As the other educators have noted, men and women had very different roles in Shakespeare’s time, and society was strictly patriarchal. One of the reasons for these different roles is that society believed that men and women had different characteristics and attributes. Women, for example, were believed to be naturally caring and passive, making them ideally suited to a life of domesticity. In contrast, men were believed to be naturally more ambitious and focused, traits which made them leaders in both the home and wider society.

However, we should not assume that all women of this era were passive or that all men were ambitious and career-driven. While women were not allowed to work in a profession, many women enjoyed an active role in their family’s businesses and took total charge during times of male absence. We find women working as brewers, bakers, in the textile industry, and even as members of trade guilds. Moreover, although women could not study medicine and become doctors, there are many cases of them working as herbalists or wise women, the healers on whom the poorer members of society relied on.

So, while the principles of patriarchy were strong in Shakespeare’s time, we must remember that many women led full and active lives in spite of the restrictions placed on them.

During this time, the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of men and women took sharply different directions. Patterns followed an overall strict patriarchal society, with men making most decisions for women, who had almost no say in their life choices. Women could not vote or own property, and if they were not married, their fathers retained the ability to make decisions on their behalf, regardless of their age.

Upper-class women did typically receive some form of education, with heavy emphasis given to the arts and languages. It wasn't deemed proper for even women in the upper classes to attend universities, so most families hired tutors and governesses to teach their daughters at home. Middle- and lower-class women typically began their education at a young age in learning how to care for and run a household. In families of these classes, women brought honor to their husbands in how well they cared for their children and how clean their houses were.

Men were expected to work hard and to improve the social standing of their families through their efforts. Men inherited property through not only their own fathers but also potentially through the fathers of their wives. They exerted absolute dominance over their households, making all decisions with final authority. They held all professional jobs (as women were only allowed to work outside the home in fields such as cooking or cleaning for others) and also performed all the roles in plays.

It is interesting to note that while the majority of women in England served the needs of the men in their lives without much decision-making power whatsoever, one of the longest-reigning English monarchs was on the throne: Elizabeth I. Although Shakespeare kept writing after Elizabeth's reign, it took quite some time for these cultural standards to change.

When you talk about gender roles in Shakespeare's day, you can't limit the discussion to male and female. You need to take social status and class into consideration.

Of course, the people with the least restrictions were the royalty, but even they were expected to fall into certain molds. If you've seen the movie Elizabeth, you know how she was hounded to get married, not just to provide an heir but because they just weren't used to being governed by a woman.

The nobility is the next rung down. Other classes that need to be taken into account are the gentry, the working class, and the poor.

Women of noble birth or of the gentry class (the growing middle class merchants) may have been educated. The nobility could at least read and were trained in needlework. They were often used as bargaining chips in making alliances or business mergers through marriage. No women were allowed to vote.

The working class woman was not allowed to enter a profession, such as law or medicine, but she could be a domestic servant or assist her husband in his trade.

Poor women had to make due in whatever way they could.

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