Role Of Women During The Paleolithic Period

In current times in America, the role of women and the role of men is about equal. When it comes to home life, it’s just as common for women to go out and work as it is for a man to do it. Women have even run for President. However, in the Harappan society in ancient India, and in Sumerian times in ancient Mesopotamia, the equality and respect of women weren’t as strong as it is today. Regardless, women were respected to a certain level. Overall, the respect of women in ancient India was similar to the respect of women in Mesopotamia because goddesses were seen as powerful, young women were admired, and women were highly regarded for being able to give birth.

1. In the Neolithic era, about 8000 B.C., a new civilization and culture developed. The reason for this development was the change to hunting and gathering to cultivation of agriculture that permitted man to settle down permanently ending nomadic existence.

     The Neolithic Period extended from 10,000 B.C to 3,000 BC. It is also called the New Stone Age, and many new advances and changes took place in this time. Unlike the nomadic life of the Old Stone Age, the New Stone Age was the dawning of settled life. People lived more towards lakes and rivers instead of caves, and tree trunks. This led to the change of the jobs of the society.

Gender roles of diverse cultures have differed immensely throughout history. The evolution of gender roles first began in the Paleolithic Age and then began to transform with the transformation of the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Age. Women in Mesopotamia, India, Greece, China, and Rome were not treated as equals and viewed as inferior to men. Cultures like Egypt and Persia had similar laws for women and treated them with more respect out of any of the other cultures.

The paleolithic civilizations the early period of human history from 2,500,00 through 10,000 B.C. Neolithic civilizations begun to

Periodization 1 and its many events fits into 5 different groups Social, Political, Interactive, Cultural, economical, or SPICE. The first category, Social can be further divided into gender roles and relationships, family structure, and class structures. Gender roles during the Paleolithic era honored women. Venus statues were all the rage, and in cave paintings, you can see the females painted larger that the males. However, once you get to the Neolithic era and the agriculture revolution, women faded to the background, doing menial jobs and having kids. That also affected the family structure. The class structure, which was non existent during the the Paleolithic era, popped up in most societies individual. For example, in Egypt, a class system was set up which had the pharaoh on top, can be compared to the Indians caste system with the Brahmins as the top there.

Women gathered food in groups; they had their own societies for ceremonial activity. They raised their children together until the children were about six or seven, at which point boys generally were sent to spend time with male relatives to be taught their roles in life. Girls remained with their mothers, learning the roles that they would eventually endeavor (Finch 44).

They did much of the planting and gathering, and Boulding states that women probably even constructed the mud-houses in the early villages. In this horticulture society, children also helped women. They carryed out many chores on the farm, such as taking care of animals and gathering grain. These roles would change as farming shifted to agriculture proper.

Throughout written history, women have experienced status submissive to the men they lived with. Commonly, most cultures known to modern historians followed a typical pattern of men being given the role of the defender and breadwinner of the family, whereas women were given responsibilities of domestic servitude. The roles of females differed greatly among the ancient societies of Egypt and Mesopotamia. The most part, ancient women in Egypt enjoyed more rights and privileges than their Mesopotamian counterparts in matters of marriage and property ownership. Women in ancient Egyptian civilization were perceived as liberated citizens with the same potential to operate as part of a legal system as men, and they can even be priestess.

The Neolithic, the period in history in which food production became widespread, began around 10,200 B.C, first appearing in Southwest Asia, and lasted until 4000 to 2200 B.C. The cultivation of vegetables and domestication was becoming

The Paleolithic era began about 2.6 million years ago; this was considered the Old Age. The Neolithic era began about 10,000 BC where it was named the New Age. There were several differences that existed between the men who lived in these two ages. The Paleolithic man consisted of nomads who hunted and gathered their food to survive. Their hunting tools consisted of chipped and dull stones and wooden weapons. Their shelter consisted of huts and skin tents, and they were characterized as a tribal society. On the other hand, the Neolithic men were characterized by farmers who resided in permanent settlements, as opposed to wandering around. Their shelter was made up of bricks supported by timber, which seems to be a lot more durable

Unfortunately, the sharp instincts and intelligences of these early women in a way became their downfall, for many historians and archeologists accredit women with the discovery of farming. It is their belief that, while gathering foods for their tribes, women realized the connection between leaving seeds in the ground and the growth of plants. For a while these simple methods of farming were carried out by women, however, as more advancements were made in agriculture it was realized that farming could no longer be performed solely by women, as it demanded large amounts of strength that a woman wasn’t physically capable of. In addition, farming demanded large amounts of time so it began to become an expectation that a woman would remain home and take care of the house and children while her husband worked out in the fields. (Ellis 9) In his article “The Worst Mistake Made in History,” Jared Diamond discusses how women were no longer able to work as effectively, as it was expected of them to have more children, so their bodies as well as health became weakened. (Diamond 65) John R. Lukacs makes comparable discussions to Diamond, in his article, “Fertility and Agriculture Accentuate Sex Differences in Dental Caries Rates,” saying that women suffered from even greater health problems than their male counterparts and as a result the numbers of women in society were reduced. (Lukacs 901) It was

Women's lives, roles, and statuses changed over various early world history eras and culture areas in many ways. Ancient Persia, Paleolithic, Athens, Mesopotamian and Roman eras were all different in very unique ways. The Paleolithic era treated women fairly and were treated equally. During the Neolithic era women were not treated fairly. She was the daughter of her father or the wife of her husband. Women rarely acted as individuals outside the context of their families. Those who did so were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status.” (oi.uchicago.edu, 2010) Athenian women were not treated fairly

In Envisioning Women in World History, by Catherine Clay, Chandrika Paul, and Christine Senecal many of the societies treated their women as in superior to men especially in religious cultures. These societies believed that men were superior intellectually and physically restraining women from many experiences. Although the laws that women had to endure became harsher when religion was involved most of the times. Some of the hardships that women before 1500 had to endure were, lack of citizenship in Greece and Rome, arranged marriages, and not being able to leave the house alone. Most women had to go through tougher times then men after the Paleolithic era, but the ones that had the least amount of power were the Muslims. Christian women

Let’s start out talking about the Mesopotamians. The role of a Mesopotamian woman was strictly defined. She was either a daughter to her father or a wife to her husband. Women rarely acted and were treated as individuals outside of their families. If you were allowed to it was because you were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status.