Women In The Middle Ages

For much of history, women have fought an uphill battle trying to gain social and political equality with men. Comparing what a woman’s life was like in Medieval Europe to all of the opportunities and freedoms that women are able to experience today shows just how far things have come. Women in the Middle Ages lived an extremely different life than they would today, and that life was greatly affected by several different factors. In Medieval Europe, religion, social rank, marital status, and laws greatly influenced the life and image of women. Because faith was such a major part of medieval life, religion greatly influenced the image and expectations placed upon women. In medieval art of the biblical story of Adam and Eve, a woman’s head
Most women were either, peasants, noblewomen, or nuns. Most Medieval peasant women were serfs, living and working on the estates of noblemen. About 90% of all women in Medieval England lived in rural areas, and were therefore involved in farm work. (www.historylearningsite.co.uk). The life of a peasant woman was extremely difficult. Her parents would have put her to work at the earliest age possible, and treated her like an adult when she became as old as ten or eleven. They were expected to perform duties traditionally done by women, such as cooking meals, caring for children, making and mending clothes, and managing the household. During the busiest times of the planting season, peasant women often helped their husbands in the field and tended to livestock as well as completing their original responsibilities. These women struggled to complete all of the tasks they were responsible for doing, many days working from dawn to dusk just to get everything done. Although noblewomen were better off than the peasants financially, they faced inequality and little control over their lives. As opposed to a man’s academic experience, a young noblewoman’s education would consist more of obtaining manners and etiquette, such as learning how to curtsey, dance, and ride horses. Noblewomen had little to no say in who her husband would be, and her main job after marriage was to bear
With parental permission, girls could marry at twelve and boys at fourteen. Marriages were usually arranged so that both of the families would gain something from the union. Some of these betrothals happened when the future husband and wife were as young as seven. In higher nobility, many children were betrothed as babies. Girls from rich families would often marry at a younger age than girls from poor families, as many girls from poor families would work from an early age and not get married until they were in their twenties. It was extremely rare that a couple would marry because of love. If there was any love in the relationship, it would come after the they had been married for a while. If the couple never actually loved each other, they would usually develop some sort of friendship. Divorce was only acceptable if either the man or women were revealed to not be of marrying age, had taken a religious or monastic vow, or were not Christian. The laws of the time gave a husband full control over his wife; she was considered his property. For wealthy families, producing a male heir was necessary. A women would spend much of her married life pregnant. It is estimated that as many as 20% of women died during childbirth, the most common cause of death for young women during the Middle Ages.