The+Role+of+Women

__ The Role of Women  __ //__“The Man Dominates” __//

The Scottish protestant leader John Knox wrote:  //"Woman in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man." // Women in the Elizabethan era were beneath men at all occasions. They had to depend on the males in their life for everything, like a place to live. Most women in the era were only needed when their families wanted to create a connection with another family. They would do this by arranging a marriage with the other family’s son – even if the son was 30 when the girl was only 13. If the girl child did not agree with the man she was supposed to marry, she would deal with it because Elizabethan women were raised to believe men were superior to them and that all men knew better than women. Once the woman got married, her only “job” was to take care of the household. All Elizabethan women were treated mostly the same in the upper classes:  ©  **Elizabethan women did not go to school. Someone tutored them at home. **  ©  **No Elizabethan woman was allowed in a University. **  ©  **Elizabethan women didn’t inherit their father’s titles. **  ©  **The women of the Elizabethan era could not be a doctor or a lawyer. **  ©  **No woman of the Elizabethan era could vote or be in politics. ** <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> ©  **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">The army and navy of the Elizabethan era did not contain a single woman. ** <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> ©  **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">Elizabethan women could not take part in a theatrical play. ** <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">Even the women of the royal families had to obey to any man in her immediate family and even her husband. This is the reason many believe Queen Elizabeth did not remarry. She did not want a man to have to obey. The men of this era dominated everyone else. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> //__<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">“Education of the Upper Class” __// <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">When an Elizabethan woman was wealthy, she sometimes was allowed to have an education. Although the way we define “education” now means math, English, science, and history, the “education” then for women was more about etiquette, music and dancing, a language or two, riding, archery, and other housewifely duties. Manners and etiquette were most important; they even taught ladies how to curtsey. Music and dancing were essential to wealthy, royal women. They needed the skills for court dances, etc. Elizabethan women could not go away to a university, but some were sent off to other noble’s homes to learn the variety of things listed above. The teaching started at five and under and continued until the woman was an adult. The young girl was not sent away from home to learn until about seven years old. While staying at a noble’s home, the young girl was expected to wait on the Lady of the castle, the one who lived there. The young girls’ schedules may look something like: looking after the Lady of the castle’s clothing and assisting to her every need, learn about the topics above, and then be taught other housewifely things like preserving fruits and household management. The highest ranking girl would then move on to take the role of being one of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">(A reminder: this was only allowed for the upper-class women, not any of the lower classes.) <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> //__<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">“Lower Class Women and Marriage” __// <span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">Even the women in the lower classes had to obey all men. The women of the lower classes would not have any formal education; they would only learn domestic-housewifely duties. This “education” was essential for the only career a woman could be – a wife. Every woman was supposed to marry and the women who did not marry and remained single were the women who were thought to be witches by their neighbors. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">Marriage and child bearing were the only things women were needed for. A woman brought only a few belongings to her new life with the man who now dominated her. In their new homes, Elizabethan women were to run the household and to provide children. Elizabethan households tended to be larger because the child death rate was so high that the women had to provide numerous children for the husband to give his title to. In some cases, the women made arrangements for their children to be taken care of in case they died during child birth. As you can tell, the women had it every hard in the Elizabethan era. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> //__<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">“Appearance of Elizabethan Women” __// <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">Appearance was very important to noble women of this era. But, because of the constant child bearing and pregnancies Elizabethan women went through, they aged more quickly in this era. Women would use make-up to make themselves look younger. Some of the make-up was often lead-based and was poisonous because of the lead; some overuse of it could even cause death. They used white face make-up to make their skin look pale. This was so deeply desired that some Elizabethan women even bled to have their complexion pale-looking. Elizabethan clothing consisted of many layers and uncomfortable corsets. The colors and types of clothing women could wear in the Elizabethan ages were chosen by the Sumptuary Laws. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> //__<span style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">“The Sumptuary Laws” __// <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">The Sumptuary Laws were laws that tried to stop the “sumptuousness” of the clothing worn by Elizabethan women. They were used to make the clear division of the society. A lesser member should not dress equal to a noble or beyond her ability to pay for nice clothing. The most important concern of the Sumptuary Laws was that people should not spend their money on clothing if they cannot afford it; they should spend it on things more needed, like horses. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">These laws were nearly impossible to enforce because they did not hire a specific police guard to watch people’s clothing. The laws were found to be pointless and were lost within the society. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'"> //<span style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'">

__Bibliography__ // <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"> 1. http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-women.htm <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"> 2. http://elizabethan.org/sumptuary/index.html