The Influence Of Gender In Elizabeth I's Rule Of England

One of the biggest challenges Elizabeth faced during her reign was the misogyny against her brought about by religious institutions and figures. Bishops from the Church of England showed this by writing in The Second Book of Homilies “but as for wives, they must obey their husbands, and cease from commanding, and perform subjection.” (doc 3) this statement told women that they were not equal to men, that men must make all the decision for the women leaving women only to do as asked by a man, therefore clearly stating women are incapable of ruling a country or even a household the archbishops of York also believed that women should not lead but rather stand behind their husbands Nicholas Heath said

Using these four sources in their historical context, assess how far they support the view that female rule was a serious problem in the 1550s Female rule was a problem for some people, including protestants as they did not believe women should be on the throne as they were considered to be incapable of ruling and looking after the country. Some people also believed that they were unable to control a faction or lead an army into battle; they put across the stereotypical weaknesses of women forwards to put an argument together that woman are weak and cannot rule. Another weakness of the female rule was foreign marriages could weaken England and the laws and customs will be bought over and changed, this is what source A supports – the weakness of women due to foreign marriages. Source D also supports the idea that a female on the throne was a weakness.

Considering the fact that a female successor to the throne of England was ascending, there was a tremendous amount of political influence on her reign. The Act of Supremacy (Doc. 3), declared by King Henry VII, assured that Elizabeth would be the rightful heir to the throne of England; this parliamentary act stated that Elizabeth is the most superior

Much of Elizabeth’s success in managing parliament is due to her personal skills and tactics. Elizabeth used a tactic of moderate reform, such as through the Religious Settlement, as it successfully isolated extremists and prevented the encouragement of large-scale extremism. Elizabeth cleverly exploited her gender to successfully control Parliament. The queen’s feminine charm often the loyalty

During the reign of Elizabeth I many people who held sexist gender standards attempted to oppress the queen and denounce her for being a woman monarch. Elizabeth responded to these criticisms and affirmed her position as queen. These censures were based on religion and politics and influenced the opinions of people who were interested in either of these two areas. Elizabeth responded to both accordingly by accepting the stereotype of a woman but avowed her position in both areas by arguing that she had the personality of a man or that she ruled as the wife and mother of England. She also had support from people working close to her.

Elizabeth recognised that husbands in the 16th century were deemed to hold dominion over their wives, and that any marriage would inevitably lead to her loss of her authority. Elizabeth also regularly encountered debates over female leadership and whether or not her status as a woman would compromise her position as a monarch. ‘Young, female and powerful: Was Elizabeth I a feminist?’ is a blog post by Kate Wilkinson, a somewhat unreliable journalist and writer at the Royal Museums Greenwich, discussing the effect of gender on Elizabeth’s leadership and representation, the inequalities of male and female rulers, and Elizabeth’s reaction to critics insisting her gender should excuse her from ruling, and her brand and label of ‘The Virgin Queen’. This label became a political function for Elizabeth as it suggested morality and purity, with these traits, as well as her appearance and feminine presentation, Elizabeth garnered support for her reign, “She had to present herself without the traditional

Life during the Elizabeth Era men were more respected in society than women. Women during the Elizabeth Era were raised to believe that they were inferior to men. Depending on your social class, determined your role in society. Women weren’t allowed to vote along with the men from lower social classes. Women who were born into the upper class were afforded the right to an education, compared to women of the lower class who were not.

As a result of this, women were viewed with a lower intelligence and it was assumed that they had weak morals (Thomas, 1998). Their role in life was to bear children, boys to be specific (Loades & Trow, 2011). Instead of subjecting herself to these gender roles, Elizabeth refused to marry; she did not want to

In her motivational speech, the monarch, Queen Elizabeth I attempts to persuade her misogynistic contemporaries that she is indeed a honorable leader, capable of defending the country and people in it from any would-be invaders. The queen convinces her soldiers of this parallel-reality by equating herself with a man. Elizabeth advocates that she is willing to die with her people in order to express her ability to rule like a king, which appeals to the pride of her misogynistic subjects. She then acknowledges the claim that she is unfit to lead her queendom, and swiftly turns around and dispels the rumor by declaring that she is as much a man as any ruler of another nation, and as such they would be downright foolhardy to so much as throw a menacing glance at her mighty and prosperous queendom. Queen Elizabeth I adopts authoritative tone to continue to grip the hearts of her soldiers and motivate the men to fight for queen and country.

Elizabeth’s strength, independence, and her intense willpower to assure that her marriage is coordinated only by love demonstrate the feminist portrayal of Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s desire for

The Elizabethan Era was undeniably more partial to males than to females. Women were often characterized as dependent, passive and obedient (Weiner

In the sixteenth century the role of women in society was very limited. Women were generally stereotyped as housewives and mothers. They were to be married, living their life providing for her husband and children. The patriarchal values of the Elizabethan times regarded women as the weaker sex.’ Men were considered the dominant gender and were treated with the utmost respect by females. Women were mainly restricted within the confines of their homes and were not allowed to go school or to university, but they could be educated at home by private tutors. Men were said to be the ones to provide for their families financially. Women were often seen as not intelligent. Property could not be titled in the name of a female within the family. Legally everything the female had belonged to her husband. Poor and middle class wives were kept very busy but rich women were not idle either. In a big house they had to organize and supervise the servants.

In the Elizabethan period, women were subordinate to men. They were considered to be ‘inferior' beings who were controlled by their husbands, fathers or any other men in the family. Women were not allowed to hold their own opinions, views or lifestyles. Men had control of everything, some of these included money, politics, work, children, women and home.

Elizabeth pled her innocence – her character true and loyal to her sister – and Mary denied to meet with Elizabeth. The English stood by their Lady’s side, “when bystanders shouted ‘God save the Queen’, there was no response when the cry was ‘God save the Lady Elizabeth’, the answer came, ‘so be it’.” The people favored Lady Elizabeth over Queen Mary. When there was no evidence to prove Lady Elizabeth’s involvement against this treason, she was let go upon Wyatt’s confession that neither Elizabeth or Courtenay had any involvement in the rebellion. The importance of the dispute is that the English supported Lady Elizabeth over their own Queen. The nation’s religious state was most comparable to Elizabeth’s – she was protestant – and the Queen was, in their eyes, putting the fait of their country in reach of one of the most powerful nations during that time. The English supported Lady Elizabeth, even before she became Queen.

“ The belief that women were inherently inferior in intelligence, strength, and character was so persuasive that for men like Knox, a woman ruler was almost a contradiction in terms” (“Documents for Chapters 5&6”). In the 16th century, women were looked upon as a gender that should stay in the house and work, not have power and rule over a country. Discussing the govern of Queens during the 16th century, such as Mary Tudor, Lady Jane Grey, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I, allowed prejudices to be lessened but never completely be erased. No matter how these four notable ladies came into power, the accomplishments they overcame, achieved and wrote about proved to be great and substantial in making history as it is written today.