A leader or “chief” was chosen through collective agreement as well as all other social and political matters. Councils were held between each clan and within villages to ensure that all members had a voice. Under the egalitarian structure was the social structure of matrilineal clans. Each village divided families into clans through the woman's descent line and land ownership was inherited matrilineally. Clans lived in a single household, where the elder women were dedicated as rulers for their households not only by seniority but also based on their deeds, actions, and personality traits (Bonvillian, 2001).…
The clan mother's position was hereditary. The clan mother was responsible for many things like naming everyone in the tribe; she can nominate and can remove the chief, arrange marriages and counsel members of the tribe are some of her roles. The council created the laws and customs…
The Chicken or the Egg with Hierarchies In ancient China, the earliest dynasties Zhou, Qin, and the Han were never unified by religion, but by the government. These different dynasties varied in government structure, social hierarchies, and political philosophies. These factors shaped familial hierarchies and gender roles. In ancient India, the role of government and religion varied from those of China. In India, religion shaped the patriarchal gender roles, and religion dictated familial hierarchy.…
Micheaux Ferdinand Reflective Essay #3 Brodsky SOC 333 Women, in Western Society, are culturally raised to view their bodies as a project to be worked on, however, this viewpoint can be dissected into two different arguments. By describing their bodies as a “project”, one can interpret that the body of female is being objectified and further the oppression of women by forcing them to take certain daily rituals, that waste time and money, to further the ideal of the “male gaze”. The opposing argument could be that teaching women to work on themselves can both allow them to express themselves, and help them become the best person they could be in life. Both of these arguments have valid reasons in the social and cultural history of the Western…
Beauty matters. Well, at least for some. From the clothes you choose to wear (and the ones you don’t) to the items you own, everything surrounding you changes how people perceive you, even things completely out of someone’s control. Pressures to adhere to societal norms can cause long-term harm for certain people, but others can take this concept in stride. Due to different upbringings, along with different environmental influences, it allows for a range of perspectives.…
Zhang does point out in the story that women disregarding Confucian rules led to them ruining the lives of men. Zhang says, “Women either destroy themselves or destroy someone else…if she were to meet someone with wealth and position, she would use the favor her charms gain her to be cloud and rain or dragon or monster…” (Zhen 76). This means that a woman could flirt with a man in order to get what she wanted. She could be nice and beneficial for a man like rain helps the earth.…
Women’s Role in the Korean War In this essay, I will be talking about what caused to let Korea to have 38th parallel and what the women’s role is in the Korean War. I got influenced by this topic (Korean War: Women’s Role) because I want to show people what women did in wars, because many people around me think men did all the work in wars. So I want them to know what women did and what the women’s role in the Korean War was by this essay.…
Yuan Cai’s, The Problems of Women, is a passage from a book written by Yuan Cai. The chinese elite and literate males are the sources’ audience. The book gives advice for other men that are like him and the head of a household. This passage is interesting to me because it pertains to gender and sex roles in the twelfth century. This passage tells me that the culture the author lived in had certain marital and sex standards for males and females.…
My main question is about the gender roles set for women and men during this time period. Women have always been the gender discriminated against throughout history, even today, but it was especially terrible back then. Why should a woman have to pay money to her husband on their day? Why should a woman be denied access to reading and learning? Why does a woman have to marry someone they may not be in lover with just because her parents want her to?…
During the thirteenth and the sixteenth century, the colonization and conquering of empires lead to contact between different cultures. In Sundiata by D.T. Niane and The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz women in the Mali, Aztec, and Spanish Empires were treated as objects. While there might be some differences in these empire’s customs, there are more similarities than differences that show how women were seen as objects and inferior to men, as women do not decide who they marry and have no “power” without a male. These similarities are important because it reveals how two male authors portray women, which indicate how these cultures considered men to be the primary actors who make orders and women who follow orders.…
The literary book “Things Fall Apart” is a well-written novel by Chinua Achebe about an ordinary Nigerian named Okonkwo and it explains how the impact of European colonization in his village significantly changed his life. Though this is the main idea, the novel also consists of many hidden messages which are shown through the interesting plot turns and literary devices. A theme that Achebe explores through the book is the role of men and women in the Igbo society and how certain customs are associated with each of them. The powerful personalities of the unique characters such as Ezinma, Ekwefi, and Nwoye, and the way that they reach out of their gender stereotypes is one of the main reasons that this piece of literature was so entertaining to read. While Ezinma and Nwoye’s actions and mindsets make them different from other children of the same gender, Ekwefi’s interests and mentality set her apart from other women as well.…
As a whole, ancient Chinese society was a patriarchy. Whilst patriarchal systems are particularly detrimental to women, they ensnare men and women alike. Thus, both men and women of ancient China developed methods of social advancement within the confines of their assigned gender roles to try to ensure a stable future. These methods of upward mobility were the exam system and footbinding respectively.…
The Ever-changing Role of Women in History Had Martin Luther not dared to question the Catholic Church when he nailed The Ninety-Five Theses to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517, had King Henry VIII not been so set on a divorce in 1533, had the Pamphlet Wars during the turn of the 17th century not taken place, the life of women in the New World in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries may have been very different. These central characters, and so many others, set the stage for a revolution. Women were able to redefine their roles within their homes, in matters of community and politics, and most especially as a gender.…
Gender Roles through Mid- 20th Century Rewind to late 19th century/ early 20th century America. A woman’s identity was largely defined by religion and culture. At that time period, men were perceived as having the power. They were expected to be socially, politically, and financially dominant. Women were subservient.…
Gender Roles in Society Gender roles are very prevalent in today’s society. Gender roles are a set of societal norms dictating the types of behaviors which are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for people based on their actual or perceived sex or sexuality. In fact, every baby at birth, they are categorized into male or female. “Gender represents a spectrum of sociocultural roles, identities, and orientations that are distinct from one 's biological sex determined by genes, anatomy, gonads, and hormones” (as cited in Juster, Paul, Preussener, and Jens). Gender roles can affect not only how one views someone, but also how one might act towards one another.…