1. Gender and Sex Roles 1000 b.c.e. – 1250 c.e. Rachel Mallari April 16, 2010 Mr. Kelly APWH; Period 1

2. China – Qin, Han, and Zhou Downgraded the status and potential of women Agricultural civilizations were patriarchal Husband determined conditions and made decisions while the woman gave obedience to the male

3. India – 1600 B.C.E. – 535 C.E. Dominance of husbands and fathers remained strong A wife should worship her husband as a god As agriculture became better organized and improved technology reduced women’s economic contributions, the stress on male authority expanded Women enjoyed hunting cultures Featured clever and strong-willed women’s status as wives and mothers, in contrast to China

5. Rome and Greece – 1000 B.C.E. – 476 C.E. Also patriarchal Women played vital roles in farming and artisan families In the upper classes, women often commanded great influence and power within a household; but in law and culture women were held inferior “The husband is the judge of his wife”

7. Abbasids – 700 C.E. – 1200 C.E. Lower class women farmed, wove clothing and rugs, or raised silkworms while rich women were allowed almost no career outlets beyond the home Women we raised to devote their lives to running a household and serving their husbands

9. Western Europe – 500 C.E. – 1450 C.E. Women in the West had higher status than their sister under Islam (less segregated in religious services) and less confined to the household urban women often played important roles in local commerce and even operated some craft guilds Women were not assured property rights Patriarchal structures seemed to be taking deeper root

10. China – Tang and Song Position of women improved under the Tang and early Song eras and then deteriorated steadily in the late Song Male-dominated hierarchy promoted by Confucius Women remained subordinate to men; practiced footbinding Opportunities for personal expression increased Tang women could wield considerable power at the highest levels of Chinese society

11. Foot binding

12. Mongol gender roles – 1270s Women remained aloof from Chinese culture Refused to practice footbinding Retained rights to property and control within household and freedom to move about the town they hunted; i.e. daughter of Kubilai’s cousins went to war

14. Africa in Atlantic Age - 1400 The enslavement of women was a central feature of African society ▫Excess of women led to polygamy ▫The position of women was lowered in some societies Trans-Saharan slave trade concentrated on women as concubines and domestic servants but the Atlantic slave trade focused on men African societies preferred to sell men and keep women and children as domestic slaves or extend kin groups

16. Early Latin America - 1450 Sexual exploitation of Indian women and occasional alliances formed by the giving of concubines and female servants Slave owners exploited their female slaves or took slave women as mistresses, and then sometimes freed their mulatto children A mestizo who married a Spanish woman might be called white

17. Muslim Empires - 1450 Akbar legally prohibited sati Seclusion was more and more strictly enforced for upper-class women, both Hindu and Muslim ▫Muslim women rarely went from their homes unveiled The birth of a girl was increasingly seen as an inauspicious event Only the birth of a son was greeted with feasting and celebrations