ed as evil. According to the church, women bore the blame of original sin, and therefor had to be "kept in line" by their male keepers. Both by law and by custom women were not people, they were property and as property they could hold nothing of their own. This behavior was justified but the newfound facts of woman's inherent inferior ability to be rational and her delicate nature. Most women conformed to their assigned roles and became what their husbands and fathers expected them to be.Not all women of the post-burn era were content to resign themselves to the position that their husbands and fathers assigned to them. In this era women began to occupy new places in society and gather their power bases in the domains that were still open to them. One of the areas of society that was placed under a woman's control was child rearing. Women continued to be responsible for the formative years of a son or daughters life. This fact gave women access to the next generation of leaders and mothers. If a mother could establish a fundamental respect for women in her sons mind during his formative years, it is less likely that the male dominated society that he is exposed to in later life will be able to completely undermine the lessons and values taught earlier in life. A doting son placed in a position of power would give the mother power by proxy and in the days of absolute rulers who ruled absolutely anyone who had the lords ear wielded a great amount of power. Some women, so intent on holding power, were able become the leader of their lands. Unfortunately it did not behoove most of these Queens and Ladies to use their positions of power to help improve the lot of other women of their time. Despite this one cannot say that the power-wielding noblewomen did not have an impact on the female population. Women in official seats of power made it more acceptable for women to participate in the realms of men and provided other women with strong fem...
