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Unequal Treatment Of Women In Mesopotamian Society

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Unequal Treatment Of Women In Mesopotamian Society
Treatment of Women

Dating all the way back to the days of pre history, the treatment of women has varied an awful lot. Women were as equal as men in pre history but eventually evolved into the men being ahead of women in all ways of life except taking care of the household, while the men were gone. The variation of treatment of women from pre history to the Mesopotamian society was a huge advantage for the men, in that they were higher then the women in all standards. In pre history women and men were equal which meant the women's role was just as important as the men's role in the society. Since the prehistory was a time of hunting and gathering, there were no social distinctions on wealth and no accumulation of private property.
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In some cases men could trade their wives to pay off debts or trade them away for slaves to do their work. Women were sometimes treated as property rather then human beings. Men had more freedom when it came to socializing with the opposite sex outside of their families then women. With the regulation of women being virgins at marriage, the men did not have to be which meant they were allowed to be with any female they wanted to until they fell in love. The females' line of descent also ended when they got married since the husbands took over even if the female was royal or noble. With these distinctions the patriarchal society was prominent in their …show more content…
In some cases men could trade their wives to pay off debts or trade them away for slaves to do their work. Women were sometimes treated as property rather then human beings. Men had more freedom when it came to socializing with the opposite sex outside of their families then women. With the regulation of women being virgins at marriage, the men did not have to be which meant they were allowed to be with any female they wanted to until they fell in love. The females' line of descent also ended when they got married since the husbands took over even if the female was royal or noble. The course taken to resolve the treatment of women was the Lawbook of Manu, which dealt with social relationships and moral behavior, including sex and gender relationships. The lawbook reflected the Aryan society in which women were still under the guidance of principal of men, but the men were to treat women with honor and respect. It also specified that women s' most important duties were to bear children and maintain nourishing homes for the family. The action was chosen by Manu, founder of human race according to Indian mythology, to try and pull the society closer with loving relationships rather then men having sovereignty over the women. By having more of cohesiveness between the men and women, the civilians were able to maintain a well constructed

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