Role of Women

 

Women and Education

Wealthy

• Wealthy women were allowed education

• Wealthy women were tutored at home

• They were taught in Latin, Italian, Greek and French

• Dancing and Music skills were essential

• Women were not allowed to go to university

Middle Class/Poor

• Did not attend school

• Did not receive formal education

• Had to learn to govern a household

• Had to become skilled in housewife duties

• Learned only what needed to be known in order to marry

Marriage

• Elizabethan women were expected to marry

• People were suspicious with single women

• Single women were often associated with witches

• Elizabethan women are suppose to be dependant of their male relative throughout their entire life

• Marriage was desirable for lower class women

• With parental permission, it is legal for girls at 12 years of age to marry

The Role of Unmarried Women

• Single women could spend their life in a convent or a nunnery

• It was eventually no longer an option

• Thus, the only other option was domestic service

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The Role of Women in Marriage

• Women were expected to bring a dowry (i.e. a small amount of money, goods and property) to the marriage

• After marriage, women were expected to run households and provide children

• Large families were normal

• High mortality rates (i.e. death of infants under 1 years old) at that time

• Many women made arrangements for others to take care of their child in case they pass away during childbirth.

• Women were believed to be inferior to men

• Women were totally dominated by male members of the family

• They were expected to obey the father, brother, uncle, and any other male member of the family.

• The punishment for disobedience was a beating. It was seen as sin to disobey the male member of the family.