— Anonymous
Fuenteovejuna is a Spanish village. During the historical period of the fifteenth and early sixteenth century the villagers of Fuenteovejuna lived along with the commander and his retainers, the village magistrates and some other infamous personalities such as King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel. In all the reading the most important point that caught my attention was the injustice that the men of the village inflicted on the women. Men were violent and they were sexually abusing women.
Women known to be virgins were abused in this way. Women’s virginity was valued by this society. Virgin women were considered honorable. To rape a virgin not only robbed her of her dignity, it robbed her of her honor. Unfortunately, the commander was the most remarkable person who was disrespecting women. Moreover, at that time, women were the ones who took care of men. They did all the chores. In this text, I learned that women have always been unempowered by men. Women were considered as objects. They were not regarded as someone who should have her voice be heard. Their words did not count within the society.
The ancient village of Fuentovejuna is unlike the contemporary world. Things are becoming different. In the U.S.A. a big percentage of women do not follow the values that women did in ancient society. Modern women are mostly not virgins before marriage. And they now occupy certain leadership posts that only men use to occupy. They are independent nowadays and very educated, so they can make decisions in the big organizations and in the society.
