Feb. 12th Medieval Theory: Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan's critique of works pays careful attention to the author's treatmen of women and their virtues. De Pizan objects to having women written about as if "the female nature is wholly given up to vice" (210). She believes that the poor conduct of a few women has led many men to overgeneralize about the entire female gender, creating an image that all women are part of a morally inferior sex.
       In Christine de Pizan's criticism, the idea of poor potrayal of the female gender is mainly cenered around the matters of morality and spiritual worth. While de Pizan is able to come to the point where she can argue that God did not make a mistake by creating the "inferior" woman, she does not question most traditional roles of women. For example, a depiction in which the woman defers to the man in decison making is an acceptable portrayal of women. After all, a woman is created with "its own nature which is to be timid, meek, and pure" (214).
     However, de Pizan also rejects the traditional notions that a woman should be kept from an education. Again, this is linked to the belief that women are not morally inferior to men. She claims the main reason that men will keep women from an education is "for fear that their morals will be corrupted"(214). As one of the earliest women writers, Christine de Pizan shows that for her, the treatment of women has thological implications about the worth and nature of the female gender.