Chinese Dynasties

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Chinese Dynasties

• Too Many Dynasties to Remember? Lets try a SONG!
• Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han
• Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han
• Sui, Tang, Song
• Sui, Tang, Song
• Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic
• Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic
• Mao Zedong
• Mao Zedong
• Lets try Frere Jacques
• http//rhs.rocklin.k12.ca.us/academics/socialscien
  ce/apwh/index.html

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Gender StructureWorld Civilizations - 8000 BCE
2000 CE - sources Barrons, Earth and Its
Peoples

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 8000 BCE 600 CE
Religion and Gender Role of Women in Different
Belief Systems

• Overall Gender Issues
• - The ability to choose a mate gave rise to
  family units during the prehistoric era.
• - Basic physical differences between the sexes
  led to a gender division of labor in most
  Stone Age societies.
• - The emergence of agriculture deepened the
  gender division of labor. In most cases, this
  division led to inequality for women.
• - Organized religions often reinforced this
  sense of inequality.
• - In most societies up to 1000 CE, women were
  regulated to a secondary, subservient role.
  The degree of the subservience depended on
  the society. In some societies, women had
  some rights (ownership of property, inheritance,
  right to divorce). They also could exert
  influence, particularly in their families.
• - In almost no society were women granted a
  status equal to that of men. (Barrons)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Religion and Gender Role of Women in Different
Belief Systems

• Hinduism (no precise beginning took clear shape
  900 BCE)
• - Key Caste System
• - place of women given religious sanction
  (approved) by Hindu doctrine.
• - males thought to be superior to females
• - However, code of behavior required that women
  be treated with respect.
• - Women played vital role in family unit.
• -
• - Men
• - monopoly on education, performed family
  rituals, allowed to own property
• - Women
• - considered legal minors even when adults
• - often married in childhood, divorce was rare
• - Sati ritual
• - tradition that widow was to throw herself on
  the funeral pyre of their dead husband and
  be burned to death. (Barrons 87-89)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Religion and Gender Role of Women in Different
Belief Systems

• Buddhism (500 BCE)
• - Key No Caste System
• - Women would sometimes escape the male control
  of Hinduism by joining a Buddhist community.
• - This made higher status and more freedom
  available.
• (Barrons 90-91)
• - Women
• - women who belonged to powerful families and
  courteseans who were trained in poetry,
  music, or providing sexual pleasure could gain
  a high standing
• - some such women gave to build Buddhist
  stupas and other shrines. (Bulliet 187)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Religion and Gender Role of Women in Different
Belief Systems

• Confucianism (500 BCE)
• - Men ruled society
• - Men fought wars and acted as scholars and
  ministers.
• - Men could keep more than one wife and could
  divorce any wife who failed to produce a male
  heir.
• - Confucianism relies on the concepts of
  reciprocity and mutual respect.
• - So women should be able to expect good
  treatment from men but only if they were
  properly subservient.
• (Barrons 93-94)
• - Women
• - were exclusively homemakers and mothers.
• - Laws prohibited women from owning property
  and they were NOT provided financial security
  through a dowry system.
• - Women were allowed to have a limited
  education
• - some such women gave to build Buddhist
  stupas and other shrines. (Bulliet 187)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Religion and Gender Role of Women in Different
Belief Systems

• Judaism (formalized between 2000 and 1850 BCE) /
  Israelite culture
• - Women were respected in the home but Hebrew
  society was rigidly patriarchal the place of
  women in the law and religious practices was
  lower than that of men.
• - Strict rules regarding sexual conduct (Barrons
  85-86)
• Israeli norms
• - Monogamy was the norm.
• - Wife brought into a marriage a dowry that
  often included a slave girl who attended to
  her for life.
• - Male heirs were of paramount importance.
• - if no son was born, the couple could adopt or
  the husband could have the child by the
  wifes slave attendant.
• - Israel women provided a vital portion of the
  goods and services that sustained the family.
  As a result, women were regarded with respect
  and had relative equality with their husbands in
  family and village life.
• - Still, women could not inherit nor initiate
  divorce
• - Men were permitted extrmarital relations, but
  the equivalent behavior by wives was punishable
  by death.
• - Women worked outside the home as cooks,
  bakers, perfumers, wet nurses, prostitutes and
  singers of lament. (Bulliet 102)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Religion and Gender Role of Women in Different
Belief Systems

• Christianity (29 CE)
• - early on was especially popular with those who
  felt a sense of powerlessness in Roman society
  including women.
• - the early church gave women a sense of
  belonging and some influential, but limited,
  within Christian groups.
• - Christian marriage was to be monogomous
• - strict rules regarding sexual conduct
• - later, organized Christianity became highly
  male-dominated
• - Eve was assigned blame for humanitys
  orginal sin
• - The Apostle Pauls writings clearly put women
  in a secondary position.
• - Women were to obey men and were not allowed
  to occupy the positions of highest
  leadership within the church (including
  priesthood).
• - However, this is balanced in the Bible by
  Scriptures that teach that husbands and
  wives are to submit to one another and that
  husbands are to serve their wives as Jesus did
  for the church (willing to give life for her)
• -Today
• - Still male dominated in many ways but more
  many denominations have women in leadership
  roles.
• -

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Religion and Gender Role of Women in Different
Belief Systems

• Islam (600s CE)
• - Polygamy practiced
• - Muslim men were allowed to take up to four
  wives.
• - Tight restrictions on how women were allowed
  to dress or appear in public.
• - a strictly observant Muslim woman is to guard
  her modesty and veil herself when in public.
• - Male domination of women in Islamic societies
  was countered by the Quran command that men
  treat women with respect.
• - Women had the right to inherit, have dowries
  and own property.
• - Today
• - a number of Muslim nations have become more
  secular and allow a less stringent observation
  of these practices.
• - others operate under the same general
  principles as in early Islam.

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 8000 BCE 600 CE Role of Women in
River Valley Civilizations

• Mesopotamia (3500-1150BCE)
• Sumerians (3500-2350 BCE)
• - Women had no political role, but they were
  able to own property, maintain control of
  their dowry, and even engage in trade.
• - Some women worked outside the household, in
  textile factories and breweries or as
  prostitutes, tavern keepers, bakers, and fortune
  tellers.
• - Non-elite women who stayed home probably
  engaged in other tasks as well such as
  childcare, helping with the harvest, planting
  vegetables, weaving baskets and textiles.
  (Bulliet 36)
• - The status of women seems to have declined in
  the 2nd millenium BCE. - perhaps related to the
  rise of an urbanized middle class.
• - The husband became more dominant in the
  household and received greater latitude in
  laws relating to marriage and divorce.
• - Mesopotamian society was generally monogamous
  but a man could obtain a second wife if his
  first gave him no children.
• - Later, kings and others could afford to do so
  had several wives.
• - Families could increase their wealth by
  arranging the marriage of their daughter
• - Families could also decide to avoid the
  marriage of a daughter, and therefore not have
  to pay a dowry, by dedicating a girl to the
  service of a deity as gods bride.
• (Bulliet 36)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 8000 BCE 600 CE Role of Women in
River Valley Civilizations

• Mesopotamia (3500-1150BCE)
• Sumerians (3500-2350 BCE) continued
• - The status of women seems to have declined in
  the 2nd millenium BCE. - perhaps related to the
  rise of an urbanized middle class.
• - The husband became more dominant in the
  household and received greater latitude in
  laws relating to marriage and divorce.
• - Mesopotamian society was generally monogamous
  but a man could obtain a second wife if his
  first gave him no children.
• - Later, kings and others could afford to do so
  had several wives.
• - Families could increase their wealth by
  arranging the marriage of their daughter
• - Families could also decide to avoid the
  marriage of a daughter, and therefore not have
  to pay a dowry, by dedicating a girl to the
  service of a deity as gods bride.
• (Bulliet 36)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CE Role of Women in
River Valley Civilizations

• Egypt (3100-1070 BCE)
• - Egyptian women could own property, inherit
  from their parents, and will their property to
  whomever they wished.
• - Marriage was usually monogamous
• - Either party to ask for divorce and the women
  retained her rights over her dowry
• - The limited evidence available suggests that
  women in ancient Egypt were treated more
  respectfully and had more legal rights and
  social freedoms than women in Mesopotamia and
  other ancient societies.
• - In paintings, elite women, though depicted
  with dignity and affection, are clearly shown
  as subordinate to men.
• - Paintings also seem to indicate that elite
  womens proper sphere is indoors. (Bulliet
  45-46)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CE Role of Women in
River Valley Civilizations

• Egypt (3100-1070 BCE) continued
• - Legal documents show that Egyptian women could
  own property, inherit from their parents, and
  will their property to whomever they wished.
  (Bulliet 45-46)
• - Marriage was usually monogomous either party
  could dissolve it.
• - The woman retained her dowry in the case of
  divorce.
• - At times, some queens and queen-mothers played
  significant behind the scenes roles in
  politics in the royal court.
• - Ancient Egyptian women had more legal rights,
  social freedoms and were treated better than
  women in Mesopotamia and other ancient
  societies. (Bulliet 45)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CE Role of Women in
River Valley Civilizations

• Egypt (3100-1070 BCE) continued
• New Kingdom Egypt (1473-1458 BCE)
• - Queen Hatshepsut claimed the throne after her
  husband died (after briefly serving as a
  regent for her son)
• - She often used the male pronoun to refer to
  herself and used drawings show her wearing the
  long conical beard symbolic of the ruler of
  Egypt.
• - She sent a naval expedition to open trade for
  myrrh resin and had some success.
• - After her death, her picture was defaced and
  her name blotted out wherever it appeared
  showing the opposition of at least some to
  having a female leader. (Bulliet 66)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CE Role of Women in
China

• Shang Dynasty (1750-1027 BCE)
• - In early China, some scholars believe that
  women may have had a important role as shamans
  communicating with supernatural forces.
  However, there are written records to confirm
  this.
• - The first written records show women to be in
  a subordinate position in the strongly
  patriarchal family.
• - Confucian thought codified the male/female
  hierarchy.
• - Only men were allowed to conduct the
  all-important rituals and make offerings to
  the ancestors.
• - Men had authority over women and children
• - Men were supposed to have only one wife but
  were free to have concubines. (Bulliet 63)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CE Role of Women in
China

• Zhou Dynasty (1027-221 BCE)
• - Confucian thought codified the male/female
  hierarchy.
• - Only men were allowed to conduct the
  all- important rituals and make offerings to
  the ancestors.
• - Men had authority over women and children
• - Men were supposed to have only one wife
  but were free to have concubines. (Bulliet
  63)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CE Role of Women in
China

• Zhou Dynasty (1027 221 BCE)
• - Concept of Yin and Yang
• - represents the complementary nature of male
  and female roles in the natural order.
• - Yin (male) was equated with the sun, active,
  bright, and shining.
• - Yang (female) was synonomous with the moon,
  passive, shaded, and reflective.
• - Male toughness was to be balanced by female
  gentleness.
• - The theory was initially considered yin and
  yang to be equal and alternatingly dominant
  like day and night. Later, however that
  viewpoint changed. (Bulliet 63-64)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CE Role of Women in
Europe

• Celts (500 BCE)
• - Celtic Women
• - engaged primarily in child rearing, food
  production and some crafts.
• - Did not have true equality with man but their
  situation was superior to that of women in
  the Middle East or in the Greek or Roman
  Mediteranean.
• - Greek and Roman sources depict Celtic women
  as strong and proud.
• - Welsh and Irish tales show Celtic women as
  witty and smart.
• - Marriages was a partnership to which both
  parties contributed property. Each partner
  had the right to inherit the estate if the
  other died.
• - Celtic women had greater freedom in their
  sexual relations than did other
  civilizations. (Bulliet 92-
  93)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CE Role of Israelite
Women

• Israelite Women
• - In early Israel women provided a vital portion
  of the goods and services that sustained the
  family. Women were regarded with respect and
  had relative equality with their husbands in
  family and village life.
• - On occasion, women would rise to a position of
  influence. Example, Deborah the Judge, who led
  troops in battle against the Canaanites.
• - Women known collectively as wise women
  appear to have been educated and composed
  sacred texts in poetry and prose.
• - Contributions of this sort diminished as
  Israelite society became more urbanized in the
  period of monarchy. (Bulliet 102)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CE Role of Women in
the Persian Empire

• Persian Empire (550 522 BCE)
• - Women received less than men of equivalent
  status, but pregnant women and women with
  babies received more.
• - However, both men and women performing skilled
  jobs received more than their unskilled
  counterparts. (Bulliet 119)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CE Role of Women in
Greece

• Classical Greece (480 - 323 BCE)
• -Sparta
• - women were expected to bear and raise strong
  children, were encouraged to exercise, and
  they enjoyed a level of public visibility and
  outspokenness that shocked other Greeks.
• - Athens the model of democracy but women
  enjoyed little freedom.
• - the opposite extreme for women. Women were
  oppressed and confined.
• - Men had nearly absolute authority over the
  members of their household under the law.
• - Men arranged his marriage with the parents of
  his prospective wife, who was likely to be a
  teenager with limited training in household
  management.
• - the young girl would come into a marriage
  hardly knowing her husband, having no
  political rights and very limited legal
  protection.
• - the relationship between husband and wife
  was in many ways similar to that of father
  and daughter.
• - Women stayed home to cook, clean, raise the
  children and supervise the servants.
• - The wife stayed in the house, except to
  attend funerals, certain festivals and make a
  discreet visit to the home of a female
  relative.
• - The men justified the confinement by claiming
  that women were naturally promiscuous.
• - However, bold, self-assertive women in Greek
  plays seems to suggest at least some rebellion
  against such oppression.

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CE Role of Women in
the Roman Empire

• Roman Republic / Empire (500 BCE 476 CE)
• - The basic unit of society was the family
  consisting of several generations. Every member
  of the family was under the absolute authority
  of the oldest living male, the paterfamilias.
• - The paterfamilias and other important males
  were given auctoritas, a quality that gave
  them the ability to inspire and demand obedience
  from inferiors.
• - Women played no public role.
• - In early Rome, women never stopped being a
  child in the eyes of the law.
• - unable to own property or represent herself
  in legal proceedings, a women had to
  completely depend on a male guardian to defend
  her interests.
• - Even so, Roman women seemed to have more
  freedom than their counterparts in the Greek
  world.
• - Over time, they gained greater freedoms and
  protections
• - women later were left under the jurisdiction
  of her father and were able to become
  independent after his death.
• - Many stories of women who greatly influenced
  their Roman leader husbands and sons.
• - Roman poets confess their love for women who
  appear to be outspoken and educated. (Bulliet
  149)
• -

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CERole of Women in
Imperial Chinese Dynasties

• Qin (221-206 BCE) and Han Empire (206 BCE-220
  CE)
• - As in most cases, not much written but one
  account of the of the life of a wife of a
  Confucian philosopher gives a clear picture
• - She has no ambition to manage affairs
  outside the house. . . She must follow the
  three submissions. When she is young, she
  must submit to her parents. After marriage,
  she must submit to her parents. When she is
  widowed, she must submit to her son. (Bulliet
  163)
• - Female members of the upper class were no
  doubt under pressure to conform to these
  expectations.
• - Lower classes, less affected by Confucian
  thought, may have had less restrictive norms.
  (Bulliet 163)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CERole of Women in
Imperial Chinese Dynasties

• Qin (221-206 BCE) and Han Empire (206 BCE-220
  CE)
• - Marriages were arranged by parents.
• - A young bride left home to reside with her
  husbands family.
• - Problems between the new wife, the
  mother-in-law and sister-in- laws were frequent
  as they competed with each other for influence
  with the husband and other important male
  members of the family for the economic
  resources of the family. (Bulliet 163)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CERole of Women in
Indian Civilizations

• The Vedic Age (1500-500 BCE) and Mauryan Empire
  (324 BCE - 184 CE)
• - The father dominated the family as the king
  ruled the tribe.
• - Some evidence shows that during the Vedic
  period women studied sacred lore, composed
  religious hymns, and participated in sacred
  rituals.
• - Vedic period women were able to own property
  and were usually not married until they reached
  their middle or late teens.
• - A number of strong and resourceful women
  appear in the epic poem Mahabharata. One even
  practiced polyandry (having more than one
  husband)
• (Bulliet 178-179)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CERole of Women in
Indian Civilizations

• The Gupta Empire (320 550 CE)
• - Various evidence shows a decline in the status
  of women during the Gupta Empire.
• Like other developing civilizations before it,
  several factors seem to have led to this
• 1) urbanization
• - an even more complete removal of women
  from the daily work associated with
  economic gain.
• 2) the formation of increasingly complex
  political and social structures
• 3) the emergence of a nonagricultural middle
  class that placed high value on the acquisition
  and inheritance of property.
• (Bulliet 187)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CERole of Women in
Indian Civilizations

• The Gupta Empire (320 550 CE) continued
• Over time . . .
• - women lost the right to own and inherit
  property
• - they were barred from studying sacred texts
  and from participating in sacred rituals.
• - In many respects, they were treated as
  equivalent to the lowest class (the Shudra
  before the Untouchables became a part of the
  caste system)
• - As in Confucian China, a woman was expected to
  obey first her father, then her husband and
  then her sons.
• - Indian girls were married at earlier and
  earlier ages sometimes as early as 6 or 7.
• - this enabled the husband to ensure that she
  was a virgin and to train her as he chose.
• - Sati ritual
• - women who refused to do this were forbidden
  to remarry, shunned socially, and given
  little opportunity to earn a living.
• - Buddhism and Jainism offered a way of escape.
  (Bulliet 187)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 4000 BCE 600 CE
Foundations 4000 BCE 600 CERole of Women in
Indian Civilizations

• The Silk Road (100 BCE - . . .)
• - Women, Families
• - seldom accompanied their menfolk on long sea
  voyages, so sailors and merchants often
  married local women in port cities.
• - The families were thus bilingual and
  bicultural
• - As in many other situations, the women played
  a critical role as mediators between
  cultures
• - they raised their children to be more
  cosmopolitan and they introduced their men
  to new customs and attitudes that were then
  carried back to the mens homelands.
  (Bulliet 210)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization 600 - 1450 CE
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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization 600 1450 CE

• Early Medieval (Western)Europe (300 CE 1000
  CE)
• - Noblewomen
• - became entangled in marriage inheritance
  issues
• - a man who married a widow or the daughter of
  a man with no sons could gain that lords
  property.
• - Noble daughters (and sons) had little say in
  marriage matters
• - land and power were what mattered. - -
  Noblewomen were not all powerless however
• - could own land
• - some exercised real power, running
  their husbands estate when he was away
  at war. (Bulliet 257)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 600 CE 1450 CE

• Early Medieval (Western)Europe (300 CE 1000
  CE)
• - Peasant women of the manor
• - usually worked alongside the men performing
  agricultural tasks.
• - As artisans, women spun, wove, and sewed
  clothing.
• (Bulliet 257)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization 600 CE - 1450 CE

• Byzantine Empire Eastern Europe (300 CE1200
  CE)
• - Peasant women of the manor
• - usually worked alongside the men performing
  agricultural tasks.
• - As artisans, women spun, wove, and sewed
  clothing.
• (Bulliet 257)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 600 CE 1450 CE

• Tang Dynasty (618 CE907 CE)
• -.
• (Bulliet 282)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 600 CE 1450 CE

• Song Dynasty (960 CE1126 CE)
• Southern Song (1127 CE -1279 CE)
• -.
• (Bulliet 291-292)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 600 CE 1450 CE

• Other Asian Cultures during the time of the Tang
  and Song
• - In Korea, Japan and Vietnam women all seem to
  have enjoyed higher status than the Confucian
  dominated Northern China.
• (Bulliet 295)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 600 CE 1450 CE

• Women in the Americas
• - Maya (250 CE 900 CE)
• - Mayan Women (Bulliet 303)
• - Anasazi (450 CE 750 CE)
• - Women (Bulliet 310)
• - Andean Civilizations
• - Women and men worked along side one another
  were interdependent.
• - One early Spanish commentator, In sum there
  was nothing their husbands did where their
  wives did not help.
• - Women would have baby and then continue
  working (Bulliet 313)
• - Inca (1438 CE 1533 CE )
• (Bulliet 316)

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 600 CE 1450 CE

• Gender Issues in General from 1000-1450
• - Women continued to play a secondary role in
  most societies
• - Sharply defined roles
• - most women were assigned to domestic duties
• - work done outside the home such as weaving,
  food gathering, and farm chores was seen as
  having low status
• - Women played informal but important roles
• - raising children, influencing husbands
• - Noblewomen had some significant influence
• - Priestesses and nuns often enjoyed a high
  status and intellectual life but their
  conduct was strictly regulated.
• - Generally,

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 600 CE 1450 CE

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Gender Structure - Foundations of World
Civilization - 600 CE 1450 CE