Women in Patriarchal Societies
In agricultural civilizations women were considered inferior according to modern
Western standards. Agricultural civilizations were run by men and assumed that they
directed political, economical, and cultural life. As agricultural civilizations become more
prosperous the status of women declined from its initial level. The husband and father
made all the key decisions and women were expected to obey them with whatever
decision they made. Marriage was based on property relationships, which meant that once
the women got married she was expected to move in to the residence of her husband’s
family. Marriages were arranged and a formal contract was drawn up. The Sumerian law
gave women some rights so they couldn’t be treated like property. There was a double
standard when it came to adultery. Egyptian civilization gave upper class women more
credit than Mesopotamia did. Confucianism in China recommended the good treatment of
women but in the context of their deference to men. As agriculture improved women
labor became less important than it was in hunting and gathering societies. Patriarchalism
responded to economic and legal conditions in agricultural civilizations. Many women
came to believe they had to obey and please men. Patriarchalism was enforced through
law and culture. This provided one means by which these societies regulated their family
and tried to achieve order. When over population threatened a family’s well being
patriarchal assumptions often determined that female babies should be killed in order to
control the population.
Questions
A believe that women who grew up in patriarchal societies wouldn’t have a large reaction
to their conditions because since they were grown up in this society they probably came
to believe they had to obey and please the men. A woman’s conditions in patriarchal
societies could differ from one society to another, like the Sumerian Law which gave
women some rights so they couldn’t be treated like property. Egyptian civilization gave
upper class women more credit than Mesopotamia did. China recommended the good
treatment of women but in the context of their deference to men. Often men considered
upper class women more inferior than lower class women because in peasant families a
women’s work was essential.