Gender Roles, Subject, and Power

Throughout  history women have always been undermined, discriminated, and devalued. Their role in society has always been the domestic life. They were required to bear the children, care for them, care for their husbands, and to satisfy their husbands sexual desire.  Throughout history women have confronted those ideals and have demonstrated that women can do more then that. That women were capable of obtaining an artistic title, and that they are no less then men. But, these changes did not occur instantly, women have had to fight for these changes to occur. These changes began to occur when women decided to step out of their houses, speak up, and to act against men. These changes did not occur over night, decades have had to pass and still today the balance of equality between men and women is still partially imbalance. According to The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art, "But we also believe-along with most contemporary scholars-that the time has come, once and for all, for the canon to be fired" (7). Women have got it a bit easier know, but men are still seen as the dominant figure. 

Elisabetta Sirani Portia Wounding Her Thigh 1664

During the middle ages women were defined by their sexual capacities. A women's role in society was predetermined by the christian church, and the one main thing that was stress was obedience. During this era there was a lot of feudalism going on with land ownership, the government was run by both the king and the pope, and individuals were born int this different type of roles.Classes were divided between the nobles, the clergy, and everybody else. The high class were the nobles, the middle class were the clergy, and the lower class were everybody else.  Chadwick says in her  book, Women, Art, and Society, "The rigidity of social division, and the gulf that separated upper and lower classes, meant that upper-class women had more in common with the men of their classes than with peasant women." (45). From this quote Chadwick represents the distinction between the upper and lower class, all the women were going through the struggle of being undermined, discriminated, and devalued, but yet the social classes made those struggles different. Women from the upper class had more prestige from the women in the lower class. In order for a women to receive an education they had to join the convent, and even at the convent they're identity was being restricted. Women were not allowed "to be teachers, nor must a women domineer over a men" she was only allowed to "be quiet" (Chadwick 45). They allowed women to obtain an education and enter the artistic world, but she was not allowed to do anything with it. But, there were still women artist that went against those restriction and became real female artists. Hildegard Von Bingen was the first female who decided that women were not restricted to being "wives and mothers" (Guerrilla Girls 21). She decided to join a covent and free women from their demanding societal role. Another female who went against society was Christina De Pizan. She was the first women who made a  "living as a writer" (Guerrilla Girls 23).  Christina De Pizan was supported by her father, who provided her with the education, and she was encourage by her husband who supported her path of living a scholarly life. The idea of just living a scholarly life was the definition of being a courageous, intellectual, and outspoken women because during the middle ages women were seen has being inferior to men. But yet, women made the actual change. The introduction of women into the art world created a much more advance type of art. Portraits were introduced in the middle ages, which represented a shift from the representation of secular figures. Sofonisba Anguissola created her own self portrait, she was known for being unique in her variety of self portraits. During this time their was a sort of identity shift, this idea of ego, where you had to view yourself as others view you, but as always there was a limit to this type of ego.

Artemisia Gentileschi Susana and the Elders 1610

The renaissance was a unique period were historians began to see a more modern world. It was primarily a period were the achievement and lives of men that were being glorified. Women did not fit into the artistic world of male artist. A women's role was still been looked at with the perspective of sexual differences. Women were not recognized in the art world, there work was usually accredited by male artists. This was the period where women challenged the natural norm of being a women. In Elisabetta Sirani painting of  Portia Wounding Her Thigh  the audience could visualize a women wounding herself, going against women norm. In this painting Portia is being portrayed as a women who is proven to be "virtuous, and worthy of political trust by separating herself from the rest of her sex..." (Chadwick 101). Sirani is demonstrating that if a women separates herself from the private world into the public world of men, they can be recognize has being brave and courageous like men. Artemisia Gentileschi also depicts this idea in his painting of Judith Decapitating Holofernes 1618. Judith was raped and then forced to marry the men who raped her. He did not only take away her most precious tool, he also dishonored her as a women. By Judith decapitating Holoferness, her husband and the men who raped her, she is demonstrating that women are also capable of defending her own rights. Gentileschi attitude towards her painting is the attitude of a strong and brave women and she depicts this by showing Judith gazing at the men that she is about to decapitate. Another painting of Gentileshi that challenged the natural norm of society and also the male gaze was her painting of Susana and the Elders. In this painting the artist is trying to depict how rape was accepted by society . In this painting Gentileschi is also challenging the male gaze because instead of having the women facing her spectators, she is facing away and the male are the one that are facing out to the  spectator. Which is the opposite of the paintings from the middle ages.

Edith Hayllar Feeding the Swans 1889

During the 19th century women were going places. Women began to develop a type of friendship and a "positive aspect of the separation of the sexes" (Chadwick 176).  Women roles was still to manage their households and care for their husbands and children's. They still had to work in horrible conditions due to the high struggles of the economy. Middle class women's type of  labor during the 19th century was working for the upper class women as servants and childcare. Women also struggle in the artistic world, they were given an education, but they were still  prohibited to go against men. If any women attempted to compete against men they were labeled as "sexual deviants" (Chadwick 177). Even though women were restricted to go against men, many women still took the risk of  going against male figures. In Edith Hayllar painting Feeding the Swans  the painter depicts the stages of the life of a women. From a young age girls were taught the ideal role of being a women, they had to enter the matrimonial world, care for their family, and finally become a widow. In Anna Blunden painting The Seamstress 1854, the painter depicts a women staring out a open window. The women is overwhelmed by her over worked and underpaid labor, she is depicted by looking outside of an open window in search for hope. 

Through out this mainstream of women lives, art historians can depict that women have always been fighting for equality. Women are in search of obtaining the same acknowledgement as men in the artistic world. Women have been fighting for a change, change the way that society view women. Women have always been seen as a weak figure, they have always been oppressed by men. Feminist have tried to fight against that. Women want to demonstrate to male artist that they can also paint and sculpt like men. 

-Arleni Liriano


Works Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4^th ed. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Print.

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