Frauenfrage


Frauenfrage is the literal German-language equivalent of the woman question. However, in history, it is specifically associated with a Medieval demographical period when many men could not marry due to a population explosion and the demands of the patrimonial lineage and the apprenticeship system, both dowries and the price of admission to a convent skyrocketed. Simply put, it was hard to marry daughters off because there were few available bridegrooms, and so entry into a nunnery became more desirable, demand rose and prices with it. Many women could not afford to marry or join a convent. Beguinages became their refuges.
The Catholic Encyclopaedia printed in 1912 the following, which also sheds a light on the link between both: