Reformers encouraged women to take a more active role in religious processes of being saved. Most Anabaptist martyrs were female, in France, more women converted to Calvinism. The right of women to manage their own estate and a legal transaction was gradually withdrawn. During the first half of the 16th-century, witch-hunting peaked. Women were targets of repression because they were the collective memory of popular culture.
Because of the new Puritanical beliefs and practices, women were starting to have more of a role and say in society (one apart from the traditional submissive housewife). Women were just starting to grasp the idea that they were free to express themselves and not conform to the idea of being subject to
After 1815, the female was viewed in a more respectful persona in society. Women’s rights were beginning to grow. They were helping more in religious growth, and helping in the abolition of slavery. “On every principle of natural justice, as well as by the nature of our institutions, she is as fully entitled as man to vote and to be eligible to office.” (Document F). Many females were involved in the growth of religion, including the Second Great Awakening. With the females being the ones who take the children to church, they were prone to having a deeper belief for their religion. And with that, they would try to inspire religious growth. The Second Great Awakening spurred reform, prison, church, temperance, abolition, women’s rights, and Christianizing Indians. With women fighting for what they believe in, the women were finding themselves to have a new found respect; from both themselves and men. Document E illustrates this by females walking down a street with a sense of confidence.
After the roman times, women’s continued traditions of the old religion and were leaders, counsellors, visionaries and healers (a.k.a. wise women). The Christian Church and state branded them witches and condemned them as worshippers of the Devil.
In nineteenth century America, women were not given the same rights and freedoms as their spouses/ men. Women were expected to be submissive to their husbands though they did have some authority within the private sphere. The private sphere is comprised of the home and family. During this time, women were responsible for being a mother and wife; however, with the Second Great Awakening, women were being to have more freedoms and responsibilities. New roles allowed for mothers to teach their children religion in their homes and women took up an interest in attending religious revival meetings (Hewitt, Lawson 357). A fair number of women were enticed with the religious revival movement because it allowed women to leave their private sphere and participate in the public sphere. Women were given an opportunity to conjugate with each other and practice their beliefs that allowed them to slowly partake in the reform (Hewitt, Lawson 352). The religious revival meetings attracted thousands to attend, most of who were women, and “pray” in a group (Frances Trollope – Description of a Revival Meeting, 1832). In Document 11.7, Frances Trollope, English author,
During the early 1900s the Puritans and Quakers were two of the most common religions in America. The Puritans were known for trying to keep their community as close to their beliefs as possible. That meant their laws came from the bible and that if they were broken then there were to be serious consequences. They also believed in witches and other supernatural beings at this time; this is why they had the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. At this time women were still seen as weak and inferior to the men of the day so they didn’t have many rights.
While we have come farther than the 1600s, there are still lots of misogynistic views and blatant sexism prevalent in media and even taught to children. In Puritan society, women faced inequality too. Like most of their social, economic and political policies it relied on religion. Document H quotes “Limitation of Government” which states that, “It is there fore fit for every man to be studios of the bounds which the Lord hath set: and for the people, in whom fundamentally all power lies, to give as much power word gives to men…. it Is good for the wife to acknowledge all power and authority to the husband…” This created many issues. Men having all the family power meant also political and economic power. The women had little to no rights and were expected to care for the family instead of attending the local school or going to look for any sort of job. These sorts of beliefs were passed down and upheld for centuries. Even today we are still pushing for women of all races and ethnicities to be represented in government and in all fields of academia. The Puritans religious beliefs had a negative effect on the gender hierarchy of the 1630s that would later lead to more serious
Following the Reformation, views of women were altered. They were thought of as equals of men, as shown in Document 4. Schools were made for girls where they could study the Bible. The wealthy were also attracted to the movement due to the end of indulgences, which had previously pressured the wealthy into giving the Church large amounts of money in order to “save their souls”. It seems to me that people back then did a lot of things that they didn’t want to and it’s difficult to bring that topic to realization. But, with this whole debacle ending, it made people feel more safe and secure with others as well as
From the beginning of time, women have had to succumb to the authority of men. Women were essentially men’s slaves and had little say in the household and had virtually no voice in politics. They were to be seen and not heard. There were, however, instances of women that were able to call attention to themselves, whether negative or positive. The girls involved in the Salem Witch Trials, for example, were able to draw an awareness to themselves and become a significant heated topic. Sarah Kemble Knight gained a reputation for herself by being knowledgeable in
Women took charge of religious and charitable enterprises because they were excluded from other public roles and because of their numbers. After 1800, more than 70 percent of the members of New England Congregational churches where women. The overabundance of women prompted Congregational ministers to end gender segregated prayer meetings.
The status of women during the colonial times were below the men at that time. Women were basically property of men and did what the men said to, kind of like slaves. Women experienced freedom, but it wasn’t good enough. Women could not fight in wars, vote, and most did not know how to read. Men also abused their wives, and women were denied access to divorce even in the harshest conditions. It didn’t matter the economic conditions of the women, variety of women with economic differences were accused of witchcraft. There were very little women who led in religious events because, they would be accused of witchcraft. Most women who had a lead role in religion were often persecuted or banished. Anne Hutchinson who believed in freedom of religion
Niccolo di Pietro Gerini’s Scourging of the Four Crowned Martyrs (1385-90) depicts a scene in which four martyrs are pursued by a group of men with some scourging tool (which resembles a modern-day rake). A late Gothic painting in which Gerini depicts a Catholic story of the Four Crowned Martyrs, the Scourging incorporates much of the static, stiff forms which are characteristic of the period’s prevailing style. In the painting, one can notice clear divisions of space, distinct separations of forms within that space, and emphases on the men doing the scourging within that space as a function of where the light is directed in the painting. An analysis of these three key elements of the painting suggests a cohesive assertion about the way the painting’s subjects are depicted within the image. Initially it seems apparent that the four martyrs are depicted in a negative manner with the scourging men taking precedence. However, an analysis beyond the obvious elements – particularly the figure suspended in the air and the devilish figures attacking the scourging men – suggest that the four martyrs are actually being depicted in a more positive light.
Women of this time acted as reformers,
Through witchcraft, which give ladies a role as the medium between the characteristic and heavenly universes, ladies could accomplish a power that frightened numerous New Englanders. Dread of female strengthening can't totally clarify the brain science behind any of the New Britain witch trials, however the insane reaction to claimed witches does, at a slant, say a lot about the constrained roads open to ladies amid this period. Unreasonably, witchcraft trials permitted ladies to affirm and took ladies' words (both in allegation and safeguard) genuinely; the main other place where New Britain ladies could talk in chapel or impact church administration was the Quaker
The fight for equal rights continued and the cult of true womanhood was considered in those times that a woman should maintain a subordinate status, thereby she could not vote, own property, and has held to earn one quarter to one half of what her male counterpart would earn in the same position. They also could not hold positions in the professions of law or medicine. They could not attend college and they were banned from becoming involved in the ministry.
The French Revolution brought with it many sweeping changes in the realm of human rights both to France and eventually the rest of the world. Through Enlightenment ideas, groups previously viewed as second-class citizens, and even those viewed as hardly human, gained greatly enhanced rights and even citizenship with all that this entailed. Amazingly with all the rights and privileges that were being recognized as inherent to various social groups, half the population was left with little or no improvement in their station. This, of course, refers to women. While there were those who fought for women's rights, such as Condorcet, Etta Palm D'Aelders, and Olympe De Gouges; these