The 17th and 18th centuries saw the embryonic stage of women's quest for intellectual and social equality with men. The evolution of women's fight for equal opportunities has been hampered by a long history of stereotypes and condescension. Women were physically weaker and bore children and raised them. The economy and culture of Europe at this time was heavily influenced by religion and led to prejudice against women. The dominant religions in Europe in the 1600s and 1700s (Catholicism and Protestantism), citing the Bible, reinforced the roles of women as mothers, wives and homemakers. Women were considered the weaker sex both physically and mentally. Men and most women assumed that because women gave birth and produced milk for their babies, God wanted their place to be in the home. Men's egos also did not allow women to compete with them. Males thought their place was to rule, fight wars, provide income, teach, and be the head of the family. Women were not accepted in academia, politics, church leadership, business, or the military. Despite these prejudices, women saw opportunity in the sciences. Being a discipline based on observation and deductive reasoning, it did not necessarily require a complete academic background. Since most women were deprived of the more advanced education that men received, this was the perfect field to begin the quest for equality. As a result, an increasing number of women actively participated in scientific research in chemistry, astronomy, biology, botany, medicine and entomology. In documents two and five the women's interests in science, as well as their need for some sort of education, were expressed. Document five simply explains that women, like men, can have an interest in, as well as succeed in, science. In the second document, written by Marie Meurdrac, a French scientist, it is stated that "minds have no sex, and if women's minds were cultivated like those of men, they would be equal to the minds of the latter." This was a very interesting document to review. Being that it was a passage from the preface to his text "Chemistry simplified for women";; the second oldest of all documents (1666), it was a rather revolutionary idea for its time. Explain a key fact about women's participation in science at that time. It talks about how a woman, as well as a man, can aspire to become a scientist.