Christine de Pizan’s autobiographical writings and her famous work The Book of the City of Ladies worked in tandem to show the author’s feminine view of upper-class Italian society in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Her discussion of women’s inclusion in traditionally masculine aspects of society, dedicated interest in education, and comments on men’s views of women painted de Pizan as ideologically far ahead of her time in terms of gender equality. De Pizan’s discussion of her finances and education provided relevant background information for her later writings through a feminist ideological lens in contrast with her more traditional views on marriage. This traditional view is evident when de Pizan’s father chose a man
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Though she aimed to keep her education a secret, people took notice, and “the more [she] held to [her] unaccustomed image of a woman of letters, the more esteem came and with it, dignity” (Amt 138). Through her writing, she realized she had gained respect among men, the same men who kept their financial affairs to themselves and preferred their wives not work outside the home. This lead to de Pizan’s understanding that females as a group were not inferior to men, just under-appreciated and under-educated. In de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies, the author grappled with her own understanding of the value of femininity, ultimately arguing that women should hold a higher value in society. She begins by “saying that it would be impossible that so many famous men…could have spoken falsely on so many occasions” in regards to women’s value (Kelsch 2). In this, she points out the negative view of women present in the minds of many men. She posed the question, ‘if all of these men think women are inferior to themselves, how can they all be wrong?’ She said that she “relied more on the judgment of others than on what [she herself] felt and
Though she aimed to keep her education a secret, people took notice, and “the more [she] held to [her] unaccustomed image of a woman of letters, the more esteem came and with it, dignity” (Amt 138). Through her writing, she realized she had gained respect among men, the same men who kept their financial affairs to themselves and preferred their wives not work outside the home. This lead to de Pizan’s understanding that females as a group were not inferior to men, just under-appreciated and under-educated. In de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies, the author grappled with her own understanding of the value of femininity, ultimately arguing that women should hold a higher value in society. She begins by “saying that it would be impossible that so many famous men…could have spoken falsely on so many occasions” in regards to women’s value (Kelsch 2). In this, she points out the negative view of women present in the minds of many men. She posed the question, ‘if all of these men think women are inferior to themselves, how can they all be wrong?’ She said that she “relied more on the judgment of others than on what [she herself] felt and