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Needless to say, the life of a woman in the Elizabethan era was bleak. Religious fanaticism enforced by law molded women into the form of the dutiful wife and mother. Their lives were dull and hard, with successive childbirths making them old before their time and leading to very early deaths. It’s for this reason that Shakespeare’s depictions of women as brilliant, rebellious, three-dimensional characters is so extraordinary and highly valued.

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Women could not inherit their father's titles. All titles would pass from father to son or brother to brother, depending on the circumstances. The only exception was, of course, the crown. Women could inherit property, and some women, especially if they were the only child of a great noble man, could be very affluent heiresses indeed. The laws of inheritance meant that fathers were anxious to have a son, but that does not mean that daughters were unloved and unwanted. The attitude of Henry VIII to his daughters was unusual, and was probably the result of his obsession with providing the country with a male heir and subsequent ruler. Parents loved their daughters and saw them as precious gifts from God.

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Elizabethan women were raised to believe that they were inferior to men. The Church believed this and quoted the Bible in order to force the continued adherence to this principle. The protestant leader John Knox wrote: "Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man." Elizabethan Woman were totally dominated by the male members of their family. They were expected to instantly obey not only their father but also their brothers and any other male members of the family. The punishment for disobey was the whipping stool - the Elizabethan girls were beaten into submission and disobedience was seen as a crime against their religion.

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Women were allowed to write works of literature, providing the subject was suitable for them: mainly translations or religious works.
But they were not allowed to enter some professions like law, medicine, politics an to act on the public stage or write for the public stage. Acting was considered dishonourable for women and women did not appear on the stage in England until the seventeenth century. In Shakespeare's plays, the roles of women were often played by young boys.
Also, women, regardless of social position, were not allowed to vote.

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Many women in this period were highly educated, like the Queen herself. Women were not allowed to go to school or to university, but they could be educated at home by private tutors. They were educated from the age of five, or even younger. Various languages were taught including Latin, Italian, Greek and French and also music and dancing skills. Elizabeth was tutored by the famous Elizabethan scholar Roger Ascham.

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The only alternative to marriage for Elizabethan women from the lower classes was domestic service. The married state was seen as highly desirable by all women of the lower classes.

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Single Elizabethan women were sometimes looked upon with suspicion. Single women who were blamed to be witches by their neighbours. All Elizabethan women would be expected to marry, and would be dependent on her male relatives during their life. Before single women might spend their life in a convent or nunnery but due to the dissolution of the monasteries this was no longer an option. .

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There was no divorce (as we know it) in Elizabethan times. Marriage generally lasted as long as the couple both lived. If a couple wanted to separate, then they needed to obtain an annulment, which meant that their marriage had never been lawful.

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A man was considered to be the head of a marriage, and he had the legal right to punish his wife.
However, it is important to understand what this "headship" meant. The husband was not able to command his wife to do anything he pleased. He was expected to take care of her, make sure she had everything she needed, and most importantly to love her and be a good father to any children they had. If a husband wanted to punish his wife, he was not allowed to inflict bodily harm. If he abused his wife he could be prosecuted or prevented from living with her.

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Elizabethan women were expected to bring a dowry to the marriage. A dowry was an amount of money, goods, and property that the bride would bring to the marriage. With parental permission it was legal for Elizabethan girls to marry at 12.

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Elizabethan society was patriarchal, meaning that men were considered to be the leaders and women their inferiors. Women were regarded as "the weaker sex", not just in terms of physical strength, but emotionally too. It was believed that women always needed someone to look after them. If they were married, their husband was expected to look after them. If they were single, then their father, brother or another male relative was expected to take care of them.

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Even though there was an unmarried woman on the throne in Elizabethan England, the roles of women in society were very limited. On average, a woman gave birth to a child every two years, but a lot of babies and children died from sickness, families were not always large.