DBQ - Proper Treatment of Women

Throughout history, men were always deemed superior to women, leading in patriarchal societies. Each society had a different religion, corresponding with the different ways women were treated. Most of them have been organized into two groups: one where women are more respected for intellect and rights, and the other more limiting in what they can and can’t do.
On one side, there are the documents that are respecting women’s capacity, rights, and freedom. From Islam: The Koran, 7th century C.E> (Doc. #1), states that when women are hostile, men should give them some space and talk to them persuasively. It clearly states that a man cannot harm or force his wife into doing anything against her will, and just wait until she is ready. Since this is from Islam, Allah (God) sees both men and women equal before them, thus giving women the respect of men. From Yuan Cai’s book of Advice for Family Heads, On Women’s Problems, in China from c.1140-1195 (Doc. #4), he says that women who can read, do arithmetic, handle the household, farm, finances, and children all on their own are wise and worthy, and that “things will usually work out all right.” In China at that period of time, women were allowed only minimal (or none thereof) education, so a woman who take care of so many things all at once (without the need of help from her husband) could be very much considered smart and respected. Now, from the Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta in Mali (Doc. #5), during c.1352 C.E., the women there have male friends despite the fact that they already have husbands, and vise versa. Servant women, slave women, and little girls go around naked in public, much to the disgust of Ibn Battuta. In Mali, people didn’t follow the religion and culture of Ibn Battuta, of whom considers the “condition of these people is strange and their manners outlandish,” which is biased, because he is writing from the Muslim point of view.
The other side criticizes and underestimates women’s capacity in mind and intellect and restricts them from more male dominated abilities. From Western Europe: Jewish Commentary on Women Reciting the Grace after Meals (Doc. #2), c.1200 C.E., it says that women are even stupider than ignoramus, who understands Hebrew and some of what is said but just doesn’t know how to say it himself, because they, the women, do not understand Hebrew and therefore cannot recite the Grace. Of course, Hebrew is the holy language of Judaism and only men are taught how to read and speak in it, so women wouldn’t know how to do any of that in the first place. In the Legal Code from the Byzantine Empire (Doc. #3), c.99 C.E., women are not allowed to be witnesses because they would grow the habit of speaking when and more than they ought, going against their traditional morality and reserve of their gender, especially when they “mingle” with men, and take part in public affairs. This is saying that speaking out and arguing, plus going out readily in public is something for men only to do, and it injures a woman’s morality to do the same. This is because the society then was very patriarchal, and women who ventured into things that were meant for men to do would be deemed unacceptable and bad. Ibn Battuta in Mali (Doc. #5) comes up again because of his point of view of the way women live in Mali. As said before, they have male companions and some of the lower classes go around naked in public. Because Ibn Battuta is Muslim, he sees this as very terrible. In Islam, it is a man’s duty to “protect” his wife by having her veiled in public and concealing her at home. In Ibn Battuta’s point of view, the men in Mali are hurting the women by letting them do the things they do in Mali. It hurts their modesty and virtue, which is something highly valued from where Ibn Battuta came from.
In the first paragraph, the documents meet on common ground where women are respected for their intellect, personal space, and freedom. Although some of the conduct would be seen as unusual, it is not particularly bad in their society. As for the other side, men prefer women to not get involved with public matters, stay out of sight, and/or keep their modesty and morality that are inherently assigned to them. A document on a woman’s about how they should be treated would be helpful in this DBQ, because all the documents are or written in a man’s point of view.

The Tale of Genji - A Primary Document from Japan

The Tale of Genji, the first novel ever written, by the Japanese Noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu. The story tells the life of a woman living the life of an aristocrat in Japan, and shows much of what life was like during the Heian period. For instance, many characters in the book had no specific name, but were called by their status (His Excellency, the Heir Apparent, etc.). This itself was a sign of good manners in the Heian period; This lack of names stems from Heian-era court manners that would have made it unacceptably familiar and blunt to freely mention a character's name. The fact that Murasaki Shikibu, a woman, wrote the story, tells that women were educated to some extent in the Heian period (or at least the high-born ones), unlike their counterparts in China, where women were not aloud to read or write.