What was the social status of women between 1560-1648?

[babygirl]

What was the social status of women between 1560-1648?
Please explain

[Merryblueeyes]

That varies from country to country. In some countries such as Ireland and Scotland, women had far more rights than in England and France. Women in Celtic cultures could generally own property and pursue an education and could not be forced into marriages against their will. The age of consent was fourteen.
You have to narrow that question to have any valid answer. However, women in Christian countries had then, as now, far more status than women in Islamic countries.

[henry]

second class citizens

[Louise C]

It would vary considerably depending on the social class of the women. Upper class women had a higher social status than middle classs women,and middle class women had a higher social status than working classs women. And within all the social classes there would be grades of precedence, society at that time was extremely class conscious.

Women of all classes were expected to obey their husbands when they married. But they would expect to be obeyed by their children, and by servants. They would expect to be defered to by men of a lower social class.

If you read domestic manuals of the period, you will see that a lot was expected of a woman as the manager of a household. She was expected to be possessed of many skills,and even an upper classs woman would be expected to participate actively in the running of a household, not just to supervise. Even upper class women woud do some of the cooking for instance, and in particular would prepare the elegant sugar confections that were served at the end of dinner, the 'subtleties'that were exquisite sugar sculptures. Women of all social classes were expected to look after the health of the household, and to produce home remedies for illness. Women of every class were expected to be skilled in spinning and weaving, producing at least some of their own cloth for the household, and sewing was another skill expected even of the highest born women, mary Queen of Scots for instance was a skilled needlewoman.

Women who were the wives of tradesmen and artisans would often participate in the family business, whatever it might be, and widows often ran businesses after their husbands died.

The commonest way for people to make a living in those times was as a 'husbandman' (a small farmer) and the farmer's wife played a vital role in the managine of the farm. She would be in charge of the poultry and the dairy, do the milking, make butter and cheese, brew the beer that the family drank instead of water, and sell her surplus produce at market. She would preserve food for winter, and make household items like soap and candles. She would do the family washing (linen, which was worn next to the skin, was washed as often as possible). She would spin wool and flax into thread in any spare time she had when she wasn't doing other things. No husbandman could hope to run a farm without the assistance of his wife