Sex Discrimination after Death: A Seventeenth-Century English Study

Abstract

Funeral sermons published in England during a three-decade period (1601–1630) were examined for possible sex bias. Because London dominated the publishing business, all but four, regardless of where they were preached, were issued in that city. A clear pattern of male preference was found. A lower number of funeral sermons for women was published. Interestingly, the number of times these sermons were reprinted or reissued did not strongly reinforce this pattern of discrimination. In the text of the sermons, laudatory and idealized comments about the deceased reflected and helped to perpetuate the sex differences in society.