Women In The Post-Renaissance Era Of The 17th-18th Century

For generations, the sciences in Europe had been very limited and controlled by the Church. However, in the post-Renaissance era of the 17th-18th centuries, the sciences began to flourish in Europe. Many men in the universities of major cities in Europe began conducting experiments and developing theories and and coming up with conclusions. The men had a complete monopoly on scientific discovery during this time period. Eventually women wanted to break into the scientific field as well but were limited by their societal roles and the ones who eventually did become scientists were subjected to heavy prejudice by men. For generations, European women had been stuck in defined social roles that limited their freedom to choose. With these societal …show more content…
To men, women were regarded as a joke and in some cases, even a danger to the man's reputation. Whenever a women tried to enter a university, the men were instantly suspicious and would often organize a legal investigation against her. Johann Junker, the head of the University of Halle, wrote that “When a woman dares to attend a university, however, or qualifies for and receives a doctorate, she attracts a deal of attention. The legality of such an undertaking must be investigated.” This document shows the depth of the prejudice that some men had for women. Even when a women has received a doctorate or attends a university, she must be legally investigated in case she did something wrong. As the head of a university, Junker would be in a unique position to demonstrate the prejudice some universities had against women, and he perfectly shows how they were distrusting of women. For many men, they were afraid that their own reputations would be put at risk should they allow women to study or work at their institutions. Johann Theodor Jablonski, secretary to Berlin academy of Sciences wrote, “I do not believe that Maria Winkelmann should continue to work on our official calendar of observations. It simply will not do. Even before her husband's death, the Academy was ridiculed because its calendar was prepared by a women. If she were to be kept on in such a capacity, mouths would gape even wider.” So concerned was Jablonski for the Academy’s reputation, that he campaigned for Winkelmann to be denied continued admittance into the academy. As a secretary, Jablonski would have to deal with the public opinion of the Academy. We can infer than other scientists were critical of Winkelmann, and let Jablonski know about it. Therefore, Jablonski would be trying to protect the Academy’s reputation by getting rid of Winkelmann. However, some men were very accepting