In most early civilizations, women were treated as inferiors to men, and occasionally as their property. In both primary accounts, standards for women are illustrated, allowing one to draw similarities between the limitations, expectations, and ability to have a voice that women contained in both Chinese and Indian societies. The Chinese documents Mother of Mencius by Liu Xiang and Ban Zhao’s Admonitions For Women by Ban Zhao reflect propriety at the time and reveal limitations and expectations of women in the society. While in the Ramayana by Valmiki, women’s realities are portrayed through an Indian epic, which depicts the emphasis on moral duty and women’s loyalness to their husbands in the society. After reading the primary accounts, it
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In Ban Zhao’s Admonitions For Women, it mentions that women were “Industriousness… going to bed late, getting up early, never shirking work morning or night, never refusing to take on domestic work”(52). Women in Chinese society were required to make sacrifices to serve their husbands, they were supposed to possess the qualities of being liberal and generous. The expectation of serving one’s husband was alike in Indian society. In the Ramayana, one can infer that women served their husbands well when Sita states “The joy experienced by lords of men… is far inferior to the joy of the wife in the service of her lord”(55). If all joys are far inferior to the joy from a wife’s service, then one can deduce the service of wives was thorough and scrupulous. Additionally, women in both societies were expected to be devoted to their husbands. Chinese society held the notion that “a woman must seek her husband’s love… through devotion”(53). It was forbidden for a woman to have an affair with another man or leave their husband. Expectations for women were to be acquiescence and “stay in their proper places”(54). Similarly, in the Indian society women were entailed to be loyal and devoted to their husbands. In the Indian epic, Sita communicates
In Ban Zhao’s Admonitions For Women, it mentions that women were “Industriousness… going to bed late, getting up early, never shirking work morning or night, never refusing to take on domestic work”(52). Women in Chinese society were required to make sacrifices to serve their husbands, they were supposed to possess the qualities of being liberal and generous. The expectation of serving one’s husband was alike in Indian society. In the Ramayana, one can infer that women served their husbands well when Sita states “The joy experienced by lords of men… is far inferior to the joy of the wife in the service of her lord”(55). If all joys are far inferior to the joy from a wife’s service, then one can deduce the service of wives was thorough and scrupulous. Additionally, women in both societies were expected to be devoted to their husbands. Chinese society held the notion that “a woman must seek her husband’s love… through devotion”(53). It was forbidden for a woman to have an affair with another man or leave their husband. Expectations for women were to be acquiescence and “stay in their proper places”(54). Similarly, in the Indian society women were entailed to be loyal and devoted to their husbands. In the Indian epic, Sita communicates