Gender Structures in Human History

Origins - Early Civilizations

The Paleolithic (Early Stone Age) Period There is little evidence of social structure in

remains; modern examples of foragers help form understanding of early gender structures.

Most scholars believe women were not subordinate in Paleolithic past - societies were egalitarian: both men and women made tools and contributed to food supply.

Neolithic Period

Because most foraging societies had a division of labor by sex, and women were primarily responsible for gathering plant products, it is likely that women were those who first intentionally planted seeds.

Early horticulture was controlled by women, though divisions of what was women’s and men’s work were strict.

Neolithic Period

cereal crops could be eaten by young children women could wean babies at an earlier age children born at a more frequent rate

enough food produced to allow groups to settle permanently in one area

Neolithic Period

In early agricultural societies, there is little differentiation in status based on sex (men buried with spears, women with flour querns)

Plow Agriculture brings shift in gender structure: about 3000 BCE

Plow Agriculture

Male tasks were raising cattle to pull carts and plows

Men raised cattle for milking and sheep for shearing

Women’s task became the spinning and weaving of cloth

Plow Agriculture

While it significantly increased food supply, it also increased resources needed to produce the food: animals, plows, storage containers, workers

1st time in human culture that having material goods gave someone ability to amass more material goods; it increased the gap between rich and poor

Plow Agriculture

Boys were favored over girls for work they could do in agricultural labor and support they could provide parents in old age

Boys became inheritors of family land and rights to work communally held land

A nature/domestic and culture/public dichotomy grew as women were considered closer to nature and worked in the domestic realm while men began to see themselves separate from the natural world and part of the public realm of life

Civilization

As hereditary aristocracies developed, they became concerned with maintaining the distinction between them and the majority of the population

Led to laws controlling women’s reproduction, through laws governing sexual relations and through marriage norms and practices

Civilization

Women were placed under the legal authority of their husbands

Women often married men ten years older Women thus increasingly derived their

power and authority from their husbands rather than their own ability

Marriage

Usually, marriage set up a family unit where property was passed down to children

Extremely important for husbands that the children their wives bore were theirs

Thus, laws mandated that women be virgins on marriage, and imposed strict punishments for women’s adultery but not man’s

Marriage - Mesopotamia

Mesopotamian husbands veiled their spouses upon marriage; literally meant “shutting a door”

Family honor thus became tied to women’s sexuality, while men’s honor was tied to their work activities or performance of public duties

Marriage - Egypt

Repression probably less severe in Egypt - more queens wielded power and religious beliefs more egalitarian

Daughters could carry on family religious practices in the absence of a son

Religion and Gender Structure

Earliest human religions probably involved beliefs about forces and spirits linked to the natural world rather than personified gods and goddesses

During the Neolithic period, human formed deity of the fertility goddess or Mother Goddess tied to fertility of crops and animals emerged

Religion and Gender Structure

By the time writing and urban civilization developed in Mesopotamia, the creation story emphasized the role of a male deity over a female

Probably, religious beliefs were adapted to fit the new economic and social realities

Judaism - Divergence in Religion

One religious group whose beliefs differed from “neighbors”: monotheism

No female deity altogether, only male creator God, Yahweh or Jehovah

Women were not allowed to be priestesses; their duty revolved around household and not temple; authority of husband and father codified in Hebrew scripture

Gender and Class

Class and gender hierarchies intersected to form social realities

A few women, the daughters, wives, widows, came to rule either alongside their male family members or in their own right

Division of labor among slaves; men worked with crops, women with processing agricultural products (ex: weaving)

Gender Structure in Classical Civilizations

1000 BCE - 450 CE

New Developments

Each civilization generated characteristic family arrangements, including how spouses were selected

Clear ideas about gender and formation of gender roles in major cultural systems (Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism)

Gender relations stiffened, passed from generation to generation

Continuations from River Valley Civilizations Importance of sons grew so that unwanted girl babies

might simply be put to death (female infanticide) Women’s legal disabilities grew In philosophy, women regarded as necessary but

clearly inferior and in need of male control - also, dangerous to men’s spiritual well-being

High status men felt it increasingly important to seclude their wives and daughters

Women rulers

Women occasionally ruled territories (example: Empress Wu in China)

Women’s rule was often informal; they took over when husband sick or sons were young

A woman who had power over a male ruler was portrayed as scheming and evil, while the male stereotype developed that a weak ruler let himself be advised by women

Spiritual Realm

In three major religions that developed during this period (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism) women were able to achieve the ultimate spiritual goal along with men

Through monasteries and missionaries, women were able to choose life of religious devotion instead of marriage and motherhood.

Family Structures

Most people in classical cultures married, and were under the authority of the male head of household

Most cultures were patrilocal, where women went to live with men’s family upon marriage

Girls trained from a very young age in skills and attitudes that would make a good wife and mother

Family Structure

Most cultures patrilineal, so bearing sons important to continuation of the family line

Son’s births celebrated with special ceremonies and rituals not performed for girls

Unmarried men not regarded as fully adult Marriage was a way for a man to escape the

control of his father

Family Structure

Empires of the classical world regarded family as the basis for society; family and state intimately related to one another

The family served for men as the basis of their place in the world, while for women it was the location of their place in the world

Beyond the Family

Upper class men attended schools and other formalized institutions of learning, while women learned within the household

Women’s occupations and religious duties were all performed within the household

The only women seen outside were those of low status: slaves and servants bringing water from wells or marketing

China

Confucianism emphasized honoring ancestors, and sons were needed to continue rituals and family name

Women were expected to be subordinate; codified in “three obediences”: to her father as a daughter, to her husband as a wife, and to her son as a widow

China

Most powerful women attached to emperor’s household; as wives, widows, and concubines

Land in China was held mostly by aristocratic families and passed from generation to generation through the male members of the lineage

India

Girls married very early and went to live with husband’s family

Hinduism and Buddhism two most important cultural forces: Hindu texts teach that a woman can not gain final state of bliss before being reborn into a man

Buddhist texts also regard women as not capable of achieving enlightenment without first becoming men; and put all nuns under control of male monks

India

Other traditions stressed the power of women: many of Hindu deities are goddesses

Hindu stories stressed women’s service to men but also gave credit to initiative, cleverness, love, and sensuality - different from Confucian China

Family life and procreation religious duty

Classical Mediterranean Society

Classical Athens was sharply hierarchical: Aristotle saw only males as capable of perfection and described women as “deformed males”; the perfect human form was that of the young male and the perfect human relationship one between two men

Citizen women did not participate in education, politics, or civic life, and were usually secluded in the house

Classical Mediterranean Society

Slave women in Athens were not secluded and made the seclusion of the citizen women possible

Foreign women had number of occupations, including prostitution

Mediterranean Society - Rome

Romans considered the family unit the basis of social order

Families were patriarchal but men and women married at the same age and ideal was that husbands and wives should share interests, property, and activities

Because upper-class men were often absent from home in military or government duties, women took over running estates

Mediterranean - Christian World

Jesus’ teachings favorable to women; women took active role in spread of Christianity

Ideal that men and women should live celibate life had negative consequences for women: they were viewed as the primary temptation for church fathers and misogyny in some circles developed

Women could not preach or hold most official church positions