The Roles of Women in the Middle Ages, Renaissance and the 19th Century

Lady Godiva by John Collier, c. 1897

When it comes to defying the odds, women take the crown. For the longest time men have always had a say in what the role of the woman should be. In the Middle Ages, women were not taken seriously and were looked down upon, robbing them the chance of becoming the greatest they could be. Being a woman meant being limited to the amount of things you could contribute to the world. It meant choosing between being a wife or a nun. Unless given approval by the men in their lives, women were not allowed to be educated or pursue any form of education. Being a woman in the Middle Ages meant being submissive to those around you. Without the approval of men, women were not allowed to do anything. Art and women in the middle ages is very hard to point out being that women were either forced to marry or relocate to religious institutions where they would later become nuns.

 Women during the Middle Ages were very limited to the things they were allowed to do. During this time period, men took control of the amount of freedom women had and had a say in everything they did. They took credit for the hard work woman put into creating beautiful masterpieces.  The role of the woman was to get married and be submissive to her husband or even the men around her. She was obligated to adhere to everything the men surrounding her told her to do.  At this point in time, Women had a lot to offer. They were intelligent and artistic but men seemed to always want to take that away from them. As said on page 19 of the Guerrilla Girls, "Few of these artists signed their work, so it's not easy to attribute specific works to individual artists. Instead it is the patrons, whose names were recorded, who get the credit. For once, male artists are as forgotten as the females" (Girls, 19-21). Men were so powerful that women would create incredible works of arts and it would be the men who took credit for their work.  Slowly but surely, women will start to get the recognition they deserve as time progresses.

Portia Wounding her Thigh
Elisabetta Sirani
c. 1664

When it came to the Renaissance and the 19th Century, women's roles were assigned based on the different classes. If a woman was single she was forced to joining a covenant, The women in the low class were expected to be stay at home and take care of everything that had to do with the maintenance of the home. The working class women were expected to stay amongst their husbands and help run their business as well as work for them. Although the upper class women had servants to do pretty much everything for them, they were still expected to take care of their household. They were also not allowed to be seen alone or even live by themselves if they were not married. When it came to expressing their ideas, it was easier for the upper class women to have a say but even then their ideas were overshadowed by the ideologies of men.






Works Cited:

Girls, Guerrilla. The Guerrilla Girls beside Companion to the History of Western Art. 1998.

Matthews, Mimi. “The Legend of Lady Godiva: Depictions in Art, Literature, and History.” Mimi Matthews, https://www.mimimatthews.com/.