Viking Women Played A Big Part On Viking Society

Households were strictly patriarchal in which the man of the house made all the important decisions. Women's jobs at the time were mostly relegated to domestic service and occasional work at harvest time. The jobs were always of low pay, low status, and required little training. In addition to this females were not legally permitted to inherit land or property. This was the bleak life of a woman, with little hope or power, and always the subordinate of men.

The Native women were also responsible for raising the family. While being married to a trader, the wife was supposed to act as one of their wives from back home. Usually the wife/mother would wake up early in the morning and start the day such by making food or even preparing the furs for them to be sent back to Europe. Most women would also catch the food for the family, while their husbands were occupied with the trades. They were also responsible for raising their daughters and teaching them the general skills of a woman. The sons would also stay with their mothers at home. However, when they became men they would follow their fathers and learn the business.

The jobs of gathering and growing plants were doled out to the women.  They also

A woman had a busy domestic life. A woman played the role of wife, mother, teacher and manager. She had to please her husband, bear and raise children, educate her children, and manage all daily household activities. In the home, the woman was the jack of all trades. Part of the role of the female was to take raw goods, and turn them into useful items, such as food, candles, and clothing. Women had to clean, butcher and prepare all game brought home to the family. A woman was a household factory. Many items in the home were created by women. All clothing was made by spinning, weaving and stitching. All cloth was washed by hand without the aid of any machines. Candles were made at home by weaving a wick and pouring hot wax into a mold. A woman had to be educated enough to teach her sons and daughters the skills of life. Women spent the majority of their time performing daily tasks, but still were able to have leisure activities such as painting, embroidery, and charity work. Women had very few legal rights. In the majority of colonies, women had no legal control over their lives. It was the consensus among society that

Women helped with the load of the work that men did. They helped with clearing the land in addition to watching over the chores of the house. The women didn’t expect the cold as the old country as said from the interview of Mary Prokop,”That first winter was the very hardest mother had ever experienced and, as she later told us children, at least in the old country, through the food was scarce, they had been been warm. He they were cold and isolated in the unfinished house for the entire severe winter.”(Interview #4)”

“Rich married when they were teenagers. Poor women worked from a really early age. They were treated as adults from age 11 and they married at age 20” (C N). Once again, women didn’t get to choose what they wanted to do someone or something decided for them. In this case it would be their wealth that decided it for them. Women in the early ages had to grow up faster than we do today. Today, 20 is pretty young to get married, and some woman in the early ages got married before then. After they were married it only got worse. “Marriage often plunged a woman into being an estate manager. Marriage among landowners was arranged. Women then not only had to take care of her land, but her husband’s as well” (Dean 61). Before marriage women had to do inside work for her family and sometimes work in the fields, but once she got married, she had to take care of her own house and not only her fields but her husband’s as well. Women didn’t even get to pick who they married most of the time because it was arranged. “Women weren’t allowed to marry without parents consent. They weren’t allowed to own a business, get a divorce, or own property unless they widowed, and they couldn’t inherit land if they didn’t have brothers” (C N). So, a woman’s parent also got to choose what went on in a woman’s life and how she

Women gathered food in groups; they had their own societies for ceremonial activity. They raised their children together until the children were about six or seven, at which point boys generally were sent to spend time with male relatives to be taught their roles in life. Girls remained with their mothers, learning the roles that they would eventually endeavor (Finch 44).

"Upon marriage, woman became the legal wards of their husbands, as they previously had been of their fathers while still unmarried" (Martin, 68). It was common for a father to sell his young daughter into marriage and the young women had no say in her preference of her suitors (Mahaffy, 48). This was done while the girl was in her young teens while the groom was ten to fifteen years older (Martin, WEB2). As the father, or guardian, gave the young girl away he would repeat the phrase that expressed the primary aim of marriage: "I give you this women for the plowing [procreation] of legitimate children" (Martin, WEB2). The woman’s role was primarily in the home. "Households thus depended on women, whose wok permitted the family to economically self-reliant and the male citizens to participate in the public life of the polis" (Martin, WEB2).

Traditional historiographies and archaeological research perceived the Viking world as being dominated by men with the majority of studies being concerned with exploring the life and material culture of the male part of the society. There is no denying that archaeology is a discipline which has traditionally been deeply colored by a predominantly male bias, and the historical dominance of men over women had been accepted to such a degree that it appeared to be the natural order of things . Popular imagination was of male Viking warriors with their long beards, large axes, colorful shields, and bloodied swords. The presence of women was limited within the scope of early works. The historiographical study of women’s rights within the Viking Age is in its early stages. The academic fields of gender and women’s studies gained greater prominence beginning in the 1970’s, coinciding with the feminist movement. Early gender archaeology can be said to have been a search for women in the past, which was closely tied with the second wave feminism of the 60s and 70s . It is not surprising that the earliest practitioners in gender archaeology wanted to show that there were in fact women in the past, and that these women were not just important, they were just as important and integral to the development of cultures as their contemporary men.

However, one thing women could not do is they could not hold an office. The woman in the house was essentially the housekeeper. She cooked, cleaned, and raised children. The freedom of the woman depended upon the wealth of the family. Often times higher status women were not tasked with as many household oriented chores.

Viking history and culture have been depicted in many movies, television series, and stories. Vikings are commonly known as barbarians that raid villages and intimidate others with huge ships with dragon heads, and horned helmets. This information is based on facts, but has been distorted and exaggerated over many years and tales. Viking history spans from the years 780 until 1100, which is the time span of the Viking raids. Not every Scandinavian was a Viking; Vikings were known as the men that conducted raids and bloody battles. The old definition of Viking was synonymous with the term pirate. The modern definition is relevant to the Scandinavian medieval culture, to include farming, crafting and trading.

“Most girls were trained from childhood for the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain, how to cook and make beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth for clothing. If a woman worked outside of her home, her job usually grew out of her household

Where marriage was concerned, Anglo-Saxon women had the possibility of marrying anyone they chose. Sometimes marriages were arranged to keep peace between two clans, but the women still had the right to refuse the proposal. Since women could own land in this early culture, morgengifu (morning gifs) like land were given to a prospective the wife to persuade

Soon after a girl hits puberty, she is considered ready for marriage. Marriages were almost always arranged by the families of the bride and

When you think of the Vikings, chances are you think of horned helmets, raids, and bloody battles. But on the other side of the spectrum, there are the women of Nordic culture. Women are mostly thought of as looking like Viking warriors fighting alongside their men. But that was hardly the case. In reality, women were important in many other ways. They were treated very differently than other women in different European cultures at that time.