Norse Women

Norse Women in Society
Symposium Thought

Norse society was dominated by men. That is the first very clear fact about Norse society. However, unlike in many European countries and most universally, they were not considered to be weak, unimportant or better off being kept hidden away.

A Norse woman was a free, independent and individual person who could own property, manage the family holdings, had the right to divorce and had a voice in several, though not all, of the councils. There were those who became warriors, the shield maidens who were mentioned in many Norse sagas. She was a liberated woman in the context of the time though in some ways this was not the case. However with the dawn of Christianity this changed and into the cold, Scandinavian world came inequality and the second class citizenship of women in the latter stage of the Norse civilisations.

Both men and women were meant to uphold the Nine Noble Virtues which were given to the Norse by their gods. However women were the most dedicated to these virtues.

• Courage: she lived in a cold cruel world populated by wild beast and wilder men, still she maintained her home and bore her children.
• Truth: Her word was her bond in all public and private affairs. If her husband mistreated her or her children or her family she could on her word, simply divorce him by declaring to her neighbours at the door and in her bed room that the marriage was over.
• Honour: The family name and reputation came first and she would do nothing to shame or dishonour her husband or family.
• Fidelity: Faithful, loyal, accuracy and exactness all of these she used in taking care of her husbands farm and belongs when he was away. She managed the farm or business in the summers when the men went away. The woman carried the keys to all the household larders and kept all of the records.
• Discipline: Her hand was the one that taught the children right from wrong. And her voice was heard in the councils of the kindred.
• Hospitality: The men didn't cook all the food nor brew all the ale and mead. The women saw always to the comfort and feeding of her guest.
• Industriousness: This was the life of the northern women, bearing and tending the children, taking care of the household chores, weaving and making the clothing, and seeing to the affairs of her husband when he was away.
• Self Reliance: A woman of the north learned early in her life that she had to be able to take care of herself and her children. Her husband was gone part of the year or sometimes for years and even more likely he never returned from the voyage at all. She had to know how to take care of her husband's holdings and how to survive if he never returned.
• Perseverance: Through all of this she persevered, she managed, she coped, she kept a family and a way of life alive. She waited for the returning ships and she prayed to Frejya and Odin for the safe return of her man to her or at the very least that he might be in Valhalla with his brothers and that his good name would live on.

The point is with these is that actually, although they were initially confined as mothers and bearers and seemed to fall into that role of passive woman, this is not actually the case. Yes, it was her duty and position to bear children but this was not her only position.
She had to be prepared should her husband die which was not unlikely considering their nomadic lifestyle and many conquests. In this event it was her position as a widow to run everything and as such could be incredibly successful.

She was allowed to be independent of thought and the most renown women in Norse texts are those famed for their wisdom not only their beauty. For example Guoron uses her intelligence to encourage her husband to avenge their lost son by using reverse psychology.
A famous quotation from the 'Brennu-Njáls saga' is that "cold is the counsel of women". They were not considered to be weak in mind or opinion.
The Norse goddess Frejya was the goddess of fertility but also of war, battle, death, magic, prophecy and wealth. The Valkyries were immortal battle-maidens who were women chosen by the gods to support their cause. Their names, such as Pruuohr, Hildr, Sigrdrifa and Sigrun, meant strength, battle, driven victory and prophetic victory.

They were very well respected within society and it was punishable should a man come on to a woman who didn't want him to. These penalties ranged from those given for kissing to rape. It was considered shameful to harm a woman or shame her, even accidentally in a house raid. If such a thing were to occur then women and children were to be aloud to leave before the house was burnt with the men inside. Exceptions were made for women being taken as slaves. It was said "It's foolish to make physical attacks on women, and there's no ill-luck that's not home-bred."

However as in all societies there were still prohibitions such as they were not allowed to cut their hair short or dress like men or carry weapons excepting certain rules. They could not speak in councils though they could at certain meets and were allowed to be represented. They were technically belonging to their husband or father until widowed and could not be a judge or godhi (chieftain) and shield midens had to be unattached and pure. This only became worse with the introduction of Christianity. Women lost most of the independence they had originally been privy to and were disallowed from many of their liberties such as to be a shield maiden, to be taken on investigations, to take over from their husband in widowhood and to divorce their husband if he mistreated her.