Gender Roles, Subject and Power

It is no secret that throughout history women have suffered treatment making them seem inferior to men. While the level of power and roles that women fill are still not up to par with their male counterparts, there has been some progression and variations throughout history. Women in the middle ages were viewed to be second class citizens because they did not possess the same rights that the men had. Their job was to maintain a household which included caring for the kids, cleaning the homes, and obeying their husbands. They were just mothers or spouses in men’s eyes and were incapable of doing what a man could. The men made the money and the women took care of those benefiting from the money. These “rules” were given by those of power in the society which so happened to be the Catholic Church. If a women was unable to find a husband or family to care for, she was welcomed by the Church to become a nun. There is a concept of public and private spheres within the society. Women inhabited the private sphere. This was inside and out of the eyes of others. According to Chadwick some women in upper classes did hold slightly more rights than those below them but generally, “most other women were restricted to the home and economically dependent on father, husbands, brothers, or sovereigns,” (Chadwick 44). The public sphere is where the

men were. They were considered the head of the house, the decision makers, and the providers.

During the Renaissance, the view of women’s roles in society began to shift a bit. This was depicted through art like Christine de Pisan’s work “Christine de Pisan in her study” which is sort of a rebuttal to statements made by people like Boccaccio such as, “I thought that these achievements were worthy of some praise, for art is very much alien to the mind of woman, and these things cannot be accomplished without a great deal of talent, which in women is usually very scarce,” (Chadwick 35). Pisan’s piece depicts a portrait of a woman (herself) in her study. Like Boccaccio hints at, women didn’t often pursue careers in art during this time so this was seen as a push for women’s equality. Pisan was a French woman living in Italy who is accredited to be the first professional writer in Western history with her work “Cité des Dames” which is an allegorical city she created free of slander from men and full of empowering women. She includes, “female saints and contemporary women, as well as the women of antiquity collected by Boccaccio. She offers evidence of women’s great achievements in place of his disdainful references to women’s “inherent inferiority” and she includes examples to prove her points,” (Chadwick 36). This made up city is referenced to be the first piece of feminist text.

This sort of work provided a platform for women to begin their push towards social equality. Moving on through the renaissance, female artists began to increase in number. Still facing hardships simply for being women, they resorted to other areas that they could express their creativity rather than just art. Moving forward through the renaissance according to the Guerrilla Girls’ Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art, the emergence of humanism at the time raised the hopes for many that there could possibly be equality for women even though the thought of females reading and writing was unpopular. (The Guerrilla Girls 31) These women were still under the eyes of the male currently involved in their life so a woman artist was subject to whatever that male allowed them to do.

        Coming around to the 19th Century, some time has passed and women are now being given some more freedom in the art world even though their rights as a citizen did not drastically change. Women were now held in a higher regard as to being more important household figures and important within a man’s life. Education was also now a bit more accessible but women were not encouraged to pursue it. When gaining the access to education, women also were expected to act  more “lady-like” which raised issues with those women who did not want to abide by those rules. One woman in particular named Rosa Bonheur was a key player in the push for equality. Bonheur was an openly gay painter with a reputable family behind her who supported her and her work. Bonheur’s father was actually a women’s rights activist who pushed for his daughter to succeed. She loved to paint animals and wildlife scenes like horses in the field and beautiful portraits in nature. With the help of her family and some persistence Bonheur actually received a permit that actually allowed her to cross dress and wear “men’s clothing” when out in public. Rosa is an icon for women in the 19th Century who wished not to conform to society’s rules being pressed down on them. In her one painting “The Horse Fair” there is a beautiful landscape of at least a dozen horses, all in different poses and motions. About six men can be made out in the painting but are not nearly painted with as much detail as the horses and nature behind them which is the main focus. This is because the animals are supposed to represent the freedom in their own world free of those trying to oppress them. The horses look untamed and unchained to any sort of power above them for this is The Horse Fair and not The Man Fair.

Works Cited

The Guerrilla Girls, The Guerrilla Girls’ Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art (New York, Penguin Books, 1998)


Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society, 4th or 5th edition, (New York: Thames and Hudson), 2007.