Women and Work in the Renaissance
Thanks to the help of the students in ENG306: Shakespeare's Late Plays, Fall 2002, I am pleased to present a list of sites related to Renaissance/Early Modern women and their work (mostly in England). Each address is accompanied by one (or more) reviews of the site. The assignment asked students to find a site that might shed light on women's occupations during the period. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me. This site may change, so check back.
4000 Years of Women in Science
The link now goes to a list of biographies about women in science. (2/08) ****On this website, the word “science” is used to define many genres, including writing. In regards to women and their work, the site lists Margaret Cavendish as a participant in science because she was a writer. “4000 Years of Women in Science” gives biographies on the women profiled, photographs, and a references page. Although the site is not focused on the Early Modern Period, it still provides a decent background on the work that women have been performing throughout history. --Danielle Whaley
http://www.best.com/~dlevy/rachel/everyday.htm
Here is a website I found very interesting. It has information on many different aspects of Renaissance life. My favorite heading was "The Royal Sweepstakes." --Jenny Marco
This site gives a thorough rundown of the duties of a housewife during the early modern era. Beautifully illustrated and easy to read, the site offers details from how to clean and give birth to preparing home remedies and shopping. --Joy Buerrier
This website is a network dealing with the role of women in the Early Modern Period. The link to Huswifery offers an interesting look at the many roles that a woman played in the household, and just how involved it was to maintain a house for a family in the Early Modern Period. --Todd Parrish
Shakespeare's
Life and Times Homepage
"The housewife's
economic importance" article comes from the Shakespeare's Life and Times
Homepage. This website, published by Internet Shakespeare Editions,
2001 provides various background material on Shakespeare's life, his work,
and the society in which he lived. In the subcategory "Society,"
the section on the economic importance of women is found. Married women
during Shakespeare's time played a major role within their households. Not
only did they manage the domestic sphere, but they also helped provide income
for their families through the production of various food and textile items in
their home that were sold to market. Most unmarried women worked as
servants; because of this, they did not hold the same level of social status as
their married counterparts. --Laura Tomashek
You can browse for articles by time period, subject, type, title, language or georgraphic area. In addition, there are a bunch of categories of subheadings under each of these different titles. Even though the site is sponsored by the University of Maryland, the database itself serves as a type of search engine, similar to Ebschohost (yet not as far reaching), and provides articles and information from a variety of universities and professors across the country. --Lacey Emmerling
This site has some good links to sites on a
variety of topics regarding women in the early modern period. Some are
seminar papers, but some are actual websites with more information and links.
--Sandy Roddenberry
Internet Shakespeare: Huswifery
This site is about the importance of huswifery in the early modern period. It describes the various hats worn by housewife's of this period and how important they were culturally and economically. --Sandy Roddenberry
last updated: 1/04