AP European History : Gender

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP European History

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Example Questions

Example Question #831 : Ap European History

The status of women rose slightly during the Protestant Reformation because Luther and the other reformers generally __________.

Possible Answers:

advocated for female education

repudiated Catholic teachings on “original sin”

allowed priests to marry

dismissed the cult of domesticity

prohibited burnings for witchcraft

Correct answer:

allowed priests to marry

Explanation:

The status women rose slightly during the Protestant Reformation. Burnings for witchcraft became somewhat less common, particularly into the seventeenth century, and Luther and the other reformers preached that there was honor and dignity in the household tasks of women. The primary reason why the status of women grew slightly is that Luther and the other reformers generally allowed priests to marry. This elevated the status of women and also had the indirect effect of slightly loosening the demonization of sexuality and intimate relations that pervaded Medieval Catholicism. Still, it would be a big stretch to claim that this time period represented a monumental shift towards gender equality. None of the reformers were advocating for female education or opportunity outside the home, as just one example.

Example Question #11 : Gender

The status of women as caregivers and housewives was exacerbated primarily by __________ in the nineteenth century.

Possible Answers:

religious reawakening

secularization

rising wages

child labor laws and urbanization

famine and malnutrition

Correct answer:

child labor laws and urbanization

Explanation:

Although a division of labor has almost always existed between the sexes in human society, for much of European history the majority of women worked in the fields alongside the men. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, men and women began to move to urban centers by the millions and continued, for the most part, to work alongside one another. With the social and political reform of the mid-nineteenth century, women’s status changed to reflect changes in child labor laws. Universal public education was not yet available, and women were often “forced” (by social custom or by actual force) to remain home as caregivers and housewives.

Example Question #12 : Gender

Isabella d’Este is considered one of the most prominent and significant women in which of these time periods?

Possible Answers:

The Great Depression

The Renaissance

The Enlightenment

The Industrial Revolution

The Civil Rights Era

Correct answer:

The Renaissance

Explanation:

Isabella d’Este served as regent of Mantua, a region of Italy, in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. She was a leading figure of the Italian Renaissance and an advocate for greater gender equality. She was also a renowned patron of the arts.

Example Question #13 : Gender

Marquis de Condorcet’s Sketch of the Progress of the Human Mind argued that the extension of gender equality and women’s rights was __________.

Possible Answers:

too radical for the public of his time period and would lead to open rebellion

impossible under the current patriarchal society

likely to accelerate mankind’s advancement towards a utilitarian society

part of a logical progression towards a utopian society

in violation of God’s natural order

Correct answer:

part of a logical progression towards a utopian society

Explanation:

Marquis de Condorcet is one of the most influential writers of the Enlightenment period who famously advocated for equal rights for people of all races, genders, and religions. He believed that mankind was constantly progressing towards some perfect, or better, future, and that the extension of gender equality to women was a necessary and logical step in the progression towards utopia.

Example Question #212 : Social And Economic History

Simone de Beauvoir was instrumental in __________.

Possible Answers:

Bringing about the downfall of the Third French Republic

Destabilizing the French colonial regime in Algeria

Integrating the French economy into the European Coal and Steel Community

Ensuring a smooth transition to the Euro within the European Union

The feminist movement of the second half of the twentieth century

Correct answer:

The feminist movement of the second half of the twentieth century

Explanation:

Simone de Beauvoir is one of the most influential feminist writers of the twentieth century. Her 1949 work The Second Sex was instrumental in encouraging the intellectual support for the feminist movement that deeply affected the growth of women’s rights in the second half of the twentieth century.

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