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Middle Ages Women Essay

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Life of a Woman During the Middle Ages The Middle Ages was completely dominated by men. In society, women played very little roles and more often than not, the only task they had was to care for their families. In some cases, women worked the same job as men but the only difference was that they were paid less. For example, both genders reaped the same harvest but men received 8 pence while women were given 5 pence. Inequality is no surprise during history, but women understood that if they wanted to survive, they couldn’t complain. This was unfortunate due to the fact that 90% of the population worked in farming when most wanted to advance into trade or another unobtainable profession. Even though they had the same skill level, they were …show more content…

Children born in lower classes were forced to work as soon as possible and were not considered children anymore by the age of ten. They were not allowed to marry until they reached the age of 20 because their families required workers and without their daughter, they’d be deprived of one. This was the complete opposite of a wealthy girl. Girls born into rich backgrounds were obligated to marry during their teenage years. They also did not have a choice on who they were to be wedded with. Parents chose their daughters’ husbands and majority of the time they thought more about what would benefit the overall family than their actual daughters’ feelings. After marriage, husbands had full control over their wives. As expected, married women were responsible for birthing at least one son. If the woman is not able to the first time, the husband and wife keep trying until they can. This was very dangerous during the Middle Ages since childbirth was often not successful and led to death for the pregnant wife. For women born into wealth, they were not responsible for taking care of their children. A nurse was provided to look after them. Unfortunately, this was not the case for poorer wives. Along with taking care of their children, they were forced to continue working day and night for their family and the

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