Women in Patriarchal Societies

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Women in Patriarchal Societies
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Early Agricultural Societies

• Most were PATRIARCHAL which means they were run
  by men and based on the assumption that men
  directed political, economic and cultural life.
• Family structure rested on mens control of
  property.

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Mesopotamia

• Marriages were arranged for women by their
  parents.
• The husband served as authority over his wife and
  children as he did over his slaves.
• Adultery by a wife punishable by death.
• Adultery by a husband far more tolerated.
• Double Standard?

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Mesopotamia, continued.

• Emphasis on the importance of womens virginity
  at marriage.
• Imposing a veil on respectable women in public to
  emphasize their modesty.
• Mesopotamian Law (Hammurabic Codes) - large
  portion was given over female protectionsbut
  clearly emphasized limits and inferiority.

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Conditions Varied in other Agricultural
Societies.

• Egyptian civilization gave upper-class women more
  credit than Mesopotamia didthere were several
  queens.
• Jewish law traced descendents from mothers rather
  than fathers, though women were separated and
  inferior in worship.
• Confucianism in China had important implications
  for women, involving good treatment, but
  subservience to men.

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Why was Patriarchal Societies so pervasive?

• As agriculture improved with better techniques,
  womens labor became less important than in
  hunting/gathering societies.
• This was more common in upper classes.
• Inferior position of women was less marked in
  peasant families where their work was essential.
• Essential for men to know who their heirs were
  (to pass along land)when resulted in regulating
  womens sexuality to assure faithfulness.

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Indirect or informal Female Powers

• Women often wielded informal power by their
  emotional hold over husbands/sons.
• Confucian theorists argued that women must obey
  menbut men must treat them decently.
• Women also formed networks within large
  householdswhich indirectly affected society.
• Older women had power over daughters/
  daughter-in-laws and servant women.

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Conclusions

• Patriarchy was a commanding theme in agricultural
  societies.
• Laws and Culture regulated order.
• Womens options were severely constrained.
• Girls were reared to accept this orderand boys
  were conscious of their superiority.
• When population excess threatened a familys
  well-being, these assumptions often determined
  that female infants be killed as a means of
  population control.

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Pick One Question to Answer in your Journal

• How do you think most women reared in a
  patriarchal society would react to their
  conditions?
• What might cause differences in womens
  conditions in patriarchal societies, or form one
  society to another?
• Why were upper-class women often considered more
  inferior to men than lower-class women were?