Transcript 6th - Patriarchies

Comparing Patriarchies of the
Second Wave Civilizations
By Meredith Maiorana, Darina Daly, Jessica Pan, Ian
Ashton, Michael Zhan, and Shruti Gupta
General Themes of Patriarchy
● Caused by agricultural technologies, rise and decline of states
and more
● Varied greatly between civilizations and changed over time
● Usually more strict in urban societies and elite classes; less
restricted in agricultural societies and lower classes as women
were required to work outside of the house
● Women were more important in family and cultural life but
sometimes found other positions or led resistances
● Women still played important role in history, just within a
patriarchal framework
China (Han Dynasty)
● Patriarchy clearly defined and aligned with Confucianism as
Han dynasty took shape.
● Yin and Yang
○ Yang = masculine, heaven, rulers, strength, rationality and
light
○ Yin = feminine, earth, subjects, weakness, emotion and
darkness
Two ideas:
● “Men go out, women stay in”
● “Three obediences” - subordination to father, husband, son
● Birth of daughter- placed under bed; play with broken
pottery; responsible for ancestor worship
● Few women (wives, concubines, widows) exercise political
authority causing peasant rebellions and anti-female hostility.
China (Tang Dynasty)
● Loosened patriarchy influenced by more egalitarian nomadic
pastoral tribes
● Confucianism fell out of favor to Daoism and Buddhism
● Daoism viewed “dao” as mother; both religions had female
priests and religious figures, and female deities
● Elite women less isolated, depicted doing business and even
playing polo
● Women had more power in legal affairs, could inherit
property
● Brief female ruler, Empress Wu (r.690-705), who elevated
status of women further
Greece (Athens)
● Democratic and rational assembly for government
● Women excluded in public life, stayed in the home and cared
for children
● Married in their early teens, usually to men 10-15 years older
● Land was passed down through male heirs
● Men were educated in math, science, reading, and writing,
expected to exercise authority over household
● Women were taught crafts like spinning, weaving and also
how to care for children
● Patriarchy was justified by Greek philosophers, such as
Aristotle, who described females as “infertile males” and
viewed patriarchy as the “natural order”
Greece (Sparta)
● Conquered and enslaved their neighbors, developed
militaristic state to prevent rebellion by helots, controlled by
small group of wealthy men
● Men were trained from ages 7 to 30 to become warriors
● Women viewed as “child factories” for the war effort
● Marriage was between men and women of similar ages
(usually around 18 years of age)
● Did not segregate males and females, both encouraged to play
sports to prepare bodies for battle or childbirth
● Since the men were often away at war, the women
commanded authority in households, but had no formal role
in public life
● Death of women in childbirth was considered as noble as
dying in battle
Comparing Athens and Sparta
● In both civilizations, women were in charge of making and
taking care of the children
● As democracy and the concept of “freedom” grew in Athens,
the male dominated ideal grew in power
● Sparta’s restrictions on women were more lenient than
Athen’s
● Sparta was still very patriarchal, but was more relaxed in the
roles of women
Important People and Vocab
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Empress Wu (China)
Ban Zhao (China)
Aspasia (Greece)
Aristotle (Greece)
Domestic control
Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism (China)
Yin-Yang (China)
Free Response Question
Athens and Sparta were two major patriarchal city states in
ancient Greece. Identify and explain one similarity and one
difference in their beliefs and customs on gender equality.
Note: We are grading according to thesis, topic sentence and
support.