Ap European Women Dbq Essay

Words: 816
Pages: 4

Throughout history, women were not treated equally to men. This trend did not exclude Europe in its Middle Ages. During these times, women couldn’t have jobs or participate in their governments. Their role in society was to take care of the home and have children. Although, when Europe entered the Renaissance period, some Europeans began modernizing their views on women. Towards the late 1800’s, women began getting jobs and writing books. Between 1450 and 1800, views on women varied. In earlier times, the majority of people saw women in a negative light. As the years went on, some people began to change their beliefs on women, while others did not. Many Europeans used religion to support their perspective on women. In Document 1, the authors suggest in 1486 that women are more susceptible to the ways …show more content…
Documents that highlighted this debate were documents 5, 6, and 7. In document 5 (written in 1558), the general content of the piece was that women were unworthy of rule and authority due to their genetic imperfections. In contradiction to this belief, Queen Elizabeth gave a speech to her troops in the same year (1558), which is found in Document 6. In short, Queen Elizabeth says that even though she appears to be a weak, feeble-minded woman, she is strong in the name of God, and battles with her troops, and that she is as good as any king would be. The purpose of the queen giving this speech was to show to her troops that being a woman made her no less of a leader, and that she was just as capable as a man in her position. To support the idea that women are worthy of power and glory, Document 7 is a painting of a woman killing a man. The purpose of the painting Judith slaying Holofernes (1614-1620) was also to showcase the power in which a woman truly holds. As shown between these three documents, people’s beliefs regarding women varied greatly, even within the same general time