Women in the 16th and 17th century faced many challenges and restrictions within society. During the 16th century the main role of women was to manage their households. Women were expected to focus on practical domestic pursuits and activities that encouraged the betterment of their families, and more particularly, their husbands who were seen as their only financial source1. Girls didn't go to school as it was thought to be detrimental to the traditional female virtues of innocence and morality1. However, some girls from wealthy upper class families were home schooled, and girls from middle class families were taught how to read and write. It was also tradition that girls were taught by their mothers’ basic skills, such as sewing and cleaning2. Some upper class women that were well educated were; two of Henry VIII's wives, Catherine of Aragon and Catherine Parr, and Queen Elizabeth I.
In the 16th century a woman was a wife and a mother. Unmarried women were frowned upon, and were often the targets for witch hunts1. Punishment was severe in the 1500s. If a woman murdered her husband, she would be convicted of treason and was burned at the stake. Women who spoke out against the patriarchal system of gender roles, or any injustice, ran the risk of being exiled from their communities. Women weren't allowed to vote or gain inheritance money1.
The woman was seen as the “weaker sex” in terms of physical strength and endurance. This then lead to the assumptions that they would require constant care and guidance.3
Women got married during the ages of twenty to twenty five unless the marriage was arranged, and according to the law, they are able to marry by the age of 12. In a marriage, the husband had authority over the wife and children. Childbirth was dangerous for women, and birth to a daughter was always a disappointment.
The seventeenth century did not offer many changes in terms of the conditions for women. Women were still the housewives, and took care of their husband and children4. Although women were still not able to practice prestigious professions such as lawyers and doctors, some women had simple jobs such as, shoemakers, dyers, embroiderers, and a domestic servant5. Women were still unable to express their views of politics and religion that contradicted their husbands view and established systems. To express themselves, personal writing and journals became very popular1.
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