Different Roles of Women
Women have influenced many events in history. As times changed, so did the roles of women. While reading, you will see how women either adapted to the many changes made, or made their entire family suffer.
According to historians, the first people (women and men) were Australopithecines. They were the first hominids to make simple stone tools. After this, the Homo Erectus made larger and more varied tools. Next were Homo Sapiens, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, and then Neanderthals. Civilization was born.
•Around 100 B.C., the men were the head of the household. The women raised the children and worked in the home only.
•In Ancient Greece and Rome around 100 A.D., women were usually slaves in different households. They didn't have much of a role in society at this time in the world. Women wouldn't get a role until long after this.
•In Europe, 1000 A.D., the life of a woman was both important and difficult. They were expected to work in the fields and bear children at the same time. If they couldn't manage the household, their family could either starve or survive during difficult times.
•During the Renaissance, the women had no say in who they married. The wife's parents had their husbands picked from childhood. The woman had no say in the finances and the money was strictly the husbands. Her chief role was to supervise the household.
•Around 1500 A.D., the women's role was still to be an obedient servant whose chief duty was to please her husband. As Luther simply stated it, "The woman is like a nail driven into the wall... so the wife should stay at home and look after the affairs of the household, as one who has been deprived of the ability of administering those affairs that are outside and that concern the state. She does not go beyond her most personal duties." Her other most important duty was to bear children. Overall, the womans place in society had not changed thus far.
•In the Ottoman Empire, women were almost equal to men. They were allowed to own and inherit property. They could not be forced into marriage and, in certain cases, could seek divorce. Women often gained considerable power within the palace. In some cases, women even served as senior officials such as governors of provinces.
•In the Mogul Dynasty, women played an active role in society. They fought on the battlefield alongside the men and rulers often relied on them for political advice. Women frequently recieved salaries and were allowed to own land an take part in business activities.
•Near 1600 A.D., Chinese women were considered inferior to Chinese men. They couldn't have a formal education or pursue a career in government or scholarship. Legally, a woman could not divorce her husband or inherit property. Although, if she could not bear sons, her husband had the right to divorce her.
•Women in the Tokugawa society had similar rights to women everywhere else. Their marriages were arranged and after, they were expected to move in with her husbands family. A wife who did not meet the expectations of her husband or his family was likely to be divorced. As in the other cultures, women were most valued for their roles as childbearers and homemakers. Both sexes worked in the fields, although men did the heavier labor.
•During the scientific revolution, women finally started to have a say in what happened. One of the most important of them was Margaret Cavendish. She wrote many books about astronomy. Between 1650 and 1710, women only made up 14% of all astronomers, but it was a start to help women get to where they are today.
•By the eighteenth century, female thinkers began to express their ideas about improving the condition of women. Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the first women to speak up on how they felt. She said, "Because women have reason, then they are entitled to the same rights as men. Women should have equal rights in education, as well as in economic and political life."
•The year of 1903 was a great one for women. Leading up to this year were many events. During the Second Industrial Revolution, women began receiving jobs. Since there was a shortage of male workers, the next best thing was women. Retail shops and industrial plants were hiring positions such as clerks, typists, secretaries, file clerks, and sales clerks. While the middle class women did hold these jobs, they were mainly for the working class who were just looking for a better quality of life. The family lifestyle became more popular. The father helped raise children and holidays were spent together. All of this led to The Women's Social and Political Union, founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters.
•Around 1910, women in Japanese societies were limited to the "three obediences": child to father, wife to husband, and widow to son. Only men could vote. The Civil Code of 1898 played down individual rights and placed women within the context of their family role.
•During WWI, women were asked to take over jobs that had not been available to them before. They were employed in jobs that had once been considered too hard for them. These jobs included chimney sweeps, truck drivers, farm laborers, and factory workers in heavy industry. Everyone thought these jobs were only temporary, though. After the war, women were removed from these jobs. If a women wasn't removed from the job, her salary would just be lowered.
•As in WWI, in WWII, women also entered the workforce when the men left. At the wars end, however, they were removed to provide jobs for the soldiers who were returning home. For a while, women fell back into traditional roles. Birthrates rose, creating a "baby boom" in the late 1940s and the 1950s. After this, families began to decrease in size again and women went back to work. These women still faced a problem - they earned less than men. In the late 1960s came renewed intrest in feminism, or the women's liberation movement, as it's now called.
•In modern Africa, women can vote and run for political offices. Few of them actually hold political offices. Although women do dominate some professions, such as teaching, they do not have the same range of career opportunities available to men. Most African women are employed in low-paid positions such as farm laborers and factory workers.
•Today, in Iraq and Iran, the roles of women are still the traditional ones. They mainly occupied the household and took care of the children.
•In South and Southeast Asia, the Indian Constitution of 1950 forbade discrimination based on gender and called for equal pay for equal work. This law is still in affect today. All of the women were granted full legal and political rights. Since then, women have become politically active and occasionally hold high offices.
