It is All Relative: Status, Gender, and Equality in the Middle Ages

By:  Dr. Sally Brasher, Shepherd University

While early feminist historians believed they would find an unrelenting line of patriarchal oppression that only subsided with women’s participation in the public sphere in the twentieth century, medieval and early modern historians discovered that the story of gender inequality was much less straightforward.  Historians found that particularly in the Middle Ages in Europe, women’s experience differed greatly depending on such factors as social class, religious participation, and place in the lifecycle. The diversity of women’s experiences illuminates the complexity of women’ history. Understanding the factors that contribute to access to power, authority, and status for women in the Middle Ages and why that access was ultimately lost, is crucial to understanding the full story of women’s history and addressing the root causes of gender inequality.  This event is in conjunction with Women's History Month and is co-sponsored by the Hankey Center and Women's Studies.

Dr. Sally Brasher is Associate Professor of History at Shepherd University and the author of 'Women of the Humiliati: A Lay Religious Order in Medieval Civic Life'. She received her doctorate in History from Catholic University of America and has published widely in the fields of Medieval, Early Modern and Gender History.