Foundations (Prehistory – 600 CE)

600-1450 1450-1750 1750-1914 1914-present

Central

and

South

America

• Social differentiation in the Andean Chavin society was based on location (those in the east had lower prestige than those in the west)

• Aztec women, for example, were treated as near equals to men, but each had different responsibilities

• Work in Andean regions was divided by men and women; hunting, military service, and gov't were reserved for men; textile production, agriculture, and the home were for women

• The basic Mayan social structure was comprised by kings at the helm, priests below them, and commoners and slaves at the very bottom

• The latter two centuries of this time period are characterized by the Independence Era, as the societies and governments of various countries strive for Independence

• Overall poverty in various Mesoamerican nations still feature the poor living in less than proper conditions

Middle East

• In Egypt, Queen Hatsepshut was the first female ruler in history'

• Men hunted animals/women gathered and cultivated food

• Women in Egypt were given high status

• Islam strengthens the repression of women throughout this time period; by 1450 making women wear veils and otherwise concealing themselves in society

• Patriarchal families ere the norm

• Class distinctions based on money and rural v. urban

• A freed slave woman, Rabia, establishes basic tenets of Sufism, a mystical religion emphasizing one's personal relationship with God

•

• The Ottoman Empire was ultimately ruled by the Sultana and his family

• Integration of foreigners (religiously speaking) results in those qualified to contribute their best to the Empire

• Women in the Ottoman Empire of the 19th century were usually not given full inheritance rights

• In the modern world, the status of women differs by nation in the Islamic world; Saudi Arabia, for example, is notoriously oppressive towards women

South Asia (India)

• 1500 BCE = The establishment of the strict Caste system

• 1198 – 1252 = Sorghaghtani Beki, most influential woman of mongol Empire; assisted trade and intellectual exchange

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• 1400s CE = Mandukai Khatun, female empress of Mongol Empire

• 1774 – 1910 CE = Revolts, mainly against British rule, by lower castes

• Most communities initially low in the Caste System remain low today

Central Asia

• 7th century AD = Adoption of purdah by Muslims during Arab conquest of present-day Iran; purdah is the act of preventing women from being seen by their spouses (i.e. wearing veils)

• 1920s Bolshevik governments bring equal rights to women in Central Asia

• But, 1991 Fall of USSR brings female oppression back to Central Asia w/nationalism

East Asia (China/Japan)

• Chinese philosphy's yin/yang establshed natural differences between man and woman

• Written c. 45 -120 CE, Lessons becomes most durable Chinese source for advice about female behavior; proclaims women should yield to others, among other things

• Confucianism places women on lower end of patriarchal society

• 625 – 705 CE = Reign China's only female emperor, Wu Zetian (rules during Tang dynasty)

• Buddhism in Japan grants women empowerment

• 960 – 1279 CE = Neo-Confucianism during Song dynasty in China further stratifies women's position

• 950 – 1050 CE = During Heian era (Japan) women held relative equity in marriage, education, and property rights

• 1600 – 1868 = during Tokugawa Shogunate (Japan) women's rights were practically nonexistent within the samurai family; always obeyed male figure (incl. son); called Htree obediences

• 1762 = Greater learning for Women is written; proclaims Three Obediences

• Beliefs of women's right heavily challenged during the nationalist and reform movements in Japan and China, of the twenieth century

• 1868 – 1912 = Transition to modern nation (Japan) allows women to partake in public participation (politics and public speaking)

Southeast Asia (Burma, Cambodia,

Laos, etc.)

• Buddhism gives women various rights, incl. Right to remarry, right to inherit, etc.

• ASEAN was formed in the 1960s , an economic organization between various SE Asia nations; also attempts to protect social rights