Women's High Rank in Achaemenid Era

Thank you and welcome to the women's forum, CS. Yes, I've read that in many cultures, women played a more prominent and equal role in society with many more rights than afforded today. Any idea as to what occurred which changed women's status so negatively? Did this change occur gradually or was there any one significant event which caused such a dramatic change?







Edited by morticia - 17-May-2007 at 10:43

May I repeat my "tantum potuit religio ..." comment?

Actually, AFAIK the Abramitic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) seems to be among the most  anti-feminist of the globe, as well as the most anti-gay, patriarchal, etc.

Possibly a character developed because of their origin in desertic countries, where a rigid, absolutist and semi-militaristic family structure, with an absolute ruler was necessary for survival?

Originally posted by morticia Any idea as to what occurred which changed women's status so negatively? Did this change occur gradually or was there any one significant event which caused such a dramatic change?

Capitalism!  

The reason I say that capitalism is the cause of the decline in the status of women (and children, too) is as follows. In a pre-money economy, everybody in the household contributes to the family as an economic unit of production according to their abilities. With the rise of capitalism, the family becomes no longer a unit of production (the family farm, the family business, etc.) to which everybody could contribute but rather merely a unit of consumption. Rather than having people (whole families) working for themselves on the family farm or in the family business, work becomes a place where the adult male head of household goes to in order to work for someone else. In this context, the adult male head of household becomes the only one whose economic contribution is acknowledged in monetary compensation. Such economic contributions as the wife and children make are no longer acknowledged and their status is lessened as they come to be seen as mere dependents of the adult male head of household.     

Originally posted by Serge L I don't know, Heikstheo, that seems more a description of society in modern times, than one that could have worked during pre-history or ancient history, where did not go to the factory or he office and received a salary, but  obtaining the means of survival hunting, cultivating the land, etc.

Women more equality in the European Middle Ages than they now do, and that equality seems to have been based on their utility on the family farm. However, with the rise of a money economy in early modern times, the perception of women's and children's usefulness declined as the man's economic usefulness to the family unit was expressed in cash, while the women's and children's economic usefulness within the family unit was not recognized in cash.