Womens Rights Prehistory till 1500Ce
How Women’s Roles in History are Different of Those Today
Cassandra Dunseath
HIS103: World Civilizations
Rebekah Kennedy
October 7, 2013
How Women’s Roles in History are Different of Those Today In the last three decades women’s roles in society have changed. We are now seen as more than just a pretty face that can cook, clean, and take care of our children. Throughout history, we have seen more and more of these “gender roles,” and also viewed differently in the past. Women played a major role in prehistory to 1500 CE. So, what roles did women play in society at that time? Were they treated or viewed differently or the same as men this this time? In this essay I will be trying to answer these questions and try to show you how women’s lives and roles changed and varied in different history eras and culture areas, but also have at many times have been treated as equals to men. The Paleolithic Era was 2 Million to 12,000 BP. Hunting and gathering was the most popular things in this period. While the men were responsible for hunting and the women were responsible for gathering. They gathered food like wild grains, fruits, nuts, and melons. They used tools such as sticks and bags to collect edible roots and bugs, like termites, caterpillars, and locusts. In these early human populations women were equal to men based on their social status. Women were viewed as child bearers, healers and gatherers and because of these things that made them equal to their men counterparts. In the Neolithic Era 12,000 BP to 1500 BCE, women started as farmers. The main thing in this period was agriculture. Because of agriculture the gender roles saw a change. There was a major shift for the women from gathering and cultivating crops to childrearing and organizing domestic consumption (Mahdavi, F. 2012). The manual labor and taking care of animals were taken care of by men at this point. In the Early Persian Empire,
Cassandra Dunseath
HIS103: World Civilizations
Rebekah Kennedy
October 7, 2013
How Women’s Roles in History are Different of Those Today In the last three decades women’s roles in society have changed. We are now seen as more than just a pretty face that can cook, clean, and take care of our children. Throughout history, we have seen more and more of these “gender roles,” and also viewed differently in the past. Women played a major role in prehistory to 1500 CE. So, what roles did women play in society at that time? Were they treated or viewed differently or the same as men this this time? In this essay I will be trying to answer these questions and try to show you how women’s lives and roles changed and varied in different history eras and culture areas, but also have at many times have been treated as equals to men. The Paleolithic Era was 2 Million to 12,000 BP. Hunting and gathering was the most popular things in this period. While the men were responsible for hunting and the women were responsible for gathering. They gathered food like wild grains, fruits, nuts, and melons. They used tools such as sticks and bags to collect edible roots and bugs, like termites, caterpillars, and locusts. In these early human populations women were equal to men based on their social status. Women were viewed as child bearers, healers and gatherers and because of these things that made them equal to their men counterparts. In the Neolithic Era 12,000 BP to 1500 BCE, women started as farmers. The main thing in this period was agriculture. Because of agriculture the gender roles saw a change. There was a major shift for the women from gathering and cultivating crops to childrearing and organizing domestic consumption (Mahdavi, F. 2012). The manual labor and taking care of animals were taken care of by men at this point. In the Early Persian Empire,