How Did The Reformation Change The Role Of Women

Over the expansion of time between 16th Century Reformation and the 18th Century Enlightenment, the role of a woman was greatly discussed. The Reformation was led to a desire in seeking changes. The age of Enlightenment prompted looking at things under a different light. It was the ideas of the Reformation and the Enlightenment that led to a desire for classification and roles for each person in society over this expansion of time. Women were never recognized as equals to men by the majority of society. The specific details of a woman's role entailed did change slightly between the Enlightenment and Reformation; women were granted some new abilities such as more education and ability to divorce their husbands but limited in how they could work and live in society while being considered subordinate to man. The first first changes in the lives of women
Reformers such as Luther and Calvin gave women the ability to divorce husbands, a right not previously given in the Renaissance. Women were also free to worship religions as they chose. These reformers still did not give full credit to the women and clergy positions were only held by men. The teaching that all people should read the Bible caused an acceptance of women reading the Bible for themselves: an ability not given before the Reformation. The view of higher standing women before the Reformation, as expressed in Castiglione's The Courtier, was that women are to be feminine, kind, subordinate to men, and that they only reason they should receive education was to entertain men. This principle was changed over time because women’s education in reading was faith-based and not a way to entertain men.