Man(ners) Maketh Woman : An Analysis of Dutch Male-Authored Women’s Advice Literature

Abstract: This thesis analyses Adriaan Loosjes’ De Vrouw in de Vier Tijdperken Haars Levens (’The Woman inthe Four Stages of her Life’) and Gozewijn de Greuve’s Wilhelmina, een Handboek voor het VrouwelijkeGeslacht (‘Wilhelmina, a Guide for the Female Sex’). These two works of male-authored adviceliterature for women in the early nineteenth-century Netherlands are analysed in order to researchthe construction of gender. A woman’s life is first divided into four stages (girl, maiden, housewife,elderly woman) and then into the three most important aspects of her life (relationships, emotions,virtues & skills). These three aspects are then separated into desirable and undesirable behavioursand traits. This allows for the gender- and class-specific advice, as well as the changes between thedifferent stages to be made visible. The two works of advice literature are compared with oneanother and with other advice literature from the same time period to place them within theirhistorical context and analyse where they adhere to or depart from the existing gendered norms.This thesis shows that by portraying constructed femininity as ‘natural’ and desirable, male authorswere able to uphold and justify patriarchal norms. Generally, women were supposed to be happyto live up to the example of the ‘ideal’ woman: virtuous, modest, and selfless.