The Book of the City of Ladies strikes me as the oldest feminist piece I’ve ever encountered. It’s interesting to note that Pizan starts off by describing the social status of women as the lowest of all except for that of childbearing. She subsequently brings up several mythologies to showcase women’s abilities. Women are as strong and clever as men. In the latter part of the Book, the Amazonian nation was so strong and dominant that even the male presence was not necessary for women’s existence and success.
4 thoughts on “roles of the women in The Book of the City of Ladies”
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It’s true that the Book of the City of Ladies is considered to be the first known of its kind. It makes me sad to imagine the struggles Christine and her contemporaries have been going through living in those “dark” times and being women. She did an amazing job showing the brave, moral, high-achieving examples of womanhood and deserves her place in history as one of the first “feminist” authors.
I loved being able to see women be feminists at such a time. It makes me wonder why it took so long for equality to be fought for. It also made me realize how much men are the beings who actually need women and not the other way around. The Amazonian women led by example, I actually want to do a little more research on them.
Despite being one of the first feminist books of it’s kind, I believe that Pizan showcases her knowledge and argument exceedingly well. In addition to the reference to the Amazonian nation, Pizan includes numerous other female figures such as Medea, Helen of Troy, and Saint Cecilia, totaling 165 women referenced throughout the entire book. Pizan makes it clear that she is educated and capable of writing with finesse, making her work recognizable as one of the greatest early pieces of feminism in history.
Christine de Pizan is the first successful living woman in Europe who changed the point of view about women and role in society. In her book “The book of the City of Ladies” Pizan argues about strong, determining, and independent women’s accomplishments in the past. She mentions mythical figures, Semiramis the queen of Babilon ruling the empire, Dido the first queen of Carthage, Ovid’s Io the inventor of writing, Minerva women who taught the Greeks alphabet and ruled the city of Athens. “… futures women who ruled cities and empires, including Dido of Carthage and Semiramis of Babylon: these women, who had been condemned as lascivious and unstable by writers such as Virgil and Dante…”(Pizan 782). Pizan understands the problems and different challenges that women are facing during
these times. Christine provides the accomplishments of other great women existing throughout history to motivate women in order to learn from them. Her objective is that women should have education opportunities so that women can effectively compete with men.
Pizan is the icon of the early feminist who spoke out for the rights of women and espoused female achievement. “Much of her work is focused on the defense of women and demands for respect for their roles in the society” (pace.edu).
I really admire her strength; to be strong and not give up. To show the world women are not worst than men.