Journal 2

Women in Tudor England were treated the way they were because that's how the previous generation acted. In the 1500s, no one had even come up with the idea that women might have opinions, let alone educated and rational opinions. Women were believed to have the duties of bearing children and almost nothing else. It was very rare that women were educated, and if they were, it was because they were wealthy and their father, or male guardian, wanted them to have some education in religion.

At that period in time, I doubt women were viewed as a threat, given that they had never been allowed to do anything that might threaten men. They merely lived in a time, and place, where the expectations of women differ greatly from the expectations of women now. I would be willing to bet that many, if not most, of them believed there was nothing wrong with their lives.

Still today, there are many cultures that believe women are second-class citizens and must behave very similarly to women in Tudor England. In the Middle East, the United States is trying to expel the Taliban, as well as their many impositions of demeaning expectations of women. Furthermore, many cultures still participate in arranged marriages, such as Orthodox Jews. Last weekend, my cousin, an Orthodox Jew, was married to another Orthodox Jew and it was considered a modern type of marriage because their parents did not arrange their marriage. Instead, they “put the word out” that they were looking to get married and mutual friends set them up. To me, the most shocking part of it all was that she honestly felt like she was doing what was expected of her, and furthermore, chose to become a woman whose main responsibility was to bear children.