Women and Writing

				Bust of a Lady of Rank Late 5th early 6th Century Her long compelling fingers draw attention to the scroll in her hand indicating her pride in being recognized as among the educated elite in an era that prized learning. Metropolitan Museum of Art
		Scriba, Femina Evidence of writing by women in the Middle Ages is simply not available. And yet, writing by women would seem to be a craft well suited to women; it required small motor skills, care, neatness, concentration and sustained little physical hardship. However, women were often written out of history. Below is a 1st century woman thinking about writing. Why then are women not represented in history as writers? Women, especially nuns, did write and copy books, often to a very high standard.
		"Feminism can be defined as women's ability to think about their subjugated role in history, and then do something about it. The 21st century will see the End of Inequality--but only if women absorb the habit of historical self-awareness..." Naomi Wolf - NY Times, 5/16/99. Magazine Section
				< Young Woman Writing, detail of a wall painting from Pompeii. Late 1st century. Museo Archeoloico Nazionale, Naples The fasionable young woman seems to be pondering what she will write about with her stylus on the beribboned writing tablet that she holds in her other hand. Romans used pointed styluses to engrave letters in thin, wax-coated ivory or wood tablets in much the same way we might use a small chalkboard or palm pilot; errors could easily be smoothed over. When a text or leter was considered ready, it was copied onto expensive papyrus or parchment. Tablets like these were also used by school children for their homework.