Women in the Scientific Revolution Era Essay

Judith Sargent Murray’s On the Equality of the Sexes reveals the struggles women had in the 17th-18th centuries when it came to equal education opportunities. Women were expected to become people of domestication while men had many opportunities to expand their minds and be ambitious, and be leaders. Women were expected to focus on taking care of their family, not to have minds of their own. They wanted change.

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.

Some aspects of the lifestyle ancient civilizations lived almost seem appalling or intolerable when compared to the very developed and carefully shaped the world inhabited today. One of these characteristics of previous societies that prove to be rather challenging to conceive in current times consists of the lack of rights, privileges, and equity women had. Society maintained this assumption of a man’s superiority up until the women’s rights movement of the early twentieth century; yet with the two sexes essentially equal in America today, imagining a restricted life as a female proves unfathomable. Looking back at the history of human kind, men almost always subdued women and treated them as property. When focusing on the first

Some believed that God deliberately made women inferior to men, which was evident in the Bible. The General Association of Massachusetts issued a Pastoral Letter which stated, “the appropriate duties and influence of woman are clearly stated in the New Testament. Those duties are unobtrusive and private, but the source of mighty power. When the mild, dependent, softening influence of woman upon the sternness of man’s opinions if fully exercised, society feels the effects of it in a thousand forms.” Women are supposed to handle domestic affairs. God made women soft and mild to balance out the strong nature of men. This balanced relationship keeps society in check. When a woman becomes independent, “she yields the power which God has given her for protection, and her character becomes unnatural. If the vine, whose strength and beauty is to lean upon the trellis-work, and conceal its clusters, thinks to assume the independence and the overshadowing nature of the elm, it will not only cease to bear fruit, but will fall in shame and dishonor into the dust.” A woman is like a vine; a vine without support will fall and will become unfruitful. A woman who is independent will be shamed by society and will become unsuccessful. God made women to depend on man. If a woman does not comply, she will fail. Some people believed that God intentionally made women weaker

Women during the era of the Protestant Reformation had many different life styles. Women in that century started being viewed as temptress (Eve) to a virgin (Mary). During those years, their standard of living turned in to being a biblical housewife. They rapidly turned into the focal point, that men needed to survive. After Martin Luther realized that, he made his famous quote: “Imagine what it would be like without woman….”

From the primary sources from the historical periods of the Reformation, Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment era the evolution of the role of women can be examined from their sheer value of the male and women counterparts. The Scientific Revolution had little regard for their women because of their place throughout history and the Enlightenment era was when the advancement of women took place. During the Reformation period there was more tolerance for women than in other periods throughout history. The Protestant Reformation period was caused because of the split from the Catholic church by Martin Luther.

During the Scientific Revolution women decided they were going to erupt from the tradition of being housewives and study science, literature, and astronomy even if men and other women would shun upon them. From the 1600s to the 1700s women attempted to make a break through, some women neglected house worthy chores, personal appearance, and more so that they could study. Although some women did all of these "chores and duties" and still had time to learn about science and other fields.

A Vindication of the rights of woman, by the first feminist thinker Marry Wollstonecraft and was published in 1792. In her book Wollstonecraft argues for the rights of women to be educated as men and where she also blames women, men and the education system for the limited roles of women in society at her time. Wollstonecraft was competing herself against writers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau who believes that women and men are two different creatures. This essay will explain the three main factors that contributed to the limited roles of women in society during the 17th century.

During the scientific revolution,

Women in the origin of modern science also played a major role during the Scientific Revolution, during the medieval ages members of religious orders women who sought a life of learning were severely hampered by the traditional attitude but, in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Women emerged as enthusiasm for the new secular learning called humanism encouraged Europe’s privileged and learned men to encourage women to read and study classical and christian texts. By this time it was not just for the government to take over the Scientific Revolution mobilized to teach people including women. “Given this extraordinary pattern of discovery”, Women like Margaret Cavendish were attracted to the Scientific Revolution, females educated

Another argument for the Church’s perspective of women was that, they were worse that the Devil. This argument arose because, Eve persuaded Adam to eat the forbidden fruit when the Devil lacked the courage to tempt him directly. This perspective of women clearly didn’t condone equality, but rather the complete opposite and this perspective was not only exclusive to men in the church but also to women as well. Women

I/ Introduction The Bible was written in a patriarchal culture. As a result, men are significantly mentioned than women; they also hold a position of leadership more often in the Bible and in the religion. However, both men and woman were made in the image and likeness of God. In the course entitled Women in the Bible, a woman was called as “a helper suitable for a man” according to Genesis 2:18. Thus, she wasn’t an inferior assistant to her spouse Adam, but a co-worker and an equal as God intended.

All throughout the centuries, there have been many distinctive differences between men and women between the roles in society and their behaviors. Today, gender roles have been shifted and are making a durable impact on society. However, the issue regarding women’s rights are not just one but many. During this class, we have analyzed many different essays, books,

For the majority of human history, women have taken a backseat compared to men, in most aspects of life. Plenty of religious commentary has encouraged women being seen as lesser than men, beginning with the story of Adam and Eve. Within that story, there was Adam who needed a helper, Eve—within that alone, there is a sense of Eve simply being there to help Adam, while Adam was the main one in charge. Of course religion does not entirely rule over people’s perceptions and ideals for centuries, but it definitely did play a role in setting the tone. The different Egalitarian Anthropologies have created some sort of relief for women to be seen as more than just “helpers,” while other Anthropologies emphasize that idea.

Historians have suggested that the new philosophy of “Descartes and Locke made modern feminism possible. In this view the new ideas promoted by the moderns in the seventeenth century served to wipe clean the slate of ancient prejudices in Aristotelian scholastics. Prejudices against the intellectual capabilities of women were to be rethought on the basis of clear and distinct ideas (Scheibinger 165).” In order to justify a women’s, claim that woman is the social equal of man, for example, she argued that sex differences have no significance beyond purely physical differences. The argument of the mind has no sex, as well as the argument of how females have smaller brains was argued. “The idea that a wedge could be driven between mind and body held great potential for the liberation of women. By declaring that the mind has no sex, feminists denied that women had a special sexual character (Scheibinger 178).” This lead to