What were the goals of a medieval women?

Answer 1

In all cultures and times there have been women who wanted to see their families prosper and their children grow healthy. And there have been other women whose goals have been different, in whatever way and for whatever reason.

In medieval times, most women were serfs, and serfs had very few opportunities. They also left few records, but we can guess that without opportunities, these women were probably mostly without ambitions beyond the safety and health of their families. And they probably felt very little power to influence things to see their very humble hopes fulfilled.

We cannot speak of the people of the Middle Ages without speaking of religion. There were a number of women, just as there were a number of men, whose dominant goal was for the salvation of their own souls, or for serving God, possibly by nursing the sick or feeding the hungry, or hosting pilgrims. Many women had these simple goals, and lived by them.

The middle ages had its share of upwardly mobile people. Men and women of this type could have as goals anything that might be within their reach, and perhaps a few things that were not. Middle class women doubtless wanted to become members of the nobility, which some managed to do. Members of the nobility wanted to become more rich or more powerful. And while some women might have seen themselves as the power behind the throne, or some title, advancing their husbands and guiding them, there were a few who took control in their own right. And a few of these even succeeded.