Gender Distinctions: Hunter-Gatherers vs. Agrarian Societies
Were women better off in the paleolithic and neolithic periods before the agricultural revolution? How did thier lives change as societies became centralized and sedentary? Give an example of a region or country that is exemplary in establishing strong rights for women. Is there a region or country in the world today that treats women as property?
In your view, have women become equal to men in politics, economics, justice, culture, and religion in the United States of America? In supporting your answer, what types of obstacles have women overcome or need to overcome to acheive equality?
posted by bcoffman | 10:57 AM
13 Comments:
Well without opinions, this class would be terrible. Of course that's an opinion..
But in my opinion, women were much better off in the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods before the Agricultural Revolution, basically due to the equality of the jobs available. You either hunted, or picked fruits and veggies. And the way I see it, you can't really say someone isn't as good as you if they do what you do.
The United States of America is doing a pretty good job on making women equal to men, but it's not really because of the government. The will to make a change cannot be decided by a system of governing, but the people. And the expanding of ideals of this generation are pushing equality.
On the other hand.. Countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Nepal, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, allow women little to no rights.
In Afghanistan, most women are made brides around the age of 16, and are forced into both physical and emotional abuse. This is also common in Iraq.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, many young girls and women and raped violently and beaten to death, thus causing fear to even LIVE within the country.
Although women are treated so poorly in so many countries, they have survived hardships such as sexual abuse, and the success of women have inspired the youth of the world to push towards the equality of men and women.
I do believe that women were better off in the paleolithic and neolithic ages. In those times equality was more common- a woman's job (gathering) was just as important as a man's job (hunting). If the men were not able to kill anything, then they had to rely on the women and what they gathered to sustain themselves until they could catch something.
While no country is exemplary in their treatment of women, Europen countries as well as Canada, the United States, and Australia seem to be the farthest ahead. Australia passed their first law on womens suffrage in 1902, 18 years before the US did. All of these countries have laws that are meant to make women more equal. Key words: "meant to"- women are still looked down upon in some areas of society.
Countries that treat their women the worst include the obvious ones in the middle east such as Afganistan, Iraq, and Iran; but also countries such as Nepal and the Congo. Women in these societies are treated not as people, but more like animals- to be abused both physically and sexually, and to be owned, not loved. Women are just a tool for a man to express his power. Women can be sold or even killed if they cannot be married or cannot bear children. Many women cannot recieve propper healthcare, which leads to many deaths in childbirth, HIV/AIDS, and an extremly short lifespan.
Politicaly, in the United States women are supposed to be equal. But its just like racism, even though it is outlawed- people still believe it. We will always have the sexists, just like the racists, and the homophobics- we would have to live in a perfectly eutopian society to truly be equal. Studies show that men in this country do make more money on average as well as serving in more offices and leading more businesses. Women have overcome the political aspect of it all, but as far as what the citizens of our country believe, we have not. It will be very hard to change the opinions of millions of people, but to do it, women just need to keep pressing on. Use our rights that we have been given to our advantage. If we feel as if we have been rejected becuase of gender- fight it. We will get there eventually.
Yes, women were better off in the paleolithic and neolithic period before the agricultural revolution because the had a significance as a gatherer in the society and a gatherer was needed.
Womens lives changed when societies became centralized because the formation of armies began. Fighting in the army became the best thing you can do for your society and women could not do so.
Currently the United States has strong rights for women and they are treated almost perfectly equal to men. Woman in the U.S. can get an education and have almost any job they desire regardless of their gender.
Egypt introduced last year for women to end their marriages without having to prove to a male judge that they have been mistreated. Here woman were not treated equally and couldn't divorce for the simple reason that she simply wasn't in love with her spouse anymore. This is a freedom Americans have that the Egyptians just gained.
No women have not became equal to men in politics. I say this because the past 44 presidents not one has been a woman. Economical, yes they are equal because woman can legally do any job that a man can preform disregarding politics. In the perspective of justice, yes. Actually men may have less justice against a woman in the U.S. I say this because women are more venerable to abuse then men are. If a woman is abusing a man then the chances of her getting convicted of abuse is far less than a man abusing a woman. This may be from the simple stature men take of pride. When admitting that a woman abused them they may not be as prideful or as "manly" as they were before. Religiously, no women are not equal to men. I say this because there are no priestess in America.
The obstacles women have had to overcome in order to achieve equality at a certain level is simply fighting the government. The government in America is a Democracy, if the majority of the people want action then in a non corrupted government then action should be taken.
I think that women were better off in the Paleolithic and Neolithic times then the agricultural revolution because during the Paleolithic times women actually had a role in life; gathering food for their families. If the women weren't in this time period then the men would have to do everything hunting and gathering. Without women, their probably wouldn't be people because they didn't need the mend hunting in order to servive; it was more of a treat or bonus but without the women they wouldn't have anything because berries and fruit were a lot easier to get then antelope. So if the women weren't in this time period either the men would had to do all the work or there wouldn't e people. A region that established strong rights for women was the Sparta era. The women in the Sparta time were just about as equal as men and they were actually important unlike the women during the Han time when women were way at the bottom and practically werent allowed out of their house. Even today, in India, women are powerlessness and raped, abused and murdered (thp.com) it's not as bad in some regions like America but what was happening 3000 years ago. So the women in our world are rising in status and hopefully in the future women will be equal with men everywhere. I think that women have risen status in politics, culture, religion, and justice in America because two years ago we had a woman run for president, that right there shows that women are pretty much equal with men and that women have came a long way in America. The obstacles that women have overcome in America are The nineteen amendment which allowed women to vote and in the sixties during the civil rights movement when African American women got equality. Both of these obstacles and rascies show how strong women are and that eventually will be perfectly equal with men.
I also think women were better off in the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods before the rise of agriculture and civilizations because people lived in hunter-gatherer societies. In hunter-gatherer societies women had equal status to men because gathering was just as important as gathering. But the rise of agriculture made hunting less necessary, so women lost status as men took over the job of farming. Civilizations caused women to be pushed to the bottom of the social pyramid as military strength gained importance and men took political roles.
However, women have gained many rights over the years. An example of a country that has established great gender rights is Norway. In Norway, extensive paid maternity and paternity leave is offered so that workers are not penalized for having children, and there is also an extensive day care system for when parents return to work.
But there are countries in the Middle East that still treat women as property, like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran. Though America was briefly able to somewhat overthrow the Muslim system of government, the Taliban has regrouped and women are again denied education and are abused brutally.
In the United States, women are politically equal since they have the rights to vote and hold office. Women also have the rights to education and can have the same jobs as men. So women technically have the same political, economic, and justice rights as men. However, there is still discrimination among society. People have never elected a female president, and there are arguments over discrimination in the workplace and how women are paid less than men for the same jobs.
Women have come a pretty long way from the conditions in the first civilizations. They have fought for and gotten the rights to education, the vote, and can own property and speak their mind, at least in a lot of countries. The discrimination that still exists comes from ideas put down in the foundations period, and will probably always exist among society. But women can always push for more equality.
I believe that women were indeed a lot better off during the paleolithic and neolithic periods. During this time equality was evident through the work the women did. They played a huge role in the community as the gathers and their families and the people in their communites counted on them for food if the hunting was bad.
When societies became centralized the rights were suddenly no longer too apparent. The men worked while the women stayed home and cared for the children. From then on out, equality was hard to develop, even though it has developed a lot in a few places in the world.
The United States does a great job establishing strong rights and equality for women. Especially a lot in the last century. Women in the US can now vote, work in a lot more places and even serve in the military.
There are still quite a few places were women still get treated as property. In Nepal for example, a lot of families sell their daughters as sex slaves to people in Russia and other seemingly developed countries. Also, in places such as Iraq, arranged marriges are still planned by their fathers to do "what is best" for them.
As I said above, I do belive in the United Sates women have caught up, but are not exatly equal yet. We have still yet to have a female president, but they are equal in a lot of other fields. In politics, their are female senitors and governers and there have even been women that have run for office to be the president. In economics, women still make on average less then men do, but once again, the average is still increasing. In culture a lot of women are still looked at as the cook and cleaner of the households, but a lot more men are starting to develop respect (finally) when it comes to participating and these types of daily chores. In relgion, their are female priests in some relgions while in others they remain male popes.
Women do have to overcome many obstacles when competing in todays society. In a big position such a president, they have to overcome a barier that has never been overcome. When it comes to jobs such as lawers, telemarketers and teachers, everyone has about an equal shot now.
Equality still isn't apparent everywhere, but it is growing in the United States and will hopefully developing in other countries around the world.
I think the women in Paleolithic and Neolithic times were better off than those after the agricultural revolution. They all had distinctive jobs and men and women were completely equal. Once they became more stable and nomadic, jobs were more held by men and women held up the house. Men were also generally the rulers and held the highest job positions. Although it seems no country has complete gender equality, a lot of European states, along with Canada and the United States have the most equality. The fact that the US recently had a woman candidate for president shows we are truly advancing. Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia all treat their women as property. Just by walking through those countries you’d be able to tell women are not looked up to in society by the head dressings and other particular things they have to wear in public to show inequality. Women have become more equal in politics because we’ve had a woman candidate in both vice presidential and presidential nominations. In our justice system there are still some women that are not treated fairly as some judges can definitely be biased. Our cultures and religions are becoming fairer toward women in the United States. Religions in other countries, however, do not benefit women at all. Women have overcame things such as rape, arranged marriages, violence, complete inequality, not allowed to hold jobs/government positions, and sexists. To be completely equal, I think men that think their high and mighty need to let women prove themselves and show that we are truly equal and we can do anything guys can do. On the other side, women need to step up and stop proving these men right and establish our equality.
Yes, it's safe to say that women were typically better off in both the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods compared to during the agricultural period. In the hunter-gatherer era; women and men shared an equal status in that men would hunt while the women would gather seeds, berries, nuts...etc. Hence, each benefited from the other and was seen as just as important.
The status of women slowly deteriorated as agriculture came into play, and men took over the agricultural jobs. Consequently, the women were left with no substantial work to do.
Although, no country seems to have treated women quite as well as men; the United States has definitely progressed into being an equal country. Now days, women are able to vote in the U.S. and basically share all the same rights a male has when it comes to economics, culture and justice. Certainly though, men still have the upper hand in politics and religion. Most of the political and spiritual leaders have been males in the United States. Not one of our presidents has been a woman. However,U.S. women are not unable, in most circumstances, to apply for these positions. It will just take time for women to overcome the stereotypes and achieve the equality and power they want.
Some women, such as those in Saudi Arabia, don't have the opportunity to overcome the former obstacles. They are seen as the property of their husbands, and are not permitted to vote, to become a political leader, to drive or even to be in certain rooms!
I believe women were much better off before the agricultural revolution. Once agriculture became more widespread, the role of women in society went way down. The textbook says one possible reason is that men felt that since they were doing the women's jobs of gathering food, they needed to reinforce their masculinity by becoming the dominant gender. Currently, the U.S. is doing a good job making its way towards gender equality, and while legally, they might be equal, (This is to the best of my knowledge. I don't actually know whether or not this is true.) That is not the generally accepted viewpoint, as you can tell by facts such as our lack of a female president, or the presence of sexist comments and attitudes. *coughtycogdillcough* This viewpoint has been dominant for so long, it has been hard to remove, regardless of how much the majority may feel it needs removed. As long as that minority feels that women are inferior to men, the attitude still exists, and women are not completely equal.
I think that women were better off before the agricultural revolution because in the hunter-gatherer society most women were gatherers and they were just as important as the hunters because if the hunters had a bad day, week, or month then the tribe/ group depended on the gatherers. As societies became sedentary their jobs became less important because they could grow what they needed where they lived instead of having to go and look for it. So now men could hunt and farm, and there was no need for women to find food. Today America has begun to establish strong rights for women. They have done this starting with women’s suffrage all the way up through this past election when a woman ran for president. Most Middle Eastern countries still treat women as property. You can tell this because women are still forced to wear head coverings and are only allowed to go out in public at certain times if certain people are with them in these areas. I feel as though women have begun to move closer to equality with men, but are not quite there yet. If you look at average job salaries men are still a bit ahead of women in how much they are paid. Although, women have overcome many obstacles to get to where they are today in society. They have fought for voting rights and won, they have fought to be able to do the same jobs as men do and won, and now they have even started to have women become candidates for higher positions in the government.
Yes, women were better off during the paleolithic and neolithic periods. Before the agricultural revolution, both genders were depended upon equally to provide food. The men went out to hunt while the women gathered various berries and fruits. This ensured that families would have something to eat if the men were not successful.
As farming become more popular and hunter-gatherer tribes faded out, women did not have as many responsibilities. This is because men handled every aspect of farming and providing for families. However, this was just the beginning of the decrease in female social status. Men were only allowed to have political power or serve in the military.
The United Nations have put a lot of effort into having equality for men and women. The UN established the Commision on the Status of Women to give them a sense of empowerment and encourage them to seek equal treatment.
However, there are many countries that still struggle with equality for women. An example of this is in Saudi Arabia. Women are required to have a male chaperone and are not allowed to have any political power or do simple tasks such as driving.
I do not believe that women are completely equal to men in the United States. There has still not been a female president and there are some occasions where a man will be picked over a woman for a job.
Although, women have made a lot of progress in the US. We now have the right to vote and are no longer forced into arranged marriages. Women also now have the ability to support a family on their own.
Woman were definitely better off in the Paleolithic and Neolithic time periods, rather than during the agricultural revolution. During these times the men were hunters and the woman were gatherers. The woman were seen as just as important as the men because they taught the children how to hunt and survive, and they gathered food. If the hunting seasons didn’t go too well the food the women gathered would come in handy and keep the people alive. In these time periods women were respected for the work they did.
Women’s lives changed as societies became more centralized and sedentary because the men were sent out to work and the women stayed home. Women worked just like they did during the Paleolithic and Neolithic times but lost the respect they once had. They were expected to just slave over a stove and cook and clean and do whatever men want them to do. They were looked to as not important anymore, and not respected.
All the countries in the world struggle with giving women rights that they deserve. Countries in the western world seem to achieve the most success in women’s rights. Western countries have slowly given rights to women such as voting and the right to own property.
Some Islamic countries treat women as if they are property. They get no say in anything in there lives and have no political impact on there culture. An example of just how bad a woman can be treated is if a women is raped she has to have four male adult witnesses in order to receive justice. If she fails to have four men back her claim then the victim of rape can be accused and charged with adultery.
The united states has done a pretty good job with women acquiring there rights. But in my opinion we still haven’t completely become equal to those rights of men. Women are still treated as if being the kitchen is there only job. We have obtained the right to vote, own property, and many other things that at one time we did not have. But women are still not treated to the extent that they should be treated. Over the years women have gone through obstacles such as the women’s right movement. All in all women still have not been given all the rights they deserve. Like the presidential position…still waiting for the first women president.
Yes, women were better off in Paleolithic and neolithis periods before the agricultural revoulation because they were treated equal. There lives began to change as socieites centralized because women became nothing but house hold women and work slaves for the men. Women were just property to men and nothing more. Today Islamic countries still treat women like a peacew of property. To me women in America are pretty equal except nobody wants a women as president and i think that is pretty sexist. For example Palin was descrimintaeted and judged because she was a women.
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