Gender Roles, Subject and Power

The roles of a woman that were expected during the Middle ages were of a housewife. She was her husbands property and was meant to clean the house, take care of the children, and please her husband as mentioned at https://sites.suffolk.edu. Before marriage she is the property of her father. Some women, if married to a business owner, helped their husbands run it. The women were taught to be obedient to their fathers, and then after marriage to their husbands. Since the husband was the provider and the wife was dependent on him, if he passed away the wife would quickly have to look for another suitor so she could be taken care of, or find a way to be the provider which was difficult during that time. They were expected to give birth and take care of the house. Women were not allowed to vote. The working class of women, few as it might be, were paid less than the men. The women that were born and married in the upper class had a little more freedom than the lower class. They had the time and means to get educated if their husbands gave them permission.

Women’s roles begin to change in the 19^th century when women started to attend political speeches and became vocal about women rights. Women artist emerged in the 19^th century but had to fight to be taken as seriously as men. Photography was something that the women took great interest and control in as it was new and they could not be excluded from it.  Still almost all women were still being taught on how to be submissive, act “feminine”, and be the “perfect” wife. Things were still very difficult and unfair, as mentioned in the The Guerrilla Girls’, “you could not be the legal guardian of your own children or hold a job without your husbands permission” (Guerrilla Girls 55). Women could become doctors or lawyers if they managed to get through school, the environment was not promoting towards women education making it hard for females to be successful.

Rosa Bonheur, Plowing in the Nivernais, 1848

As women artist starting emerging in the 19^th century, one of them was Rosa Bonheur. Rosa Bonheur’s upbringing had a strong influence on her as an artist and a person. Her father believed in gender equality and started teaching Bonheur to paint when she young, envisioning her as an artist in the future. Later in life one of her great successes came when she sent the painting, Plowing in the Nivernais, to the salon. In that period women were expected to be housebound fulfilling there wifely duties, Bonheur pushed the limits of what women should be. She got the permit to cross dress to make her work easy. Bonheur would go sit in fields and paint the animals not caring what the men around her would think. In Bonheur’s painting above, the animals can be compared to women. Both of them being controlled and abused my men. Animals and women were almost similarly treated in regards to being someones property and being molded into duties that society demanded with no choice.

Emily Mary Osborn, Nameless and Friendless, 1857

Osborn depicts in the painting what life is like for a middle- class widow. It is conjectured that she is a widow because of her black attire. Her face shows sadness, whether from the passing of her husband or the burden that befalls her now to support herself and her son. The woman looks uncomfortable as she has her gaze lowered and she twirls the threads entwined through her fingers. The dealer looks at her art with barely any interest while other men around her look at the women as if she has no place to be there. Her son carries her portfolio for her. “The message is clear: women have no place in the commerce of art; they belong to the world of art as subjects, not makers purveyors” (Chadwick 188). Shows that the women were only meant to be seen as objects, they were meant to look appealing to the male gaze.  

Rebecca Solomon, The Governess, 1854

Solomon depicts a governess dressed in simple black attire, someone who is not supposed to attract any attention. She holds a book with her finger on the words and the boy leaning over to read where she points. She is educated but she cannot take that education any further in regards to her future, the only thing she can do with it is becoming a governess and teaching the children. Towards her right there is a window open which symbolizes hope. The lady of the house stands in the middle in a beautiful eye catching dress, playing the piano. She looks pretty for her husband and at the same time entertains him, he sits on the far left looking up at her. The wife embodies the roles of what a woman should be like. The painting shows the lives and roles of the women at that time.

 Works Cited 

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art and Society. Thames and Hudson, 2015.

The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin Books, 1998. Print.