Politics and Culture

According to Jean Kelly- Gadol, the women of the Renaissance, like women of the Middle Ages,
were denied all political rights and were considered legally a subject to their husbands. Women
were frequently discouraged from participating in the arts and sciences too. The art work and
literature that was created during this time to celebrate life also emphasized female
dependency and male domination.

A similar view was held by Merry E. Wiesner regarding the limited economic role of women
during Renaissance.

Christiane Klapisch-Zuber’s and Stanley Chojnacki’s works demonstrate that women possessed
a substantial amount of economic influence. Margeret M. King in her work “Mothers of the
Renaissance,” suggests that women may have had a covert role in shaping their culture through
their influential role in raising their sons.

Judith M. Bennet writes that women’s work was low-skilled, with smaller benefits than men’s,
regarded with less esteem, and took less of a priority than the work of her husband.

The above evidence seems to indicate that upper class women did indeed have a Renaissance
in terms of the possession of economic power.

REFERENCES:

1) Women, History and Theories - The Essays of Joan Kelly. Published by University of Chicago
Press, 1986.

2) https://hubpages.com/education/Did-Women-Have-a-Renaissance

3) http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/renaissance1/section9/

4) “Did Women Have a Renaissance?” A Medievalist Reads Joan Kelly and Aemilia Lanyer by
Theresa Coletti.