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THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN 17 TH CENTURY ENGLAND
Marriage & Family
In the 17 th Century, the husband's patriarchal role as governor of his family and household were assumed to
have been instituted by God and nature. The family was seen as the secure foundation of society, and the
patriarch's role as parallel to that of God in the universe, and the King in the state.
Women were generally raised to believe that their spiritual and social worth resided above all else in their
practice of, and reputation for, chastity. Unmarried virgins and wives were to maintain silence in the public
sphere and to obey their father and husband, though widows had some scope for making their own decisions
and managing their affairs. At this time, arranged marriages were commonplace; parents would select their
daughter’s future husband and pay a dowry to the groom’s parents.
Religious and legal definitions of male and female roles and norms were stated in the marriage liturgy from
the Book of Common Prayer (1559) and in The Law's Resolutions of Women's Rights (1632), both of which
begin from the Bible’s Genesis story of Adam and Eve's creation, marriage, and fall. The marriage liturgy sets
forth the purposes of marriage as the Church understood them, the contract of indissoluble marriage ("till
death us do part"). The Law's Resolution collected the several laws in place regarding women's legal rights
and duties in each of her three states: unmarried virgin, wife, and widow.
There were many advice books written for women, dealing with specific family roles and duties, such as
Richard Braithwaite’s English Gentlewoman (1631), which focused on virtues and activities for women of the
higher classes, drawing attention to expectations of widows' chastity.
Real families and households were not so clearly defined. Letters and diaries from the time have shown us a
more realistic view of families, where specified gender roles were not always so rigid. Some texts written by
women reveal direct challenges to the cultural norms defining gender and household roles.
Education & Work
Upper class women, such as Beatrice-Joanna, would
normally be taught at home by a tutor. Subjects included
Latin, French, needlework and conversational skills. They
were also taught how to look and behave in a ‘feminine’
manner, and to play instruments such as the piano. It was
very unusual for upper class women from wealthy families
to work, rather they would manage the home and servants.
Working class women did not go to school or have an
education, they looked after the home, spun cotton or
worked in fields. Children and servants were bound to the
strictest obedience.
Women & Politics
The 17 th Century was not an era of drastic changes in the
status or conditions of women. They continued to play a
significant, though not acknowledged, role in economic
and political structures through their domestic activities.
Though not directly involved in politics, women's roles
within the family and local community allowed them to
influence the political system. Women were discouraged
from directly expressing political views counter to their
husbands', or to publicly condemn established systems.
Nevertheless, many women were able to make public their
private views through the veil of personal, religious
writings.
Women participated in various community activities. For
example, women were full members of English guilds;
Anna Koval as BEATRICE-JOANNA and Samantha
Lawson as DIAPHANTA (photo: Stephen
Vaughan).
guild records include references to ‘brethern and sistern’ and ‘freemen and freewomen’. Also, during the
upheavals of the English Civil War period (between 1642 and 1651), some women claimed voices in the
public sphere: in a petition to Parliament (1649), ‘Leveller’ women (a political movement) asserted some
political rights in the commonwealth; and in 1664 Margaret Fell published a rationale for allowing women to
testify and preach in church, as Quakers often did.
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