Post 2 - Gender Roles, Subject and Power

          The role of women in society has developed tremendously since the Middle Ages, as women are confined to submitting to a role which was defined by men and their social class. Despite such significant progress, women today are still not treated as equal to their male counter parts, which is evident in the disparity between male and female wages for the same positions and the lack of representation of women in government and executive level positions at large corporations, therefore this is stilla very contemporary discussion that has developed throughout history. During the Middle Ages the role of women in society was limited to be a housewife, nun, servant, and very few other roles, which differed solely on social class. Today we live in a world where for the most part, women can pursue careers in whatever field they desire. The change of thought faced much resistance as men realized that their dictatorial power over women was waning. Through analyzing artwork produced by women from the Middle Ages through the 19th century, it is evident that the oppressive roles that were imposed on women were broken by courageous women who were willing to risk all to challenge the status quo.

Christine De Piz(s)an, Christine De Piz(s)an in her Study, from The City of Ladies, 1405

          Beginning in the Middle Ages, the role of a woman was clearly defined, as women, for the most part were forced into being housewives, servants, and nuns, with very few deviations from this norm. Christine de Pizan, a single mom, was the first woman known earn a salary from being a writer. As an strong, intellectual woman she made great strides for women as she wrote her book The City of Ladies, which Guerilla Girls comment on her heroic work saying: “In it, three beautiful women personifying Reason, Rectitude, and Justice describe how the city of ladies is to be built which heroines from the Bible, Greco-Roman mythology, and history would live there” (Guerilla Girls 26). In the painting, Christine De Piz(s)an in her Study, from The City of Ladies, Christine through her empowering writing work and the image of an independent woman making a living as an intellectual, completely defies the preset roles of a woman that society has tried to impose on her. Given that Christine de Pizan was a single mother who had a professional career, she already defies the status quo at the time as a woman were scared into thinking that they would not be able to support themselves without a male figure in their lives. Furthermore, along with all the male criticism that she received for her work, in which she never ceased in producing work that empowered, she proved herself to be a trailblazer in helping other women in the future squash the roles of women.

Artemesia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, 1610

          In both the Renaissance and other 17th and 18th century paintings, the role of women despite having developed to the point where women were able to work outside of the house and earn a salary, women were still subject to men’s objectification of women’s bodies. Artemisia Gentileschi, who began her painting career under her father who owned an art studio, was raped by one of her father’s employees and walked away relatively unpunished. In one of Gentileschi’s works, she remade an interpretation of a well-known painting, Susanna and the Elders. Chadwick comments on Gentileschi’s Susanna and the elders when she says, “The figure of Susanna is fixed like a butterfly on a pin between these gazes, two within the frame of the painting, the other outside I, but implicitly incorporated into the composition” (Chadwick 109). Gentileschi subtly changes the narrative in this painting by placing the woman in the center of the painting and although she is receiving what seems like unwanted attention, she seems to be fearlessly rejecting whatever role the men are asking of her. Gentileschi’s Susanna and the Elders portrays that women’s roles have changed from the Middle Ages and communicates to all women that they should no longer be burdened by the objectification of their bodies. Almost opposite to Gentileschi’s Susanna and the Elders, is Judith Leyster The Proposition. Chadwick comments on Leyster’s painting of a woman who is also being persuaded by a man, when she says: “Presented as an embarrassed victim rather than a seducer, Leyster’s female figure is depicted as an embodiment of domestic virtue at a time when the growth of Calvinism was accompanied by the resurgence of brothels” (Chadwick 124). Leyster’s The Proposition compared to Gentileschi’s Susanna and the Elders differs in the response that the woman is giving to the man in the painting. In The Proposition, the female subject who is clearly being objectified, does not respond as strongly against the proposition for paid sexual intercourse, therefore, even though women at this time are now allowed to be employed outside of the domestic setting, they are still limited in the roles that they are able to pursue and some are forced into roles where they must surrender their bodies for selfish male pleasures.

Judith Leyster, The Proposition, 1631

          Mary Cassatt, who was an American born Impressionist, who later in her life moved to Paris, not only challenged male imposed gender roles on women but, she also responded to the male gaze which objectified women through the painting of female nudes. Chadwick highlights one of Cassatt’s paintings which portrays a woman who is attending an opera, when she states: “Paintings such as Cassatt’s Woman in Black at the Opera may be seen as taking their place within this emergent culture of female spectatorship in the public arenas of the modern city” (Chadwick 242). Cassatt’s painting clearly proves that there has been change towards modernity, with women being involved in entertainment and the consumer culture which was mostly reserved for men, previously. Cassatt was clearly aware that women were expected to stay at home to raise children and ensure that the house duties were taken care of. In painting a woman enjoying entertainment in a public place, defying the social norm, which for the most part men were the subjects of paintings that captured leisure activities, she is signaling to all women at the time that they are not bound to the roles that a male dominated society has forced upon them.

Mary Cassatt, Woman in Black at the Opera, 1880

          Given the overwhelming amount of evidence, it is clear that women artist from the Middle Ages through the 19th century, challenge social norms by creating artwork and for the most part breaking away from patriarchal norms that forced women to live under the power influence of men. 

Work Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. fifth ed., Thames & Hudson World of Art, 2012
Girls, Guerrilla. The Guerrilla Girls Bedside Companion To The History of Western Art. Penguin 

          Book, 1998

Khan Academy, A beginner's guide to Impressionism. Link