Women In The Middle Ages Research Paper

Words: 1267
Pages: 6

What was life like for women in the middle ages? I've seen numerous amounts of movies and read many books about women in the middle ages. I am writing about this topic because I find a great fascination about what all women actually had to accomplish during that time period. I realize how different it is now for women then back in the middle ages. I also find this topic to be an amazing one to write about because it makes you take a look back on how life used to be for women. All the struggles, pain, heartache, and happiness they had to endure. I enjoy reading and listening to information about this topic and I feel as if this will come easily to me and better educate me on what I did not know. Women in the middle ages may appear to other …show more content…
The men made it out to be that women were sinful beings, as Eve was to Adam. There are many rights women in the Middle Ages did not have like women do today. Women could not vote. Men looked down on women then and treated them gruesomely. If a husband told his wife to do a task and she refused she was beaten into submission because disobedience was a crime against God. I believe that men in that day in time were somewhat lazy. I know they fought in wars, worked in nearby shops, farming, and some were kings, but I still do not see them doing anything else besides that. Women did a lot of the work. Modern historians are beginning to discover that medieval women made a significant contribution to the economy of the medieval world. (Sandra Odd). The duties of a medieval woman are much different than those of women in today's society. The peasants made up half of the population in the middle ages. Women who were peasants made large contributions to the society. If you were a married woman your place was at home and the village, while a man's place was in the fields, roads, and forests (Hanawalt, 1986). But what did women do in their home or village exactly? Most peasant women rose at dawn. A woman had many responsibilities to tend to. Women had to clean, cook, look after their children, and on top of all that she was expected to work in the yard and look after the animals. If told to do so, she would work in the field with her husband. The women also produced and train new members of the ¨work force¨ her children. For extra money, some women took up activities like spinning. Many peasant women did not marry but instead became a servant. Servants helped with crafts in homes or nursed the children of their master. A young medieval noble woman her duties would be to look after clothes and assist ladies with their dressings and coiffure. Some duties as a housewife would be to preserve fruits and household