The Author Argues That Elite Women in the Italian City-States

The author argues that elite women in the Italian city-states may have gained more freedom because

A) marriage to older men and subsequent widowhood made them economically self-sufficient.
B) so many of them made independent livings as artists.
C) women played a prominent role in the banking business.
D) their husbands were more enlightened.
E) of their lower class origins and the greater secularism of their society.