Oppression Of Women In The 18th Century

Perhaps the Early Modern ages in Western Europe were what established the continuous years of oppression for the female gender. During this time, women were barely even looked at as human, evident when essayist Richard Steele defined women in 1710 as “...a daughter, a sister, a wife, and a mother, a mere appendage of the human race...(Hufton)” Throughout a woman's life, it was the norm for them to prepare all their lives to serve domestically in order to get married young, and care for her husband and children, and that was it. “They usually conceptualised female maturity in terms of being married, with a household to run, possibly with children to rear and servants to oversee. (Crawford)” Seeing as this way of life was traditional for women of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, it is no secret that the female gender was highly overlooked given the voice (or lack thereof) they had in society. As time went on, this was still a part of the work women did, as well as more jobs that still involved household work. Transitioning from the 16th through the 18th centuries of early modern Europe, oppression of the female gender was still prevalent, which disallowed a variety of work that a woman would be able to take part in.