Women in the Middle Ages - Essay Example

Women in the Middle Ages The key figures of the period recognized as the Middle Ages were the aristocratic men who headed a lot of money and who gained recognition for their achievements. The society was shaped in such a way so that the poor were becoming poorer and the rich were getting richer, and the poor had little chances to advance in their social status. Due to this, those who were a part of the poor socioeconomic group were unheard or were overshadowed by the cruel people of the upper class. The poor were not only the ones who were not able to raise their voices; along them, there was the female gender whose voice was disliked by the community and was never given any importance. Women during the era of middle ages were undermined and not accepted to participate in both social and economic activities. Women had certain amount of value in the society, but the bad part was that this value was placed in shape of economic good. They were recognized for two purposes: firstly, they were recognized for bringing up children; secondly, they were used for manual work. Women were paid low amount of wages, and this became the foundation of the standing of the economy of the medieval era. In various situations they used to assist other men in the work of agricultural production. The situation was so bad for the women that they were compensated even less than what children use to be paid for their work. Education was supposed to be crime or non religious activities for women, and the church was against women education not allowing them to participate in tasks that required good amount of education. The only allowed task other than working in the fields of agriculture was taking the role of midwife (Chilton 167). Women were the leading portion of the workforce of the textile industry; they heavily participated in the areas of woolen and silk. Although they enjoyed majority in such jobs, the amount of money they were compensated for their labor was near to zero. Other than working hard in the areas where manual labor was required, women were even the chief contributor of household tasks especially if they were married. Introduction of flour mills decreased the amount of hard work women had to do, and this even saved them ample amount of time and increased the compensation they were paid. Unionization came into existence, and the unions started controlling the skilled labor within the society. This encouraged the wealthy businessmen to pay women compensation in advance, and they started employing them on individual level. The industry that experienced hiring of women in huge numbers was the textile industry (Lawson 120). Those women whose skills were needed and highly desirable started gaining rewards when companies performed well. During the period of Chaucer, the role and status of women started altering, and they started to earn a little bit better compared to what they were previously earning. Thus, their existence started gaining importance. The increase in economic status of the women shook the foundations of the unions, and women started participating in these unions and their voice started gaining representation among unions. It is hard for the researchers to determine the accuracy of the female population of that time. It can be explained by the fact that during the Middle ages women were not a part of the consensus. Other than working as manual laborers, women were considered important for giving birth and children upbringing; a special significance of these issues could be observed in the rural centers. Huge amount of importance was placed on a woman’s child bearing ability because more children meant increase in workers in the agricultural sector; thus, women were considered almost as ‘machines’ that produced babies. One of the most disturbing facts of that era was that women were being married to men on the trial basis in which the individuals whose fertility level was high were married to each other. The point of highest concern was that when a mother gave birth to a child, both the child and the mother herself were at a very huge risk. During the Medieval ages, the rate of infant mortality sky rocketed, and the physical pain that women had to experience for working as manual laborers and bearing child made the conditions worse for the females of that era. Women were in such a bad shape that average number of women used to experience death at an early age of 20 and 40 which is very low if compared to men who died at an average age of 40 to 60 (Christine 165). Women who belonged to the families that had better socioeconomic status during that period were not considered important for their ability to produce and bring up children; rather they were of higher value because of the dowries that came with them due to marriage. These women lived longer than those who participated in manual labor and child bearing. Women from this socioeconomic status experienced widowhood since at that time men used to wait till their forties to get married and this assisted them in rethinking their status in the society (Ackerman 100). During the Middle Ages marriages were not given much importance themselves but considered important as business ventures (Simpson 47). A high value was placed on women who came from wealthy backgrounds; this made the wealthy men get into deals with the daughters of other wealthy men. Women who belonged to the peasant community had to gain acceptance from their feudal lord to get married to some one. The value of women from wealthy families became unimportant for men as soon as men received the dowries. Those women who used to get the status of a wife used to spend their time in the kitchen and agricultural work to earn their living. The community at that time largely accepted the act of beating wives, and it was even supported religiously by the churches. It is correct to state that women at that time were even treated worse than the way men used to treat their livestock because livestock was a profit making machine and women were of no economic value as soon as men had received dowries. The only way women could get away from beating or coercive treatment was by pleasing her men all the time. The two major roles assumed by women during this era was to rescue her soul by providing comfort to husband and to provide satisfying end of life time period to men even when women had conflicts with their men due to differences in age. On the other hand, men directed behavior of women and wrote guidelines for women to follow just like individuals in a society have to follow constitution. Women were expected to be submissive, and their life was dependant on patience. The double standard was practiced between genders: men were allowed to operate in an unfaithful manner, and if women did the same they used to experience immediate divorce and in certain cases they were coerced. Only women who ended up as widows experienced a better life and gained ownership of property left by their dead husbands; with the incident of death of the husband, women even gained freedom from being treated badly, but even widows were not allowed to be a portion of the government. Women undoubtedly contributed a lot to the churches: after being treated badly they decided to find peace in churches and heavily participated in religious activities. But churches even did not do justice to women and continued to manipulate them. The church saw women as inferior individuals within the society (Augustine 150). The church played a role of a safe heaven for women sine the father of these women used to marry their daughter to churches instead of spending money on finding suitable husbands for them. But once they became spouses of the church, they lost their right to own property and inherit it. Women did come in authority in certain areas, such as the convent: nuns got the goal of saving their virginity, and education was gained by women through means of nunneries (Dawood 60). Therefore, a woman had few options of liberty and freedom: one of the options was the power of sex, the second one was the widowhood with the inheritance of husband’s fortune, and the last one was the monkhood and the life without coercion. Thus, the women of the Middle Ages were a product of economic profit; they were important for child bearing and manual labor. So, the only way they could save themselves from such roles was by joining a church, satisfying their rich husbands or wait till their spouses lost their lives. Works Cited Ackerman, Robert William, Frederick W. Locke, and Carleton W. Carroll. Ywain, the knight of the lion. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1992. Print. Augustine, St. Confessions. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1961. Print. Chilton, Paul A. The Heptameron. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1984. Print. Dawood, N. J.. The Koran. 5th rev. ed. London, England: Penguin Books, 1990. Print. De Pizan, Christine . The Book of the City of Ladies. London: Penguin, 1999. Print. Lawson, Sarah. The treasure of the city of ladies. Rev. ed. London: Penguin, 2003. Print. Simpson, Lesley B. The Poem of the Cid. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1957. Print. Read More