Two Responsive Posts

Part 1)

  At first, I felt like Reformation did not affect women's lives.  However, throughout the reading you can see how some of them really had to change their lives around.  "They did not vote or serve on city councils, and even abbesses were under the direct control of a male church official" (Wiesner 295).  According to the reading, women were unable to vote and were not able to attend Universities. This made it difficult for them to know what's going on with religious changes that were happening. For women, their status was important in order to impact any part of the reformation (Wiesner 296). They only learned about the changed through the men and had to take their word for it. "Former priests and monks could become pastors in the new Protestant churches, but former nuns had no place in the new church structure" (Wiesner 297). The reformation affected those who did not agree with the new way of life that they were made to follow. It was definitely a bad change for them. It made them weaker. For nuns, they were forced to quit what they were doing and get married. Others chose to live together or move back with their families (Wiesner 297). "She had no voice in guild decision making and took no part in guild festivals, though she may have baked more than her husband" (Wiesner 306). Women couldn't choose a path for themselves, everything was based on their husbands now. To summarize, I feel like women were not part of the reformation, but were quite affected by it.

Response:

I agree with the similar prospect that the protestant Reformation turned the entire life pattern of women and confined them to a limited territory of the household. As a matter of fact, in every epoch, women populace surpasses the number of men; therefore, any substantial alteration, modification, or eradication in the theoretical framework of political and societal perspective affect women to an exacerbated extent (Stetina, 2017). The underlying implications of Reformation made life most onerous for females. While reading the history of that time, it seems that I am reading “The Handmaid’s Tale,” in which women were compelled to be used only for reproduction purposes and enforced to live a life designed by higher authorities. In such scenarios, men get unfair privileges that consequently gulp down the career or any other social and economic opportunities for female faction; the same phenomenon can be observed through exploring the haphazard of Reformation.

Reference

Stetina, Kenin. "What The Reformation Did And Didn't Do For Women." The Good Book Blog - Biola University Blogs. N.p., 2017. Web. 18 Nov. 2019.

Part 2)

The Protestant Reformation has substantially affected women’s lives, and it began with the nuns and lay sisters. They were encouraged to “leave their houses and marry” and those who accepted the Protestant message gave up their lands and went out to marry, the ones who couldn’t find a husband ether were able to fend themselves and those who were not able to marry or support themselves had to fall back on their family (Wiesner 297). However, other nuns who didn’t accept the Protestant message still realized “the realities of political power” and gave up their holds; yet, these women would continue living together after the Prostatane reformation, “trying to to remain as a religious community”, although they heavily relied on their families for support: Some nuns received pensions, but we aren’t sure what happens to most women because there weren’t any record to what to them (Wiesner 297). Furthermore, wealthy women were heavily against the protestant reformation, and example is St. Clara convent in Nuremberg, “whose nuns were all wealthy Nuremberg families and whose reputation for learning had spread throughout Germany”, and the only two women convents in Nuremberg would not submit to the Protestant message, while four out of six male houses closed down immediately (Wiesner 297). Also, the female house was harassed and intimidated so they would close down, and two daughters were physically pulled out of the convent by force; yet, the convent didn't submit and lasted until the last member died(Wisener 297). I believe that the Prostane Reformation has some good things come out of it, mostly "champion a women's role as wife and mother" (Wisener 297). However, I think it was a bad thing because, after the Protestant Reformation, there has been continued belittlement of women and limiting women in roles in society. Which, in my opinion, hasn't been fixed fully to this day.

Response:

“The continued belittlement of women,” that is the most viable point and the darkest side of Protestant Reformation and other similar catastrophes. The Reformation regulations turned women’s life upside down, and such impacts were devastated on the faction of nuns. Nuns opted for a convent lifestyle and in due course, shunned the notion of the regular and routine life of mothers and wives, and they were comfortable with their surroundings. However, the Reformation devised rules and restrictions that coerced nuns to say adieu to their pieties and sacred life and forced them to get married and managing households. In due course, many nuns bowed their wills; meanwhile, some stood against the unfair implications of such regime; Caritas Pirckheimer was the most eminent nun who found it irrational to pursue such absurdity (Karabacak, 2018). Like men, women are human too, and such chronologies have tarnished the authentic visage of humanity and equality altogether.

Reference

Karabacak, Emre. (2018). The Protestant Reformation and Women.