Protestantism and Women

The rise of Protestantism inevitably affected discussion of women's roles. By arguing against the special sanctity of celibacy and religious orders, Protestant leaders, beginning with Luther, focused new attention on marriage. At the same time, Protestantism also encouraged a belief in the capacity of individuals to nurture their own contacts with God and the Bible, without elaborate intermediate apparatus from church and priests. This belief might apply to women as well as men. In sum: New debate about women's roles emerged as part of religious ferment, and this extended well into the 17th century.

There were other factors involved. Throughout Western Europe, new arguments were developing about economic roles. The rise of commerce was accompanied by greater gender differentiations, and women who had once held positions in trade and craft manufacture were now often attacked. Women's labor remained essential, but their range of activities narrowed. At the same time, growing prosperity led to more complex household activities, such as more formal evening meals, in which women could take a lead role. Here was another situation in which complex trade-offs occurred.

The following documents that I would like you to read relate directly to the implications of Protestantism, coming from 16th and 17th century England. Protestantism generated ringing reassertions of male authority, derived among other things from close reading of parts of the Bible. But it also generated more radical sects that took quite a different view, and individual women built on this religious ferment to venture some political claims as well.

In recent decades, historians have paid increasing attention to the impact of Protestantism on the family and on women. They have come to realize that some important new issues were emerging, particularly in terms of the imagery and actual roles of women in the family.

The implications of this debate were varied. In many Protestant families, men assumed new moral authority, responsible among other things for guiding family Bible reading. But there was also new attention to the importance of happiness in marriage, which could lead to greater appreciation of women's roles at least domestically. The idea of some political claims, though it led to no immediate change, set the context for renewed discussion of political rights beginning in the late 18th century.

The first two documents that I would like you to read show the gender-conservative side of Protestantism, with a statement by the Scottish Calvinist leader, John Knox (you can read it by clicking here; the last paragraph of pg. 13 all the way through the end of the first paragraph on page 15), and a 17th century marriage text by a Protestant minister, William Gouge (you can read it by clicking here; just read part 5, pgs. 192-193). The more radical side is expressed by George Fox, an English Quaker leader (you can read it by clicking here, just read part CCXCI, pgs 39-41). Quakers argued that women could be priests, and organized women's meetings widely in 1671. The last document I'd like you to read shows how Protestantism could lead to political claims, as 17th century women asserted their rights to a voice before the English parliament in seeking the release of husbands who had been arrested for their participation in the Levelers, a radical religious/political group (you can read it by clicking here).

Once you have read the documents, I would like for you to think about and discuss the following: Why was there a tension in Protestantism over women's position and religious role? How did conservatives base their claims? How did radicals base theirs? What was the relationship between the "humble petition" to parliament and Protestant ideas? What kind of rights were the petitioners claiming, and were they revolutionary? What were the implications of this running debate over women's status? How might it affect relations between men and women in early modern England? How might Protestant leaders and ordinary Protestants work out some compromise between conservative and radical views about women? Were ideas about women and gender relations changing faster at this point in Western Europe than in other parts of the world? Why did Protestants promote a new debate about women and gender relations? Your thoughts...