Women in European History

15 th – 17 th Centuries Renaissance Reformation

Renaissance Marriage Social class Important rulers Witches

Marriage & Family Nuclear family Economic foundation Age – under 20, men – mid to late 20s Infanticide Divorce was very limited Sexual double standard More prostitution

Social Class Wealthy women Increased access to education Ornaments to husbands

Important Women Isabella I Mary Tudor Elizabeth I Catherine de Medici Christine de Pisan Isabella d’Este

Witches 1484 – officially made witchcraft part of Church dogma Older women, mid-wives, single

Reformation Protestant v Catholic

Protestant Homemaker Companionate marriage Increased literacy Sex is good in marriage

Catholic Women had opportunities in religious orders No divorce

18 th Century Agricultural Revolution Industrial Revolution Enlightenment French Revolution

Agricultural Revolution Effects Enclosure movement Growth of cottage industry urbanization-domestic work, prostitution, autonomy

Industrial Revolution Factory work Family wage economy

Marriage & Family Based more on love Age – late 20s Growing pop of single middle class women Childcare – nurture/spoil Smaller families Increase in illegitimate births

Enlightenment Decrease in witch hunts Organized salons Difficulty embracing enlightenment ideology for women’s freedom

French Revolution Bread riots (March on Versailles) Olympe de Gouges, The Rights of Women Mary Wollstonecraft, A vindication of theh Rights of Woman Participation with sans-culottes

Napoleonic France Women viewed as legal incompetents Few rights Patriarchal political system

19 th Century Marriage & Family Social roles

Marriage & Family Romantic love ideal Small family, loving relationship with kids Middle class more aware economically Illegitimacy declined Middle class more dependent on parents

Social Roles Spheres of work separated for men and women Victorian ideal of domesticity Working class – most worked outside home Middle class – organizing for women’s rights Marxism – women are equally oppressed

Socialism and women Catholic orders organized schools and hospitals Temperance Education Peace

20 th Century Legal right to wages and property Legal right to work without husband’s permission Some countries legalized divorce Women’s suffrage (WWI) Fascist nations – traditional roles Postwar – restricted in employment