The Tamed Housewife Objects, Domesticity and Domestication in Sixteenth-Century Treatises on Women

This article aims to analyze the ambiguous assimilation of women into their roles as housewives in theoretical texts (institutions, treatises, etc.) from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The domestic objects they touch upon represent a unique angle from which to view the domestication of women, from which two figures emerge: the wife, whose domestic activities preclude idleness; and the housewife, who occupies a position of stewardship, turning domesticity into a site where power is wielded.