Women in Tudor England
Miss Whelan
Young girls were taught that they had to obey their parents without question. In fact all adult male figures in family (or outside) were to be obeyed. Girls received no proper education, though it was also uncommon for boys) but they were taught that their sole function in life was to marry, have children and look after their households and husbands.
Girls from a poor family learned skills for mothering and cleaning from their mothers. Girls from a rich family had teachings in needlework and meal preparation. It was generally believed that teaching girls to read and write was unnecessary as the learned skills would not be used.
Women preparing to marry would not choose their spouse. It would be chosen by their parents to secure family bonds, generally for financial reasons.
There was no legal age for marriage although it was common for girls aged 14 to do so. It was important for poorer homes to marry off their daughters as this would mean less mouthes to feed.
Once married, the main function of a wife was to produce a son to continue the family line. In was common for wives to be pregnant every twelve months. As medical knowledge was quite undeveloped in those times and no proper doctors existed, death in childbirth was not unusual. The childbirth was assisted by a ‘midwife’. In fact, this was usually an elderly female relative or female neighbor with no medical knowledge. Even if a delivery of a baby was successful, the mother was very susceptible to infection or disease due to the lack of hygiene during childbirth.