Final answer:
Qualifications and virtues associated with women include kindness, respectability, and amiable nature along with piety, grace, and modesty as ideal qualities from a historical perspective. Privileged viewpoints, such as that of Louisa Cheves McCord, have shaped traditional views on gender relations. Modern instances reveal that gendered expectations continue to influence the perception of women's abilities and acceptance in leadership roles.
Step-by-step explanation:
Qualifications and virtues associated with women have been a subject of interest and debate throughout various periods of history and within different cultural contexts.
In the given reference material, virtues such as kindness, respectability, amiable nature, fortitude, and accomplishments are highlighted.
The writings depict the expectation for women to excel not only in maintaining the household but also in embodying piety, grace, and modesty. These attributes are lauded as ideal qualities for women of that time.
However, these virtues and expectations often reflected societal norms and the views of those in privileged positions, such as Louisa Cheves McCord, an educated southern woman of great privilege.
Her perspective on gender relations, which likely influenced her understanding of womanly virtues, was rooted in her societal status, which valued grace, modesty, and subservience in women.
Moreover, women's likability and acceptance in leadership roles, as observed in modern contexts with figures like Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, further demonstrate how gendered expectations can impact the perception of women's qualifications.
Historically, virtues such as wisdom, compassion, and courage were consistently linked to ideal femininity. Yet, these are juxtaposed with the masculine perception of these qualities, revealing a certain gender bias that has persisted over time.
Famous artworks, such as The Cardinal and Theological Virtues, encapsulate these ideals through the embodiment of the Cardinal virtues in female personifications, like Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance.