Women In The Postclassical Era

Women are useless; at least that’s how they’ve been regarded as throughout history. During the totality of history women have been treated and observed as inferior to men. Women have always been the subjects of judgment, being seen as both weak and as obedient servants by their societies as well as their respective religions. Women have long been the discussion of men, with no input from women. Interestingly, women’s fate has always been determined by the opposite sex, without an insightful analysis from those who will be affected from the boundaries that would be set as a result. In the postclassical era, from 500 to 1400 C.E., the treatment of women was a major issue, going through changes because of religion and region. The female species

Depending on the area a woman lived in, they either enjoyed “freedom, though they still grappled with misogyny, or lived in seclusion, often treated worse than slaves. The Umayyad empire treated women worse than slaves, with slaves being able to roam freely in public while women had to be in seclusion and left in rooms away from men. While the Umayyads, treated women as beings who should be separated from the male population, Africa was more liberal with their women and let them roam freely in public. The Muslim population in Africa was shocked to see Africa interpret Islamic law in a flexible manner, instead of following it strictly. In an account from Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta in Mali, Muslim shock to Africa’s interpretation of Islamic law and it’s treatment of women is portrayed, “The condition of these people is strange and their manners outlandish… With regard to their women, they are not modest in the presence of men, they do not veil themselves in spite of their perseverance in the prayers.” (Document 5). That is to say, though Muslims believed that women should live in seclusion, other parts of the world during the postclassical era had different standards for “their” women. China was also more liberal than Islam, believing that women were capable of being the head of the family, of course only with the help of their sons. In document 4, On Women’s Problems, from Yuan Cal’s Book of Advice for Family Head, in China, it is stated that women were capable of being the family head, something that would never be considered within Islamic boundaries. “Some wives with stupid husbands are able to manage the family’s finances… Even among those whose husband have died and whose sons are young, there are occasionally able to raise and educate their sons…” (Document 4). In other words, China believed that women were capable of