Julia Henderson

Pd. 3
DBQ: Religion and the Role of Women

During the Post-Classical era religion had a great impact on the daily lives of women.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam all included views of a womans place in society in their separate
religious doctrines. The expectations of women put in place by the Torah, the Bible, and the
Quran to name a few, translated into womens role in religion-based areas. According to the
provided documents, religious doctrine and practices hindered womens role in Europe and
Southwest Asia between 600 C.E. and 1400 C.E. by emphasizing childbearing and modesty in
dress as well as knowledge.
Childbearing was promoted by many religions as to be the sole purpose of women.
According to the Roman Catholic Bible, Woman [Eve] will be saved through bearing children
(D1). This quote shows that having children was seen as the most valuable thing a woman could
do, and was therefore the only thing that could save her after becoming a transgressor.
Document 1 is especially reliable and useful because it is taken directly from a Christian
religious doctrine and details the expectations of how women should act. An excerpt from the
Torah explains the obligation of a childless widow to marry her brother-in-law so that their
firstborn will let her late husbands name live on (D3). This document similarly shows that
women were treated as childbearing objects. They were not given the choice to marry their dead
husbands brother, they were simply forced into it; and it was not to benefit the widow in any
way, but to carry on the family name to honor the husband.
Something that was particularly stressed by religious doctrines was that women should
wear modest clothing. A drawing of a French medieval hospital staffed by nuns pictures them
wearing habits and veils (D7). Their uniforms cover their whole bodies with exception of their
hands and faces. One can assume that their outfits were so modest because they had devoted
themselves to God and should therefore not tempt men by wearing more revealing dresses.
This image is useful in that it shows exactly what women/nuns wore-- however it isnt very
reliable simply because we do not know who drew it and because secondary depictions can
sometimes be exaggerated in one way or another. An excerpt from the Quran reads, And say to
the believing women that they cast down their looks anddo not display their ornamentsand
let them wear head-coverings over their bosoms (D2). This quote shows that Muslim women
were also expected to hide their beauty in order to prevent males other than their husband and
 Julia Henderson
Pd. 3
relatives from looking at them. A decree of the Roman Catholic Church explains that in certain
lands Christian, Jewish and Muslim women wear such similar clothes that they sometimes
interact by mistake (D5). From this document, one can guess that given the modest garments of
Muslim women, Jews and Christians also dress just as modestly, covering as much skin as
possible. This document isnt explicit in its message but one can still take away valuable
information with regards to the role of women. As for its reliability, while it is a decree of the
Roman Catholic Church, it is not as reliable as the Bible because it is more of a secondary source
which reports observations rather than fact-based evidence.
The final expectation of womens role was that they not show their knowledge and that
they not be more educated than their male counterparts. One verse in the Medieval Roman
Catholic Bible says, I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men. She is to keep
silent (D1). This verse shows that women were expected to keep all indication of knowledge
hidden so as not to seem better than men. A Medieval commentary on the Torah says, A man
shall not teach his daughter Torah, as the majority of women have not a mind adequate for its
study (D6). This excerpt also says that women who study Torah will be recompensed but not as
much as men who do the same. This goes to show that womens education wasnt promoted by
religion since men were supposed to be smarter and have the most religious authority. Document
6 is useful in that it provides the most perspective of all documents on womens education. The
document isnt necessarily that reliable though, as it is a commentary rather than a direct excerpt
from the Torah; its author is named however his credibility is not revealed.
All in all, religious doctrine and practices of the post-classical era limited womens role
and freedoms in Europe and the Middle East. Another factor that impacted the role of women
was their wealth and correlating social class. Upper class women often tended to have more
liberties and authority. An additional piece of evidence not mentioned in the documents
provided, is that Muslims in that time period also had a custom of allowing women to leave the
house only when accompanied by a servant or chaperone. Today, women in Europe seem just
about equal to men, but they are still subordinate. In Southwest Asia, Islamic law continues to
limit womens freedom. Women must dress modestly, arent allowed to drive, rarely receive an
adequate education, and often end up staying home to do chores. Religion continues to influence
womens role in modern times in these geographical areas, but to a lesser extent than in 600
-1400 of the common era.