I tell you again—and don’t doubt the contrary—if it were customary to send daughters to schools like sons, and if they were then taught the natural sciences, they would learn as thoroughly and understand the subtleties of all the arts and sciences as well as sons. And by chance there happen to be such women, for, as I touched on before, just as women have more delicate bodies than men, weaker and less able to perform many tasks, so do they have minds that are freer and sharper whenever they apply themselves.

—Christine de Pizan, from The Book of the City of Ladies, 1405

1. Analyze ONE way in which the passage depicts a traditional view of women in the Renaissance.
2. Analyze ONE way in which the passage depicts a challenge to the traditional view of women in the Renaissance.
3. Describe and analyze ONE cause of the traditional view of women in the Renaissance.