Gender Roles In Ancient India

In current times in America, the role of women and the role of men is about equal. When it comes to home life, it’s just as common for women to go out and work as it is for a man to do it. Women have even run for President. However, in the Harappan society in ancient India, and in Sumerian times in ancient Mesopotamia, the equality and respect of women weren’t as strong as it is today. Regardless, women were respected to a certain level. Overall, the respect of women in ancient India was similar to the respect of women in Mesopotamia because goddesses were seen as powerful, young women were admired, and women were highly regarded for being able to give birth.

Gender roles in ancient Mesopotamia were clearly defined (teachmiddleeast.edu). Generally, men worked outside of the home and women stayed inside of the home while focusing on raising their children and keeping up with work that took place in the home. However, there were exceptions; we know of women who were “bartenders” and even women who were priestesses, but with limited responsibility. Due to the fact that some were from socially higher families and owned large amounts of property, those women were not allowed to marry. Women at the time were given much less freedom than men, however, women were more protected than men, which is seen in Hammurabi’s Code of Law, specifically in his 130th law:

It’s not hard to see that women were treated far worse than men were; this is just because the men never thought of them as equal and that was just the way it would be. Women in China were definitely treated like slaves as compared to Roman women who were given a little freedom; Chinese women would have to obey their husbands and had to make sure that their chores like cooking and cleaning were done by the end of the day. “In Rome women were treated inferior, but the men of the empire would always look after them; they would always have a male guardian with them most of the time,”(Ramirez et al 179). Chinese women were ordered around constantly and would never even think about disobeying their husbands. Roman women were treated more like precious gems; their husbands made sure that they avoided contact with men other than family members, they wanted to make sure their wives stayed pure and faithful to them at all times.

Our world has been a male dominated society from the beginning of time. In most cultures, especially in ancient times, women were thought of as secondary to their male counterparts. Women were considered a possession just as a house or piece of property is considered a possession. The role of women in these early societies did not receive an education but was to take care of the household and have children. The women of the Minoan and Mycenaean ancient Greece cultures held much more roles than homemakers and mothers; they were allowed more freedoms and rights also oracles, priestesses, and political advisors yet they are also seen by men as nothing more than a mere possession.

Throughout history women have faced many struggles in gaining equality with men. Freedoms and boundaries have been dependent upon the time period, rulers, religions and civilization. Ancient Greek women and Ancient Egyptian women were both equal to men as far as the law was concerned in certain areas; however, their equalities were different in the sense that Greek women were married out of necessity and viewed as property while Egyptian women were respected and loved by their husbands. Ancient Greek women and Ancient Egyptian women also both lived with limitations such as being thought of as domestic servants, yet these views solely depended on the time and polis.

Gender roles of diverse cultures have differed immensely throughout history. The evolution of gender roles first began in the Paleolithic Age and then began to transform with the transformation of the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Age. Women in Mesopotamia, India, Greece, China, and Rome were not treated as equals and viewed as inferior to men. Cultures like Egypt and Persia had similar laws for women and treated them with more respect out of any of the other cultures.

Women weren’t treated greatly at all; they had hardly any rights where as men had many that women had no say in. One rule that was truly unfair was that a man could order any women to do anything he wanted. Women could not get an education because Confucius thought women didn’t need it. All they needed to know was how to cook clean and look after kids. They basically had no rights or privileges; they didn’t even get choice on who they would be spending the rest of their life with. There were some strict rules regarding marriage. Firstly Women didn’t get a say in who the married because it was worked our by a family member of the spouse, they had to marry a guy who was at least a few years older than him and they had to know less than him,

Over the centuries the treatment of women has varied from country to country. Some countries considered females to be their equals, while others completely disagreed with this idea and believe that they should be treated as man's servants. In modern society almost every country in the world has complete equality between males and females. The treatment of women in Ancient Societies differentiated from having very equal rights, partially equal rights, and barely any equal rights at all.

In today’s society, we as women often take for granted the rights, freedoms, and equality we share with men that women in the ancient world were not granted. As all civilisations in the ancient world exercised different treatment towards, this essay will illustrate a few comparisons in the status of women during ancient Egypt with women during ancient Rome. Academic sources will be relied on to provide the necessary actualities when one considers ancient civilizations. The legal status of women in society, the domestic atmospheres and roles that each unique region’s women held, and the possible occupations available to these women, will be discussed.

Women's lives, roles, and statuses changed over various early world history eras and culture areas in many ways. Ancient Persia, Paleolithic, Athens, Mesopotamian and Roman eras were all different in very unique ways. The Paleolithic era treated women fairly and were treated equally. During the Neolithic era women were not treated fairly. She was the daughter of her father or the wife of her husband. Women rarely acted as individuals outside the context of their families. Those who did so were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status.” (oi.uchicago.edu, 2010) Athenian women were not treated fairly

To each society, there is its own set of rules. Many of these rules separate the women from the men or the children from the adults by creating certain duties for each individual. There are many comparisons between the women of Islamic and Roman societies. The roles that are given to these two groups of women show what is expected of them as a wife, the mother of the family, and where they stand politically.

In Envisioning Women in World History, by Catherine Clay, Chandrika Paul, and Christine Senecal many of the societies treated their women as in superior to men especially in religious cultures. These societies believed that men were superior intellectually and physically restraining women from many experiences. Although the laws that women had to endure became harsher when religion was involved most of the times. Some of the hardships that women before 1500 had to endure were, lack of citizenship in Greece and Rome, arranged marriages, and not being able to leave the house alone. Most women had to go through tougher times then men after the Paleolithic era, but the ones that had the least amount of power were the Muslims. Christian women

From prehistory to 600 BCE, gender roles have been influenced by religion in many civilizations. In ancient Mesopotamia, “The Mesopotamian woman's role was strictly defined. She was the daughter of her father or the wife of her husband. Women rarely acted as individuals outside the context of their families. Those who did so were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status” (University of Chicago). In Mesopotamia’s polytheistic religion, women were only known as the mother of a son, or the wife to a husband. This was influenced by the religion because the many gods influenced how men and women were treated in Mesopotamia. This is similar to how women were treated in another civilization at the time, Israel. In Israel, women would not own property or get a divorce, and, if involved with extramarital relations, would be put to death. According to the Oxford Research

Ancient cultures treated women more as property than people. The cultures that I will proceed to talk about are Mesopotamia, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans and how differently yet how equally treated women. Women were more of a household decoration to the men of each culture, all they did was cook, clean, and be a mother to the children. When the men got home the women were expected to make him happy no matter what.

  Women were once little more than slaves to their male "betters." Some women might have been respected, but their places were limited to roles as wives and mothers. They might rule a home, but were not believed intelligent enough for any other role. This chauvinistic attitude is well reflected in the novels Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, and Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad.