Dr Eleanor Janega addresses common misconceptions surrounding the lives of women during the Middle Ages
Q: How equal were medieval men and women in the workplace? A: Medieval men and women had different roles and responsibilities, but when it came to daily work, there were instances of equality between them. In the peasant class, for example, women were not only doing the same tasks as men but also taking on additional responsibilities. In the context of middle-class, artisanal occupations, women played a significant role as well. If a person belonged to a guild, such as a glover, their wife would typically be involved in the same work, making gloves alongside her husband. Additionally, women were expected to handle bookkeeping and financial matters, which were considered feminine tasks at the time.
However, it’s important to note that women were not always accorded the same level of respect and recognition as men, especially within guilds, which, in many cases, women were expressly forbidden from joining. If a woman’s husband was a guild member and she assisted him in his craft, she could be brought into the guild after his death. But if she remarried, she would lose that guild membership, unless her new husband was also a guild member. This limited women’s opportunities for advancement and representation.
There were some guilds that allowed women to become members, such as the guild that existed in Paris for bathhouse-keepers, but even then, women still faced limitations in terms of climbing the ranks. They were excluded from the top-level decision-making committee, highlighting a gender disparity within these organisations. On the other hand, some professions, like silk-making, were dominated by women, and men were not allowed to be involved at all. In these cases, women enjoyed high levels of respect and expertise in their fields.
Unfortunately, when it comes to studying the history of medieval women in the workforce, it can be challenging to find specific information about individual women. The practice of coverture, where women’s identities were subsumed by their husbands’ names upon marriage, has obscured the historical record. This lack of visibility hinders our understanding of women’s contributions and their individual achievements and reflects a societal focus on marital status and the importance placed on whom a woman was married to, rather than her own identity and accomplishments.
So, overall, whi
