What were Machiavelli's views on women?

Answer 1

1. Nicolo Machiavelli was a misogynist proto-feminist (apparently)
http://homepage.mac.com/gabyraymond/machiavelli.html

2. His most notoriously mysogynistic quote comes from "The Prince, Chapter XXV What fortune can effect in human affairs and how to withstand her." Here it is .....
"For my part I consider that it is better to be adventurous than cautious, because fortune is a woman, and if you wish to keep her under it is necessary to beat and ill-use her; and it is seen that she allows herself to be mastered by the adventurous rather than by those who go to work more coldly. She is, therefore, always, woman-like, a lover of young men, because they are less cautious, more violent, and with more audacity command her."
http://historymedren.about.com/library/text/bltxtprince25.htm