Women_in_History

"The history of women is the history of the continued and universal oppression of one sex by the other." Women had been oppressed but through the years they gained more rights and are able to do many things men can do. These rights may have come slowly but women are finally being treated equal as men. This quote is true from the beggining of our time, to hunters and gatherers to the greeks and romans. Even now in the 21st century women are trying to get more rights.Although it may be unnoticed, but many important historical events had women who contributed their hard work and support to help changes happen.This just shows how much value women have since their accoplishements are always kept in the shadows. Women were always treated badly because men thought they were superior. It may be astounding but in some cultures the underpriveledged women had more rights than the wealthy. About 15 to 200 thousand years, all human beings were hunters and gatherers. Basically men hunt animals while the women gather fruits and plants.Even though 75-80% of the food they eat are fruits/plants, men are much more rewarded since apparently hunting was a much harder and manly task. Eventually Hunters and Gatherers made a transition to agriculture. Since farming was a more stable source of food more men helped in farming, while the woman cooked. As the years progressed women gained more rights.Summerian women were free to buy, sell, and attend legal matters for absent(rephrase)men. They were also able to own property, borrow, lend and engage in business. High status women could even learn to read and write and were given considerable administrative authority(rewrite). Women were not considered equal with men in Mesopotamia, but they were respected and given considerably more power.Physically stronger than women, men could rule women by brute force, and in societies where men were the warriors it was they who got together and made decisions for their entire society. Presumably before the time of the Sumerians, kings were chosen by the warriors, with the king as the leading warrior. The Sumerians put the domination of men over women into law. If a husband died, the widow came under the control of her former husband's father or brother, or if she had a grown son she was put under his control. A woman in Sumer had no recourse or protection under the law. A woman's power, if she had any, was the influence of her personality within her family. Ancient Chinese Women were to stay at home either under their father’s protection or until they were married. One way in which, the women and men were equal in China was that they were both not to disgrace their family.They had no education,instead they were taught how to manage the household.Once a woman is married in China, she is then a house wive, they were then expected(replace) to have complete obideience(replace) toward her husband, and have completed the household chores such as cooking, cleaning, and sewing. When a girl gets married in a family, the father of the house used to decide who his daughter was to marry. Women were to be completely devoted to their husbands.(replace) If you were a women of the higher class you were to act proper, and also not engage in gossip, or silly laughter. Religion did not dictate the role of women but men did.In ancient China, women were not allowed to hold political offices, they could not represent in matters of law, but they could perform religious duties. As usual men are always superior to women. In ancient Greek culture, a father and husband ruled over his wife and children. Obviously he would be loyal to his children more than his wife. In Athens, the wives of citizens enjoyed no more political or legal rights than did their slaves.(replace) Just like many other ancient societies, a male member of the household decides to whom you should marry and when. In greece, marriage was conducted for two main reasons which are to take care of the house while the husband is away and to bear children, most perferably male.In Spartan society, women controlled the household while her husband is away at war. They were to wear no jewelery or elaborate clothing. Women basically live to produce strong boys and control the household. One thing different about Greek women are that they do not have to wear conservative clothing. In greece, men and women were both allowed to go out nude. Just like any other society, Roman women had less power than men. They were to stay at home under her father's protection and learn to manage the houshold. Women in ancient Rome were not allowed to vote or hold office in a political position. But within the family, they were quite important because Roman culture values family. Roman women took part in many of theSince Roman's valued their culture allot, women were able to participate in public/privet baths, sporting events, and much more.Also,they were allowed to leave their house to go to town to buy food and commodities for the household.A young girl's marriage in Rome was an agreement between the fathers of the two houses. Unlike now where marriage is romantic, back then you had to marry whoever your father choose for you. In some Roman marriages there is love bettween the two spouces but mostly marriage was an agreement. Like many other cultures when a women got married her family has to give a dowery to her husband. This dowry was returned to her if they ever get divorced unless she was guilty. Slave women of ancient Rome were under the control of their master, many women slaves were required to assist the master of the house in many of the details of the house, such as making clothes for the other slaves, making sure the food had not gone bad, and attending to them when they were sick. Even thought women had little roles they were important contributors in history.They should be more appreciated because they worked so hard to fight for their rights and they also rerached the same level as men.