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Roles Of Men And Women In A Norse-Based Society

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The roles of men and women in a norse based society were noticeably distinct. Norse society was mainly was run by males. Both male and female both had roles that could not be crossed without punishment. Women did not participate in trading and raiding parties, that is what the males did. Women’s responsibilities Were clearly devoted to the home and the husband. If a male or a female did a job that was clearly meant for the opposite gender, they would be ostracized by society. “The medieval Icelandic lawbook prohibits women from wearing men's clothes, from cutting their hair short, or from carrying weapons.” Grágás (K 254) By law women were under control by the husband or the father, or any male that she is related to. Women had very little …show more content…

A marriage was arranged between families. An marriage was considered and alliance between the two families. The girl, like in almost all societies back then, had no say in the matter who she was married …show more content…

The women in the marriage never really became apart of the husband’s family, but continued to be a part of her own. If her husband mistreated her, or wasn’t a good provider of the family. she is able to divorce him, but had to have the witnesses approval.
A women’s day to day responsibilities consisted of preparing and serving the food, make clothes, milk the cows, gather eggs, and other dairy chores, housekeeping and laundry, child care, and cutting a sewing. The responsibilities were held at the doorway of the household, the women would mostly do the inside chores, while the men would mostly do the chores that needed to be done outside of the house. A women cooked the food and prepared it, before the winter came, women had to manage the stock level of the food and the drinks. Smoking the fish the men caught, cooking the meat that the men had hunted, making broth for the eat, and baking bread. The women did whatever she needed to to keep the household successfully running. Women also took care of the sick, the medicine back in norse society was not as advanced as today’s, but women did whatever they could to help them out. They made the medicine and tended to the ill. The medicine sometimes didn’t work, but they kept on trying until the person got better, or

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