Women DBQ

Joey Garcia
AP world History DBQ

Throughout history, the role and rights of women have been hotly debated, more so in the past, however. Although in the United States, everyone is theoretically equal, it has taken thousands of years, and to only some effect in some areas, more freedom for women. In the five DBQs I'm analyzing, I will compare and contrast various cultures' opinions on women in the Postclassical Period. Ibn Battuta, Byzantine legal codes, and a Jewish prayer document proclaim that women have very little capacity for intelligence and social matters, while the Koran and Yuan Cai, and even Ibn Battuta somewhat said women didn't always need to be protected and had negative capacities as well. Some say that women are smart, respectable people who can socialize freely and prosper, while others believe that women are stupid and should just stay out of the company of men in important matters.
Firstly I will discuss the (then) more popular view that women were inferior to men. Quite openly the Jewish faith proclaimed in (doc. 2) women too stupid to understand Grace before every meal, and therefore men should pray for them. Women had to try to make up to Yahweh on their own with other "stupid" women. In Document 3, The Byzantine legal code states that women should not be held as witnesses because they are not reliable and that they shouldn't even be in public with so many men. Ibn Battuta in Document 5 believes similarly. He also stated in his writing that women, as well as men, should not be in the company of so many of the opposite sex, and that such socializing wasn't right in his mind.
The less popular, but more reasonable views of Documents 1 and 4 show a more equal approach to women generally. The Koran, in Document 1, states that because women are semi equal, they have some of the rights of men, such as property rights, and more beneficial to them, control of their own sexual behavior. In Document 4, Yuan Cai wrote that women who were smart (educated) could survive and prosper without an (able) husband, that women could be equal on a scholarly plane.
I, however, believe that additional documents are necessary. Possibly a journal of a woman living in China, the Middle East, or maybe southern Europe, showing the life and treatment of women day to day. This might not be feasible, though because many women had no time or the education. A wealthy woman, might, however. Another possible document might be a completely Christian document from the Church itself.
In conclusion, the postclassical period was one of movement for women's rights in the Chinese and Koran beliefs, but also very restrictive for women in the eyes of The Jews, the Byzantines, and to a certain degree, the writings of later muslims, such as Ibn Battuta. Though the opinions of women varied gretly, no one can deny that the debates were a hotbed for ideas on women in their age and the ages to come.