Many turned to prostitution to make ends meet, or joined convents to work as servants for the nuns. The attitude towards women, their treatment and their rights, underwent many changes during the Renaissance. During feudal times women were given more liberties and enjoyed freedoms. They could own land and had many of the rights men had. However, this period where so many great changes had been made in the church, in literature, and in all other artistic areas, women took a big step backward in their fight for equality.
Like most other societies, it is deeply thought that the birth of a female child rather than male, was a disappointment. With the Hindu's we see a new aspect that developed rituals to avoid having a daughter. They also dedicated gods to pray to, so that their daughter may find a husband and be taken from them. The practice of marrying girls off young also was passed from the Greeks, but as Clay describes they take the age difference to a further level when she writes, "By the Gupta period, prepubescent marriages had become more common, girls as young as eight years old were married off to men and even sometimes three times their age. In the Gupta society, the women also were forced to be much more trapped than in any other societies.
Not only emperors, but also women from the imperial family could be ordained as Daoist priestesses. Many other women served as the religious instructors of high-level officials and scholars. Several movements within Daoism are attributed to female founders. Both Daoism and Buddhism offered female followers the possibility of becoming nuns, an accepted option for a woman who did not wish to become a wife and mother. Although Daoism inherited some social biases against women, it allowed them to play a vital role in society.
Role of women until 1500 “Women Past Lived” Erin Snider World Civilization I Martha Stillman September 21, 2009 Women Past Lived Page 2 Women today have status and rights because of the women of yesterday’s many societies breaking through obstacles of extreme measures. Even though culture around the world differed in religion, dress, language and a few daily rituals there were many similarities that connected the way of life. The role of women in every society through early times including Roman, Medieval, India and China mostly ruled there women as inferior to their men and were unable to have many rights. Women were usually uneducated; unable to vote some of the case they hardly left their homes. The
Assignment 1 Legal rights and privileges of women in Blackstone’s day with those of American women in the mid-twentieth century bear no resemblance. Over the years women have fought long and hard to be able to obtain and maintain legal rights and privileges that the male gender is born into. Females were molded and primed to play the part as an obedient wife and mother with instruction that your thoughts and opinions are kept to yourself. The perseverance of brave women helped today’s generation of women such as myself have the same equal rights as that of men. During the Blackstone era women lost the limited amount of rights they did possess when they got married for example; “that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended
Free-immigrant women were introduced to a country seeking its identity whilst being torn by the values of England. Women who were successful were often married or had some other male protector. Both free and convict women were generalized as sexual objects and married women were seen as the object of their husband. Both convict and free women were forced to go into prostitution in order to provide for themselves. The Colony’s view on single women influenced greatly the way women were treated within the colony.
Although women have the right to vote today, this is quite different compared with women’s condition back in the late 1800’s. Women were treated unfairly; they just belonged to their husbands who were able to control all of their rights and use a moderate coercion if they were disloyal or disobedient. Being a woman who is willing to break the rules to bring back a freedom life for all women, Susan B. Anthony tried to vote for a presidential election and was arrested due to being female in 1872. During her trial, Anthony published a speech “On Women’s right to vote”. In her speech, the main reason Anthony was successful in persuading her audience was that she clearly established an exigent circumstance early and effectively adapted her writing to the kairos of the moment.
Changes in Marriage Marriage is traditionally dominated by the men while the society expects the women to submit in all forms. In the late 1800s, women were not expected to show their displeasure in any way in their marriages. People, indeed, considered marriage as the “happy-ever-after.” Being an independent widow, Kate Chopin decided to voice on behalf of the women of those times by writing stories concerning how women felt confined and suppressed both spiritually and sexually in their marriage. The general society during that period did not give room for women to be open-minded. Major socio-demographic change, however, have taken place over the last two centuries and has significantly brought changes to the institution of marriage.
Women, were so unhappy without having rights and it made them feel less loved and wanted. With this theory being applied to this issue of Women’s Rights, they come out on top of the situation. It took 130 years or so for women to evolve in society. “Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that places the locus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes (consequences) of choosing one action/policy over other actions/policies. As such, it moves beyond the scope of one's own interests and takes into account the interests of others.” (Cavalier, 2002) With the Women’s Rights Movement, there were a lot of pros and cons that can about, mostly positives.
(Page 282 lines 127-130). She has been married multiple times which back in the medieval times and even now a day that is unacceptable. She is also looking for her sixth husband. Back in the old days being sexual active came only after one is married and not supposed to be for pleasure but to reproduce (Lines 69-75). She then compares herself to those who live by society the "right" way, those are perfect people and she is not perfect so she does as she pleases (Lines 105-120).