The Significance of Gender In Ancient Law
The Significance of Gender In Ancient Law West Virginia University
April 11, 2013
While The Law Code of Hammurabi and The Laws of Manu exemplify the ideals of civilization and central authority through the usage of direct law codes and social rules they none the less are clear examples of the inequalities between genders in each respected laws societies from which they represent. The purpose of these law codes was intended to serve as a force to maintain order and social control among its people, a written solidified code by which citizens were legally obliged to adhere to. The problem is not with the premise of the law codes themselves but with the clearly visible discrepancies and unbalanced rules regarding gender. Each law code speaks to the law standards of numerous aspects of life form issues of the economy to regulations on slavery, however for this piece the laws pertaining to the injustices and differences in regulations and laws upon gender will be examined.
In The Law Code of Hammurabi we are able to see multiple instances of gender playing a direct role in the formation of laws, as well as many examples of how gender ultimately in some instances defined a punishment for certain actions or deeds. As exemplified in the section upon men and women under article 110 we see an example of a double standard in ancient Mesopotamia, “If a sister of god [women dedicated to the temple of a god] open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this women be burned to death” . Apart from the obvious in justice of the extreme and brutal punishment this law also in-lightens other aspects of the Mesopotamian society, for example women whom are dedicated to the temple are barred from entry into the enterprise of tavern owning whilst others in society would be able to engage in the ownership of taverns. This exemplifies a bias on gender as a “sister of God” was a women
April 11, 2013
While The Law Code of Hammurabi and The Laws of Manu exemplify the ideals of civilization and central authority through the usage of direct law codes and social rules they none the less are clear examples of the inequalities between genders in each respected laws societies from which they represent. The purpose of these law codes was intended to serve as a force to maintain order and social control among its people, a written solidified code by which citizens were legally obliged to adhere to. The problem is not with the premise of the law codes themselves but with the clearly visible discrepancies and unbalanced rules regarding gender. Each law code speaks to the law standards of numerous aspects of life form issues of the economy to regulations on slavery, however for this piece the laws pertaining to the injustices and differences in regulations and laws upon gender will be examined.
In The Law Code of Hammurabi we are able to see multiple instances of gender playing a direct role in the formation of laws, as well as many examples of how gender ultimately in some instances defined a punishment for certain actions or deeds. As exemplified in the section upon men and women under article 110 we see an example of a double standard in ancient Mesopotamia, “If a sister of god [women dedicated to the temple of a god] open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this women be burned to death” . Apart from the obvious in justice of the extreme and brutal punishment this law also in-lightens other aspects of the Mesopotamian society, for example women whom are dedicated to the temple are barred from entry into the enterprise of tavern owning whilst others in society would be able to engage in the ownership of taverns. This exemplifies a bias on gender as a “sister of God” was a women