Women in Ancient Societies
"You've come a long way, baby" so says the Virginia Slims cigarette commercial. This brand of cigarettes, intended mainly for women, was absolutely correct-women have come a long way. In today's society, women have gained a role comparable to their male counterparts. However, this struggle for equality has been a long one, lasting for several centuries. If we go back to our roots (ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Israel, etc.), we see that in some societies (Mesopotamia and Israel) women were treated as inferior beings while other societies (Egypt) granted women special rights that once were only given to men. The most complete surviving code of law from ancient Mesopotamia is Hammurabi's Code. This list verdicts by Hammurabi, sixth king of the Babylonian dynasty, was written on a stela and placed in the center of the marketplace for all to see. Among the verdicts listed on this stela, those laws concerning women are especially harsh due to their description of the inferiority of women. Of particular interest are the laws concerning male and female merchants. Although female merchants might work just as hard as their male counterparts, they were often given strict penalties if their work was below par (sometimes even as far
Mesopotamia was not the only place in the ancient world where women were not treated equally. In Israel, for example, women were often treated as property and not given the same rights given to men. In several cases, the women of Israel were treated worse than the women of Mesopotamia. The laws that governed Israel at that time are listed in the books of the Torah. Exodus 21:22-25 describes a situation in which two men are fighting and hit a pregnant woman. If the woman has a miscarriage because of the blow, the men must pay a fine for their act - not to the woman, but to her husband, presumably because he has been deprived of a child. Numbers 5:11-31 describes a magical ritual that women were forced to perform if their husbands suspected them of having had an affair. A priest prepared a potion composed of holy water mixed with sweepings from the floor of the tabernacle. He proclaimed a curse over the potion and required the woman to drink it. If she were guilty, she would suffer greatly: her abdomen would swell and her thighs waste away. There is no similar magical test for husbands suspected of having an affair with another woman. Deuteronomy 22:13-21 requires that a woman be a virgin when she is married. If she has had sexual relations while single in her father's house, then she would be stoned to death. There were no similar virginity requirements for men. Not only were there
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Approximate Word count = 940
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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