The Self-Worth of Women

Thesis statement: In both the medieval and modern times, men and the society at large remain adamant in seeing anything wrong about female subjection. Contrary to the common belief that all women are destined for subjection, women have always deserved an equal position in the society.

            The subject of female subjection is as old as humanity itself. For a very long time, women have been viewed as their father’s or husband’s property. Because of their gender, women have faced an unprecedented amount of injustice in history; and the society has, at all times, managed to justify it.

            For instance, referring to the bible, Eve was responsible for expulsion of man from the garden of Eden. In medieval art, a female head often represents the serpent’s head. During the middle ages, the society could not resist the temptation of using this story to cement the idea that women are inferior to men, and there morality is weak hence increasing their likelihood of tempting men to sin. Biblical texts often dictated the position of women in the society through the middle ages. Particularly, the writings of Paul were interpreted as forbidding women from teaching, giving them instructions to be silent. Such writings were curved to stamp the authority of men over women.

            Progressively through history, an intricate culture that promoted female oppression was developed. Nevertheless, the female species has never deserved this oppression. Looking at the life and writings of Christine de Pizan, this fact cannot be any clearer.

            In many ways, Christine was a different woman for a fourteenth century woman. Living at a time when women were considered a man’s property and had no legal rights, she led an exceptional life. Christine de Pizan is among the few women who were educated at her time. After the tragic death of her husband, she found herself in an unexpected position to support her family. Resorting to writing, Christine de Pizan became the first woman ever in Europe to earn a living from writing. Through her writing, she relentlessly began to debate about the role of women in the society. She wrote in many styles and genres but the mark left by her most notable work , The Book of the City of Ladies (1404-05) is unmistakable.

            In this book, Pizan covers the concept of a woman extensively. She portrays how a society ought to see a woman. Although she mainly fights the vices levelled at women by men and the society, Christine describes what an ideal society should look like. Unlike her male counterparts and adversaries who spoke ill of women, in most cases referring to baseless stereotypes about women, Christine puts forward a strong argument that pictures a woman as a noble being, just like men.

            In a witty fashion, Pizan provides a vessel through which women could attain self-worth. Pizan cleverly avoids creating a gender polarity like her male adversaries. This is very evident from how she tackles the philosophical argument on the natural weakness of a woman’s body form and the theological argument about the equality on men’s and women’s souls. In her argument, she foresee later humanist arguments like that of Henry Cornelius Agrippa (1490-1536) who says that, while man was made from mud, woman was made from a more refined product hence making a woman a superior creation.[1] Pizan refuses to conform to such a self-preserving conclusion but instead claims it is the quality of one’s soul that makes him or her superior than the other but not the quality of their bodies.[2]

            Christine raises the questions why women are not allowed to serve in legal councils or political positions. In her time, men used two arguments to validate this erroneous practice. First, men claimed that some women had ruled badly in the past. Secondly, man claimed that females lacked the physical strength to serve in such positions. To counter this arguments, Pizan states that serving in legal councils or political position required no physical strength but rather the ability to learn and understand; an area where women were equally as equipped as men. Christine goes forth to list and explain the success of many women in leadership positions. She associates this women with virtues like governing with prudence, wise council, good judgment, wisdom and an exceptional capacity for negotiation. She clearly shows how vague the men’s arguments had been.

            On the ability of women to learn, Christine insists that women are equal to men. In fact she directly refers to Aristotle and claims that the contributions of women to philosophy are equal to all philosophers.

It seems to me that neither in the teaching of Aristotle, which has been of great profit to human intelligence and which is so highly esteemed and with good reason, nor in that of all the other philosophers who have ever lived, could an equal benefit for the world be found as that which has been accrued and still accrues through the works accomplished by the knowledge possessed by these ladies[3]

Christine then goes forward to pen down a healthy number of women who contributed to western civilization.

            During her time, there was so much widespread negativity about women that some philosophical writers advised men not to marry. These writers claimed that the unhappiness of men in marriages could solely be attributed to the faults of women. Christine has a different idea. She asks about the injustices done to women by their husbands. Of great significance, Christine does not demonise the entire male species[4]. Instead, she creates a balance by saying there are good men, and she even refers to her own husband. To cement her point, she lists a number of women who have been good wives in history.

            After being in multiple social roles, Christine has embodied herself with a sense of ethos and hence has the ability to not only direct information to women, but also to speak on their behalf.[5] At her time, it is forbidden for women to be independent or have a voice but she conquers both. In her society, a woman was only limited to being a mother, wife, nun, daughter or prostitute.[6] A woman was educated for courtship only. Any trial of a woman to be independent was seen as going against the word of God. In her critical analysis of her society, Christine concentrates of the idea of valuing the work of a woman in providing for her family, household and society.

            To conclude, female oppression is still a common norm in today’s society. The society is yet to fully liberate from the stereotype that women are weaker beings. Christine’s arguments are still valid in today’s society. Her main argument that women are equal to men is to be upheld even today. Although enormous progress has been made in giving a woman an equal position to a man in the society, humanity still has a long way to go.

Bibliography

Allen, Prudence. The Concept of Woman. Volume 2, Volume 2. Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans Pub, 2002.

Altmann, Barbara K., and Deborah L. McGrady. Christine De Pizan: A Casebook. New York: Routledge, 2003.

Christine. The Book of the City of Ladies. New York: Persea Books, 1982.

Christine. The treasure of the city of ladies, or, The book of the three virtues. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin, 1985.

LeGates, Marlene. In Their Time: A History of Feminism in Western Society. New York: Routledge, 2001.

---

[1] Prudence Allen, The Concept of Woman. Volume 2, Volume 2 (Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans Pub, 2002), 625.

[2] Christine. The Book of the City of Ladies. New York: Persea Books, 1982, 23-24.

[3] Christine, The Book of, 84.

[4] Barbara K. Altmann and Deborah L. McGrady, Christine De Pizan: A Casebook (New York: Routledge, 2003), 84.

[5] Christine, The treasure of the city of ladies, or, The book of the three virtues (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin, 1985), 95.

[6] Marlene LeGates, In Their Time: A History of Feminism in Western Society (New York: Routledge, 2001), 372.