Relationships between males and females have changed vastly today, than what they were in the fourteenth century, in the western world. There was still in tact during this period, the idea of the maternal role: where the women were to care for the family, whereas the men were to be the patriarchal figure.
Due to this the men were the most likely to hold a working position, and were perceived to be the leaders of society. To many women played the "weaker role." For many, this mean that women were timid and needed to be cared for. However others took great advantage of women's position in society, and turned on them with misogynistic hate.Common law was severely biased in favoured of men. Under English Common Law a woman's legal identity disappeared upon marriage, she was a 'feme covert' a woman eclipsed, covered by her husband.
She could no longer contract, sue or be sued. All her property, her dowry or portion, and anything she earned or inherited during the marriage belonged automatically to her husband. with the exception of paraphernalia (clothes, jewels, bedlinen and plate). He had a life interest in any real estate.
A woman who killed her husband was guilty not of murder, but of petty treason and was condemned to the same punishment as if she had killed the king. This was because such crimes threatened the established social order. Her sentence was to be drawn and burnt alive. For all other murders, including a husband killing his wife, the punishment was hanging.1Furthermore the law also stated that young girls could be married to men of any age from only seven years old. This often allowed men who were several times older than the girl, to take them as their wife.
This same law also stated that a rapist couldn't be convicted for the crime if the girl became pregnant, they argued that this was a signal by God that he consented the marriage.Another misogynistic law was presented by the time of the magna carta. This implied that a woman could not accuse any man of murder unless it was their husband. This same rule extended to unmarried women, basically implying that they couldn't accuse anyone.
The sumptuary laws introduced by King Edward III, put even more limits on women's rights. Notably women from 1363 were to wear clothes that symbolised the rank of their male superiors I.e their father or husband, depending on whether the female was married or not.The churches attitude to women was an obvious one. Most were believed by members of the clergy to be "weak, sinful and vain.
"2 This was due to the fact that the only superior female in the bible was the "virgin mary," and it was generally accepted that no female was to ever be as perfect as she, and therefore women were the inferior gender.Many of the church therefore suggested that women were therefore capable of leading men to the sin of lust. Due to this, women were encouraged to dress modestly, covering their arms and legs completely. Only the young, unmarried women and children would go around with their hair uncovered. There was also a superstition that if women didn't cover their ears, the Devil could enter their bodies through the ear and impregnate them.Women could not also hold superior roles in the church, something that can still be observed in the Catholic Church today.
Women could hold the position of a "nun," however were forbidden to be part of the secular clergy. They especially were not to interfere with the clerical matters of Rome, disallowing them to be cardinals and the like.Perhaps the most famous example of misogyny during the fourteenth century was the Witch Hunts. Though these occurred most prominently during latter centuries, they were becoming increasingly popular during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In the fourteenth century alone 100,000 women were killed in Europe, having been proclaimed guilty of being a sorceress. Out of all the people who were tried for the crime of witchcraft seventy five percent of them were women.
Many consider this to be victimisation of women. They were seen as lustful objects, much more capable of sinning than the man. They were seen as morally weak, sexually voracious, and more likely to be tempted by the Devil. Furthermore many were increasing their status in society, and this could have been seen as a backlash to that.The most clearest cases of misogyny during the fourteenth century however were in the home itself.
As women were considered the weaker sex, it was common for a man to beat his wife. There was a widespread belief among ordinary people, male and female, that it was every man's 'right' to beat his wife so long as it was to 'correct her' if she did anything to annoy or upset him or refused to obey his orders. Some churchmen even suggested that it was the word of God that allowed this action.There was even the case of some men and fathers selling wives, in the working classes. This was almost like selling a cattle for market, and would involve the same sort of bargaining system. However what was much more common in the upper classes, was arranged marriages.
Usually this would be due to an arrangement between fathers, or sometimes it would be by choice of the husband. Nonetheless it is evident that the wife rarely had a say in this arrangement.Women were also looked down in society for living in sin. Many men fathered illegitimate children, yet this was seen as far worse a crime for the woman. Those who did rarely married, as they were considered "tainted," and had indulged in sin. They were a taboo in their societies, often living in poverty.
Even the professional world was biased in favour of men. Many disgraced women were prostitutes which catered for mens "sexual needs." There wasn't a use for this for women as this time. They were the ultimate women living in sin, as they sold their body for money. The man was generally viewed as being bewitched by the girl, and it therefore wasn't their sin, but hers. Prostitutes were looked down on by the men of society, despite many of them using them.
It can be further noted that although few men were educated during this period, even fewer women were. Many viewed it as generally being a waste of time, as the women were just to serve their husbands, and had no need for education. Some even believed that the women were severely unintelligent as compared to the men, and that they simply couldn't comprehend academic learning. There was even the case that many were scared to educate women, as they may use it for sin. Even in aristocratic circles therefore very few women learned to even read and write.Furthermore there was the general case that women had very limited roles in society.
Their roles were limited, many merely served in their homes, others were prostitutes. Though there is evidence that some worked in mills, and the like, taking on traditional male occupations, it was incredibly rare for a female to have a high ranking position in terms of the court.It is clear therefore that women held the lesser role in society, and that men fully abused this. Misogyny is the act of hatred against women, and although, I am not suggesting that all men hated women, it is clear that they generally viewed as being the weaker and more likely to sin out of the two genders. Due to this, men took this as their opportunity to suppress women.
