The Protestant Reformation brought many changes into the life of women. First of all, it brought along significant changes into the way men perceived women. It also brought along changes into the role of women economically. Just how it changed their lives is what I'm planning to explain. .
The first question I asked to myself was how the view on women changed after the reformation. The protestant reformers demanded clerical marriage and stood against the old style of monasticism and celibate life. They challenged the medieval tendency to degrade women as temptresses and to exalt them as virgins (following the model of Mary). They praised woman in her own right, but especially their traditional vocation as mother and housewife. Even new marriage laws began to bloom, giving them greater protection and security. .
Initially, the main arguments toward marriage were relief of sexual frustration. But the reformers also began to see their wives as their natural companions in their work. This wasn't just due to their role as the loving housewife. .
∘Imagine what it would be without women. The home cities, economic life, and government would virtually disappear. Men cannot do without women. Even if it were possible for men to beget and bear children, they still could not do without women. » .
The above passage was written by Luther at the age of forty-two. This goes to show how important women were viewed by men of the reformation. They simply just couldn't bear to think of a world without them. .
The ideal image of the harmonious marriage was the idea of husband and wife living as co-workers in a special God-appointed community of the family, sharing equal authority within the household. This lead grounds to the equal rights of women to divorce men and remarry in peace. .
Protestant doctrines also became more available to women. But renegade nuns wrote stories about their nunneries and the miserable lives they had when living there.
