Women and Families in Classical Society
The Chinese scholar Ban Zhao. By AKappa, public domain.
The 1,200-year stretch between 600 BCE and 600 CE is known as the “classical” period. During these years, many new beliefs and ideas developed. These gave rise to new laws and customs. As a result, the lives of women were greatly changed.
During the classical period, women had less power than men. However, women were not all the same. Depending on where they lived and what class they belonged to, different women had different levels of freedom.
Belief systems
A belief system is a set of ideas. Religions are belief systems. So are accepted ideas about how a society should be organized. Different belief systems can lead to great differences in how people live their lives.
For example, women in China had very different social roles under two different belief systems: Daoism and Confucianism. The written rules of Daoism gave women greater freedom to make decisions about their own lives. The written rules of Confucianism limited women’s power much more. However, women did not always follow these rules. There was a difference between rules on paper and how people actually lived their lives.
| Belief system | Views on women | Philosophies |
|---|---|---|
| Confucianism in Han China | Filial piety required that people respect their elders and ancestors, especially male ones. The ideal role for women was to take care of a large household. Women typically didn’t have formal roles in Confucian life outside the home. |
Both Confucianism and Daoism have the concept of yin and yang, or duality. Women are seen as part of the yin: yielding, submissive, soft, etc. Men are seen as part of the yang: aggressive, powerful, etc. |
| Daoism in Han China | Women were allowed to be priests and teachers in the Daoist tradition. In the classical Daoist text, the Daodejing, feminine characteristics such as fertility, softness, and submission are seen as positive and respected features. |
In Daoism, the female contribution as the yin is more respected than it is in Confucianism; it is seen as a part of nature. Daoism suggests that a softer, more yielding attitude may eventually lead to more favorable results. |
Table 1: Table comparing views on women and philosophies in Confucianism and Daoism in Han China
Family and marriage
In many societies, women’s main roles were being a mother and taking care of the home. However, there were big differences in how women performed these roles. Many of these differences depended on the kinship relations within a particular society. Kinship is a close bond between two or more people. It is based on family relationships.
We can compare different kinship relations within one society. In Han China, a woman’s power in her household depended on how she related to the men in the family. Confucianism taught that a woman had three key duties. First, she must obey her father before she is married. Then she must obey her husband. Finally, she must obey her son after her husband dies. At every stage of their lives, women had to depend on a male relative. However, they had different levels of power. The degree of their power within the household depended on two things: their age and their relationship to important male family members. For example, the mother of an older son had far greater control over the household than a younger son’s new wife.
In Han China, men were the head of the family. They had legal power over the women and children in the household. Ancient Rome was similar. There too, the father controlled the family.
In both societies, women had some power. For example, Roman women could own property. They also could inherit after the deaths of their fathers. In Han China, some older women held property and managed businesses. Similarly, in Ancient Rome women regularly bought and sold property.
There were big differences between China and Rome, though. For example, women in Han China were mostly limited to separate women’s spaces, even at home. In Roman homes, women and men mixed freely.
Roman women also had more of a role in public life than Han Chinese women did. The lives of Han women were mostly limited to the home. Roman women often ate together with men. They also visited public baths. Women in Han China were not allowed to do either of these things.
| Formal legal status | Economic power | Role in public life | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Han China | Formally, women’s lives were controlled by male kin. | Some women had wills and managed businesses. | Women were mostly limited to private, segregated spaces. |
| Imperial Rome | Paterfamilias was in charge of the women and children. | Women could inherit and own property after a father’s death. | Women could go out to dinner and visit public baths; however, women often had to be accompanied by a male relative or guardian to do so. |
Table 2: Table comparing the formal legal status, economic power, and roles in public life of women in Han China vs. Imperial Rome
Class and social hierarchy
In both societies, the lives of rich and poor women were very different. In Han China, being able to support a large household with a lot of family members was highly valued. But this was not possible for poorer families. They could only feed a limited number of people. Men with less money often sold their daughters as servants. They kept only their sons at home.
In Ancient Rome, women from different classes wore different kinds of clothes. Rich women wore a long dress or stola. On top of that, they wore a loose coat, called a palla. Prostitutes wore togas. If a rich woman cheated on her husband, she would be forced to wear a toga. But how someone dressed was not the only thing that set the different classes apart. Poorer women were given fewer rights than rich women.
Statue of Livia Drusilla, the wife of the Roman emperor Augustus, wearing a stola and palla. By Luis García, public domain.
Sources
Beard, Mary. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. New York: W.W. Norton, 2015.
“Daughter/Wife/Mother or Sage/Immortal/Bodhisattva? Women in the Teaching of Chinese Religions.” AsiaNetwork Exchange, vol. XIV, no. 2 (Winter 2006). Retrieved from https://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Writings/Women.pdf
Hinsch, Bret. “Women, Kinship, and Property as Seen in a Han Dynasty Will.” T’oung Pao Second Series, Vol. 84, Fasc. 1/3 (1998).
Tignor, Robert et. al. Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011.
Eman M. Elshaikh and Rosie Friedland
The authors of this article are Eman M. Elshaikh and Rosie Friedland. Eman is a writer, researcher, and teacher who has taught K-12 and undergraduates in the United States and in the Middle East and written for many different audiences. She teaches writing at the University of Chicago, where she also completed her master’s in social sciences, focusing on history and anthropology. She was previously a World History Fellow at Khan Academy, where she worked closely with the College Board to develop curriculum for AP World History. Rosie is a content contributor at Khan Academy. She has created materials for a variety of Khan Academy’s test prep offerings, including free SAT prep in partnership with College Board. She has also worked on course materials for Grammar, World History, U.S. History, and early-grade English Language Arts.
Image credits
This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0 except for the following:
Cover: Silk weaving, drawing, China. Western Han Dynasty, 206 BCE-24 CE. © Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images.
The Chinese scholar Ban Zhao. By AKappa, public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banzhao.jpg#/media/File:Banzhao.jpg
Statue of Livia Drusilla, the wife of the Roman emperor Augustus, wearing a stola and palla. By Luis García, public domain. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Livia_Drusila_-_Paestum_(M.A.N._Madrid)_01.jpg
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