Gender Roles
Patriarchy dominated Elizabethan society. Despite the fact that the entire era is named after a woman, and regardless of the Elizabethan era's deeming as the Golden Age in English history, women were severely overused and under-appreciated.
- Women had little to no control over their own destinies; men would often make decisions for their women without consultation or affirmation.
- Women were provided with an education only if they were noble; women of lower-class were raised to become household slaves. But even high-ranking women weren't allowed unlimited access to education because they were not permitted to study in universities with their male counterparts.
- Regardless of class or ancestry, women were expected to pay a dowry to their husbands once they were married, as a token of gratitude (for an all-too-often arranged marriage). Once married, women were expected to run the household and bear children, because supposedly that's all they were good for.
- Religion served as a justification for treating females as invalids. The Elizabethans' belief in God, a presumably male figure, emphasized the "need" for women to rely on and completely depend upon males.
- http://www.elizabethanenglandlife.com/the-life-and-roles-of-elizabethan-era-women.html