Women's Roles during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

The battle between men and women is one that has gone back to the beginning of time. Men have always been considered to be superior to women. Women have always be taught to live in the shadow of men. During the Middle Ages this was not much different. There was a feudalistic economy in Europe during the Middle Ages. Social class played a big role in the life of the people especially the women.
Women of the upper-class were had more in common with men of the same class. Lower-class women on the other hand were at a greater disadvantage. “The Church’s hierarchical organization reinforced the class distinctions on society”(Chadwick p.44). Women in this period didn’t have much of a role in society. They were required to be in the home and do the labors of the household. They didn’t work in jobs where they could get paid so they were financially dependent on the men in their lives whether it be father, husband, etc.
Women didn’t have much if any accesses to things in society unless they were of the upper-class. Women had to abide by certain rules and do as they were told. Some of the things women couldn't do included the following:

• Education was thought to interfere with a women’s ability to be a good wife and mother. Almost no women were taught to read and write.
• Almost all women work in some family business, but the fruits of their labors belonged to the men-their fathers, husbands, or brothers.
• A women had to obey her husband, and he could beat her if she didn’t.(Guerrilla Girls p.22)

A woman in the Middle Ages was not given any opportunity to be able to grow in society. They just had to “play their roles”. Their roles was to be caregivers and to be faithful to her husband and be all about the family. Some times women were allowed to work outside the home. This was only possible if they worked in a family business. All the credit of their work and monetary compensation they may have gotten from their work belongs to the men of their family. They weren't entitled to anything. This link describes the life of a women and the difficulties women
faced during the Middle Ages : http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_women.htm
“Our knowledge about the daily lives and customs of women in the Middle Ages owes much to representation emphasizing their labor, as in a thirteenth-century manuscript illumination of a women milking a cow.”(Chadwick p.43)

                                Illustration in a Bodleian Library manuscript, Ms 764, .4IV.
              (This picture depicts the role women had in society in the Middle Ages as labors)

Now we enter into the Renaissance period where things begin to change for women a little. During this time period women were still not welcomed in the art world with open arms. The guilds didn’t allow women to join. There was a way around this though. “One of the few ways a women could work as an artist was to be born into a family of artist that needed assistance in the family workshop” (Guerrilla Girls p.29).
The rights women had during the Renaissance Period changed compared to the Middle Ages,

• She could divorce her husband only if she could prove him impotent.
• She could salvage her reputation by marrying any man who raped her.
• She could attend or teach in a university if she moved to Bologna. (Guerrilla Girls p.32).

During the Middle Ages women had no rights or say in what went on in there lives. During the Renaissance Period that changed a little. Now women were allowed to have an education. She was allowed to end her life with a man if she didn’t see him being a fit husband. She could also salvage her name if a crime like rape was ever committed against her. During this time women had a little more freedom but they were still controlled by the men in their lives. The following links describes the gender roles of a women during the renaissance in more details:
http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/eng/lfletcher/shrew/acloud.htm

               Artemisia Geentileschi, Sussana and the Elders, 1610

Artemisia worked in her fathers atelier. One of the men who worked in her fathers studio forced her into a room and raped her. Scared frightened and hurt Artemisia wanted to kill him with a knife. To calm her down he had promised to marry her. During this time marrying the man who raped you cleared your reputation and nullified the crime. You can notice the difference in paintings from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. The Middle Ages painting portrayed what women were supposed to be doing which was labor work. In this painting Artemisia goes against what a male painter would normally do and goes from a female perspective. She paints this picture making the women look scared and vulnerable rather then making her seductive or flirty. Instead she shows that the women wasn't asking to be raped. Unlike a man who would depict the photo as she asked for it.

 Judith Slaying Holofernes, Artemisia Gentileschi 1620

“A women artist does not present herself as a gentlewomen, but as the act of painting itself” (Chadwick p.113). Artemisia didn’t paint pictures to portray women as soft innocent people like most men have made them out to be. Instead she paints pictures that may be considered vivid and horrifying to show that women are strong and can be their own hero.
Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance you can see a lot of change in women lives and works. They still are controlled by the men but now they are able to work, get and education and paint in their own ways.