12/26/2023 0 Comments Chivalry code women![]() ![]() And by doing this, they have just as much opportunity to enrich themselves and inspire the people around them as does any man.īut there’s also responsibility that goes along with that. They have the opportunity to behave with the same type of courage, justice, mercy, generosity, faith, nobility and hope as their male counterparts - on the job, at home, in relationships, in family matters, in their careers and in their recreational activities. ![]() Similarly, women have an equivalent level of opportunity and responsibility as men do in the code of chivalry today. Of course, nobody with a realistic outlook would deny that there are places in the world where discrimination and inequality still exist, but by and large, women today enjoy an unprecedented level of opportunity and responsibility. Or, she can even be a devoted full-time mother and homemaker, if she so chooses, and no one will think any the less of her. She can work as a salesperson, a police officer, a mail carrier, a store clerk, an actress or a librarian. Today, a girl can grow up to be a business executive, a lawyer, a university professor, an athlete, a doctor, an author or a politician. Chivalry today is based on the application of the “knightly virtues,” and that applies as much to women as to men. Helpless damsels in distress? I don’t think so.īut regardless of how women were treated in the real world of the Middle Ages, or in the fantasy world of the chivalric romances, in the 21st century, chivalry no longer involves swinging swords, climbing castle walls or slaying dragons. ![]() But, in order to make the code of chivalry work, the woman had to play an active part in it as well - her job was to acknowledge the good and virtuous works which were being done by the knight, to praise him for being brave, just and courteous, and, by doing this, to guide him along the path of true chivalry rather than letting him stray into the realms of pride, vanity or self-indulgence.īasically, women were the intellectual custodians of the knightly virtues, and they were responsible for maintaining and promoting the code of chivalry. The knight in shining armor was expected to ride about the land, doing good deeds, upholding the law, and championing the weak and defenseless. And, just as a woman was not confined to a passive or subservient role in medieval society, neither was she confined to such a role within the code of chivalry. That hardly sounds like the life of servitude and helplessness you’ve heard about, does it? Now, don’t get me wrong - men certainly were the upper crust in the culture of medieval Europe, but women had more rights, responsibilities and freedoms than many of us have been led to believe. They were too busy administering their estates, managing their workers, writing correspondence to friends and family members, traveling on pilgrimages to foreign lands and working to help support their families. In fact, women in the Middle Ages did not have the luxury of whiling away their lives in ivory towers. This rather unfortunate and distasteful concept is based on fairy tales and fantasy movies, nothing more. To quote my teen-aged niece, “Puh-leeze!” The counterpart to the “knight in shining armor” has long been the “damsel in distress” - helplessly captured by a wicked tormentor, waiting for her hero to rescue her and take her away to a lofty tower of his palace where the two can live happily ever after.
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