Joan Kelly

In the essay “Did Women Have a Renaissance?”, Kelly presents a feminist insight into women's role in society during the Renaissance period of the 1350s to 1530s. The article mentions females' economic and political roles, sexuality, cultural roles, and the gendered division of labor in the Renaissance era. Wives of the nobility during this time were granted more power than peasant wives in regard to economic and political functions, although both classes of woman were still imprisoned (in their own homes) during the Renaissance. The Renaissance was an artistic and literary movement. The art work and literature that was created during this time to celebrate life also emphasized female dependency and male domination. As Joan Kelly describes in this essay, bourgeois literature expressed the denial of female independence. Therefore, the Renaissance set the norm of female dependency on the male figure. Men had to perform productive labor, while women stayed at home to perform reproductive labor such as house hold duties and child care. Read Less