By Mia Ross
National Women’s month, March 1-31, has been around for decades now; it celebrates the history and current goals regarding equality for women. A holiday helps remind us throughout history how women were treated and still are today in some places. Even when Kings and Queens were all the rage women didn’t get justice. This is a little excerpt of history made for National Women’s Month.
The number of Kings in history far outweigh the number of Queens. Women were looked down upon, and there wasn’t much improvement with royalty either, especially with what was expected from a female ruler compared to a male ruler at the time. When a King ruled in absolute power, typically it would satisfy people even if he wasn’t the original or first in line to the succession.
When a female ascended to a throne, she likely had trouble getting there. Women in the medieval world rarely ruled by a direct right regardless of royal blood. In terms of succession, if the predecessor’s first child was female, she would only ascend if she was the sole child. Even that didn’t guarantee that she would stay queen, much less be crowned. A male cousin could easily be put in her place. In fact, the infamous Eleanor of Aquitaine’s power mainly came from ruling temporally for her husbands and sons.
There was a similar case with this in Catherine the Great’s ascension to the Russian throne. Her husband was named the sole heir in reality, and it was only after overthrowing him did she get crowned. In France, there has been no coronation for any absolute reigning queen. Consorts in history have very little power and were mainly there to have children and give advice. That is how a female typically ruled during the era of absolute rulers.
Regardless of how oppression was at the time, ladies weren’t trampled over so easily, including, but not limited to, queens. Today, women have powerful positions throughout all different types of work fields, proving their importance to society.