Position of women in 16 and 17 century Essay Example for Free

Position of women in 16 and 17 snow EssayWomen were challenged with expressing themselves in a patriarchal system that generally refused to grant merit to womens views. Cultural and semipolitical events during these centuries increased attention to womens issues such as education reform. Though modern feminism was non-existent.The social coordinate women limited opportunities for involvement they served largely as managers of their households. Women were expected to focus on practical domestic pursuits and activities that advance the betterment of their families, and more particularly, their husbands. Education for women was not supportedharmful to the traditional female virtues of innocence and morality. Women who round out against the patriarchal system of gender mappings, or any injustice, ran the risk of being exiled from their communities, or worse vocal unmarried women in particular were the targets of witch-hunts.The seventeenth century women continued to play a si gnificant, though not acknowledged, role in economic and political structures with their primarily domestic activities.They often acted as counselors in the home, tempering their husbands words and actions. Women were discouraged from directly expressing political views counter to their husbands or to broadly chafe established systems nevertheless, many women were able to make public their private views through the veil of personal, religious writings. sexual unionThe seventeenth century represents a fascinating period of English history, drawing the attention of whole generations of historians. This annoyed age saw three major events that had a deep impact on England s political as well as social lifethe English whirling, the Restoration of the Stuarts in 1660 and the Glorious Revolution in 1688. Amidst the turmoil of the events, peoples everyday lives unfolded. While it was mens preoccupation to maintenance the countrys political and economic affairs going, women had an indis pensable, though far less public, part to play. This study aims at providing an outline of the seventeenth-century English uniting, viewed from the womans perspective. It touches upon topics such as concluding marriages, basic marriage values, duties of a married woman and possibilities of divorce. Attention is paid to the areas in which theseventeenth-century reality was different from todays.In seventeenth-century England, marriage and sexual morals played a far more important social role than nowadays. A family centred around a married couple represented the basic social, economic and political unit. In the Stuart period, a husbands rule over his wife, children and servants was seen as an analogy to the kings persist over his peoplea manifestation of a hierarchy constituted by God. A woman was regarded as the weaker vessel (a phrase taken from the New Testament)a creature physically, intellectually, morally and even spiritually inferior to a man therefore, the man had a right to dominate her (Fraser 1981 1).In a confederation strongly influenced by Puritan values, sexual integrity and the status of a married person gave a woman respectability and social prestige. This, together with the fact that it was very difficult for women to find ways of reservation an independent living, meant that securing a husband was a matter of great importance. Theoretically, it was likely for two people to bind very young. The minimum legal age was 12 years for women and 14 years for men. In addition, it was possible for the couple to get engaged at the age of 7, with the right to break off the engagement on reaching the minimum age of consent (Stone 1965 652). However, early marriages were rather rarethe average age of the newlyweds was virtually 25 years.Interestingly, the basic requirement for a legally valid marriage was not a courtly consecration in a church, but the completion of a marriage contract, commonly called spousals. Spousals were an act in which the b ride and gear up said their vows in the present tenseper verba de prasenti (Ingram 1987 126). In a majority of cases, this procedure was accompanied by a church ceremony (banns). Yet if the marriage was concluded without witnesses and not consecrated in a church, it had the same legal validity. This practice had existed in England since the twelfth century and lasted till 1753. Not having to go through a church ceremony made it possible for lovers to marry secretly, without the knowledge of their parents. In this way, they could escape the dynastic scheming of their families.