DEALING WITH AP DOCUMENTS

Remember the question from yesterday’s documents? What is the question for todays?

Comparing the role of women in various societies from the ancient to the classical

BUILD A FRAMEWORKSimilarities in attitudes toward women

Differences in attitudes toward women

Document one provides only the husband with the right to divorce his wife ( without any reference to her say). Her defilement makes reference to her coveted virginity illustrating the perception of a woman as procreative property. This work of the old Testament dates back to ancient civilizations.

Document two , also from the ancient world looks at Mesopotamian society and illustrates the rights of the husband with regard to divorce without providing much say of the wife however…

Document two also provides some opportunity to present grievances that if her husband is not congenial (just and kind), then she may possibly receive her dowry back and return to her father’s house. This suggests some level of women’s elevated status at least in compared to document #1

WORK THOSE DOCUMENTS Author Place and Time Prior knowledge Audience Reason The main idea Significance

ADDITIONAL DOCUMENT/MISSING VOICE Whose voice is not represented amongst

the documents? How relevant are they to the comparative attitudes toward women? What view of women from the classical age might help identify a unique perspective?

ROLE OF WOMEN IN CLASSICAL GREECE Status Greek women did not have citizenship and had no independent legal rights. A Greek woman was considered to be the property and sole responsibility of her husband or eldest male relative. The highest status she could attain was to be the wife of a citizen. Spartan women had greater standing. They could own and inherit property and were more highly respected, especially if they were the mother of a son. Spartan women did not, however, have citizenship or political influence.

ROLE OF WOMEN IN CLASSICAL ROME Status Roman women did not have citizenship and, during the republic, they had virtually no legal rights. They were the legal responsibility of their fathers or husbands. If a woman’s father or husband died, a guardian (usually the eldest male relative) was appointed by the state to look after the family’s affairs. During the empire (from 27 BCE), the guardian’s role became mostly ceremonial and wealthy Roman women controlled their own financial and legal affairs later in life.

ROLE OF WOMEN IN CLASSICAL CHINA

Women’s Duties according to Confucius women did not participate in public life duties

cook look after her parents-in-law make clothes follow the “three submissions”: her parents, husband and son

Marriages arranged She left her home to go to her future husband’s home had to prove herself Dissension common between wife and in-laws Competed for influence and power in the family

During the Han Dynasty Several authors began to write about the role of women

Ban Zhao, sister to a court historian, wrote Admonitions for Women a text of advice on the appropriate virtues for aristocratic women Humility Resignation Subservience Self-abasement Obedience Cleanliness Industry

Throughout Han times (but not after) women could: inherit property divorce remarry after divorce or widowhood

ROLE OF WOMEN IN CLASSICAL INDIA Women in the Caste System

Dominance of Males Dominance of husbands and fathers was very strong One Indian code of law even recommended that a wife worship her husband as a

god Limits on Women

arranged marriages contracted unions at a very early age goal of arranged marriages ensure solid economic links result of these marriages women came into a new family in which they had

absolutely no voice Husband and wife were to provide mutual emotional and loving support as the

marriage developed family an important part of society In the Gupta Empire, women’s status declined

Lost right to own or inherit property Barred from studying sacred texts Treated as the lowest class, the Shudras Expected to obey their father, husband, and sons Married at very early ages (6 or 7) to be sure they were virgins Sati a ritual in which a woman was expected to cremate herself on her

husband’s funeral pyre If declined she is forbidden to marry and is shunned

 

ROLE OF WOMEN IN CLASSICAL MAYA 8th ruler of Palenque was a woman Mostly weavers and harvesters Arranged marriages Separations of gender at young age

(girls with mothers boys with fathers) There existed many Mayan Goddesses

BREAKING IT DOWN Grouping suggested two ways but here are some others:

Ancient Middle East, Mediterranean, Asia Early, middle, later Good,bad,neutral Political, economic, cultural

Thesis: The rise of the earliest civilizations gave rise to patriarchal institutions where women were viewed as personal possessions and property limiting their rights. During the Greco-Roman reforms, however, women were viewed as important partners but still deferred to men while the patriarchy in Asia became increasingly codified through religious laws and bureaucratic decree. An additional document from a Spartan women would allow for a greater understanding of the elevated status of women and how this was a unique feature in an era dominated by men.

Politically, laws served to subjugate a women’s role in the ancient and classical world, economically, the wife was generally reliant upon her husband and mostly served him being denied property, however, women were looked as domestic partners in the Mediterranean world while in the Middle East and Asia, they maintained their obedience to their husbands. Although we hear from a woman like Ban Zhou, she is clearly writing for the Emperor, it would be important to hear from a Chinese mother to view her reaction to the three submissions first as daughter, then as wife and , finally as mother. While these were her duties she might have felt restricted in this submissive society