15^th-century author Leon Battista Alberti defined marriage and motherhood as responsibilities specific to women in his book Della Famiglia.  He wrote that a man should chose a wife based on this criteria:

Let him be minded to marry for two purposes: first to perpetuate himself in his children, and second to have a steady and constant companion all his life.  A woman is needed, therefore, who is likely to bear children and who is desirable as a perpetual mate.¹

Alberti continued by stating that a woman must be lovely, graceful and charming, while at the same time physically mature enough to undergo childbirth.²  A youthful woman was the standard because time was in her favor for producing a male heir for the family.  Youthfulness also meant that the woman’s mind was easily compliant to the lifestyle and requests of her male counterpart because she would affectionately accept her suitor’s desires without resisting him or his family.³

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1. L. B. Alberti, Della Famiglia/On the Family (Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1971), 120-121.
2. Alberti, 121-122.
3. Alberti, 122-123.