Lives of women in the ancient and early-modern world
During the ancient and early modern days, women were characterized by some Christian beliefs as either being corrupted or saintly. For instance, Judeo-Christian belief portrayed women’s righteousness to that of Virgin Mary while their corrupt nature was linked to Eve of the Holy Bible. And as such, there were a lot of literature that intended to teach women on how they should behave and carry themselves.
Women of these days were not only denied legal persona but were also subjected to control by their male counterparts. In China, for instance, this act was manifested by Neo-Confucianism that gave information regarding women’s inferiority to men. As such, Confucianism had strictly set social hierarchies, which many people regarded as ensuring that order was maintained. In other words, the portrayal of men as being lords over women by Confucianism gave the implication that is similar to emperors’ rule over their subjects. Similar beliefs to Confucianism and the Roman law influenced better part of the ancient world making common the idea of women’s intellectual and physical inferiority to men. Women were not expected to take part in certain engagements in the view that such activities were only meant for men. Consequently, such manifestations helped shape social systems to be implemented in manners that concentrated in control over women and their segregation to private spheres.
However, it does not mean that ancient and early-modern women never found ways of challenging gender roles or did not dissent their voices against such subjection. In fact, women’s early-modern history across the world is characterized by an increase in their literary work, which laid the groundwork for female literature that condemns their subjugation by men and argues for their inherent worth. The ancient and early-modern period equally presented women with new opportunities to claim which played crucial roles in civilizing the world around them.
Role of Women in Mesopotamian civilization
Women and men have always had separate roles in the society. The culture of ancient Mesopotamia was no different to the general gender roles which offer a set of behaviors, attitudes and expressions indicating one to be either masculine or feminine. Some specific roles that were meant for women include getting married, becoming a household wife, and also taking part in religious services within the society. Central to every married woman’s life was to bear and raise children for the essentiality of continuation of life. Various responsibilities could be given to women depending on their class in their marriages and society at large. For instance, those who were married to important and great businesspeople might have had duties like business supervision, handling of finances, raising capital and also giving situational information to their husbands.
During such times of ancient and early-modern Mesopotamia, since things had not been tried and worked out in different ways, gender roles happened to be very specific in nature. From their early ages, girls acquired, from their mothers, the skills necessary for managing and running a household, knowing that at some point in the future, they would get married and be tasked with keeping their homes. Throughout the ancient Mesopotamia, the roles of women were held to be the same as it was not only simple but also known to work out. Even though women could be allowed to take part in their husband’s business adventures, they were, however, not allowed to meet with other men outside the confines of their company, meaning, in most cases they were to work behind the scenes. It is a traditional role which kept all women as a unit, to always be behind the male counterparts.
As far as physical appearances were concerned in ancient Mesopotamia, women had keen choices in their clothing accessories. More close to other ancient cultures, ancient belief in Mesopotamia was that men were associated with the right side while women to the left side. In real terms, certain garments were to be worn only by women.
On matters regarding religion, Mesopotamians had well defined and important religion to their society. During prayer sessions, women could introduce men to their gods, formally known as intercession. Women were also expected to conduct prayers for their families to the gods (Milestone Documents, “Indus Valley Civilization”). Therefore, it can be seen that women took leadership roles in religion. However, unlike the Egyptian society, Mesopotamian women were not allowed to take part in active politics since they were not authorized to be in the front scenes.
Role of Women in Egyptian civilization
Unlike other ancient societies, women in Egyptian society were treated in different ways. In fact, ancient Egyptian society gave women greatest opportunities as far as economic, social and legal positions are concerned. Egyptian women enjoyed similar social, legal and economic rights just like their male counterparts (Milestone Documents, “Earliest Civilization of Africa”).
Of course, women’s social expectations included roles such as being a wife then a mother, proper public behavior including right clothing and appearance. In as much as women were legally responsible for their actions, they were still seen depending on their husbands, who were expected to be taking good care of them. Just like most societies, it was the job of women to manage their households. They were to care for their children, prepare food, clean and involve themselves in the acts of looking for food for their families. However, in the middle class and wealthy households, much of the work was for the servants as women, especially in affluent families, became leisure ladies. Ancient Egyptian women, also considered to be the household mistresses, despite their class, were responsible for home happiness not only in life but also in death (Milestone Documents, “Earliest Civilization of Africa”).
On economic perspective, unlike some of the ancient civilizations, Egyptian women had a broad range of available jobs to them. However, various job occupations were largely inclined to their respective social classes. Lower class women had their work confined to their homes, taking part in household chores and child care. They too could work outside their homes attending to livestock and field work, especially during harvesting seasons. Other occupations like weaving, music art, stewardship, singing, brewing, and baking were equally available for them.
However, professional positions such as administrators, supervisors and priestesses were available for the educated women. In some instances, wealthy and educated women became doctors, governors, overseers, judges, and even took the role of prime ministers since they had the ability to read and write. More important to their civilization, was the fact that equal wages were paid for same work irrespective of gender. These aspects of entire equality allowed them the freedom to exercise their political and leadership ambitions, (Milestone Documents, Indira Gandhi: “What Educated Women Can Do”) something that was not seen in most of the ancient societies.
Role of Women in Indian civilization
Just like their Egyptian counterparts, ancient Indian women enjoyed high societal status with good conditions. They were provided with opportunities for attaining high spiritual and intellectual standards (Milestone Documents, Indira Gandhi: “What Educated Women Can Do”). Religious role for women in Indian civilization was more prominent than other ancient cultures. For instance, according to Hinduism outlines, the role of the woman was to become a good wife for the gods and goddesses to respond to the needs and request of the couples. Alters that were mainly being attended to by husbands were the overseen by their wives if their husbands had gone away from home. Women’s job was to ensure that the sacred flame burned throughout. It was also their responsibility to sing and recite hymns to the deities. Most importantly was the presence of many women spiritual teachers, the majority of whom possessed the greatest spiritual knowledge. A good example of this is the common dialogue between Maitrey and her husband Yajnavalkya which shows how enlighten women were in spiritual terms.
Economically, women played significant contributions to the ancient Indian civilization. Given that India happened to be an agricultural country, women extended helping hand to the male folks during various seasonal jobs (Milestone Documents, Indira Gandhi: “What Educated Women Can Do”). These women equally enjoyed prominent political roles. For instance, the mentioning of Pandya women to be running for the administration position as noticed in Megasthenes. Also, Queen Nayanika, that ruled Satavahana kingdom on behalf of her teen son. There were also several cases where women became provincial and also village administrators especially in the region of Kannada.
Role of Women in Greek civilization
Women drawn from most ancient Greek city-states had limited rights. In their entire lives, they were subjected to control by their fathers, husbands or male relatives. They happened not to have been granted political roles within their societies. They mostly stayed indoors managing and running their homes and households. These women were only given one public job, which was that of being a religious priestess.
There was a different manifestation of women freedom especially in areas away from city states. Sparta, for instance, men mostly stayed within barracks until they reached the age of thirty (Milestone Documents, Aristitle: “Constitution of Sparta”). This variance enabled Spartan women not to be subjected to restrictions, allowing them more responsibilities and freedoms in their public lives. And as such, they could go out to public places without being escorted, able to take part in the athletic competitions, and be party to land inheritance. Perhaps this demonstrates why the fair share of Spartan land was owned by women in the fourth century unlike the case of Athens where the law subjected all land inheritances to pass through the male line, and also limited the capacity of property to be under women ownership (Milestone Documents, Aristitle: “Constitution of Sparta”)
Interestingly, it was the role of women to supervise slaves, manage responsibilities of the house such as cooking and weaving. Women, from affluent families and homes, had complete separate areas in the house where men were prohibited from accessing. Unfortunately, poor women could go to the marketplace in the absence of male escort and also assist their husbands at the farm, market or any other job. Even though Greek civilization offers different perspectives with regards to the roles of women from the city-states and those from the rest of the country, it is clear that they never enjoyed equal social, political and economic opportunities with their male counterparts. The only sector where they had same expressions and power was in the religious functions.
Conclusion
Whereas, some of the societies such as Mesopotamia and the city-states of Greece, especially in their ancient periods designated men as superior figures, some other societies like Egypt and India provided their women with equal opportunities with their male counterparts. Societies that never rooted to gender equality largely contributed to female degradation that created the perspective of women as subordinate and weak. On the other hand, those societies that embraced equality between the sexes are largely credited for the enhancement of societal civilization to the others that still kept the rooted culture of male domination over females.
Work Cited
Milestone Documents, “Indus Valley Civilization”
Milestone Documents, “Earliest Civilization of Africa”
Milestone Documents, Indira Gandhi: “What Educated Women Can Do”
Milestone Documents, Aristitle: “Constitution of Sparta”
