emperor Otto I (15).


“They were recovered and published in 1501 by the German humanist Conrad


Celtis” (15). In some rare instances, women did become recognized.


For those women who were not forced to go into the convent and wished to work,


they were also presented with a number of possibilities and restrictions. Like


the upper Renaissance women, their family situation(s) were equal in such the


man was head. The major difference between the two classes has to be their


daily tasks. Not only did the merchant-urban class have to raise a family, but


they also held trade jobs. Many women were butchers, iron workers, and a


collection of diversified types of artisans. Nevertheless, women were not


allowed to teach others their trade. One would say that a woman probably was


not competent enough to teach it to others. But if she was competent enough to


learn it, why would one doubt that she could teach it? The last difference


that occurred with merchant women was that they did earn some respect in their


work place, but it would never be publicly recognized.


Society, through the ages, looked at women as a group, like an other


discriminated group, not as people of manifold capabilities. Although this


view of women as a minority is continued into today^?s society, one could say


that some progress has been made in the aspects of education and occupations.

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