Before civilization, humans lived in small bands of foragers. It is believed that their diets consisted mainly of plants. These early humans would have collected fruits, roots, seeds, and any other edible plant parts.
Anthropologist speculate that their lifestyles are similar to those of modern foragers today and if they are correct, then it was mainly the women that did the food gathering. Men spent their time hunting and painting. It is in these early groups, that the basis for the technology we know today began. Nothing was written, so all information was passed verbally.
The older a person was, the more skills they had obtained in their life. Since women were mainly gatherers they passed along early knowledge of which plants were edible, which plants had medicinal use, and other uses of plants. Hunters passed along knowledge of game. This was how humans functioned 2,000,000 to 10,000 years ago. In the next 10,000 years, the agricultural revolutions began.
The agricultural revolutions happened multiple times in different places all over the world. This rise of agriculture would change the way society functioned. Some of the earliest societies were founded in the Middle East. Mesopotamia was one of them.
Mesopotamia came to be when groups of foragers began farmer in the river valley. It was the job of the men to work the fields since they were stronger and more able to complete the strenuous work. This farming created a surplus supply of food that allowed them to have a larger population.
This is where the women came in. They were no longer “necessary” to the group’s survival, since it was now the men that brought home the food. A woman’s job now was to cook and have children; the new heads of the house. In the earlier parts of Mesopotamian history, women could control their dowry, own property, and even trade.
But over time, the treatment of women declined. Men took over the household and had benefits in marriage and divorce, while women were treated like objects in marriage that could help families gain alliances and wealth. The treatment of women during the rise of agriculture was so bad, that a group of men in a village “impregnated” all of its female leaders- just so they could take control.
Another society with misogynistic views was ancient China. It too started out like Mesopotamia, small groups of farmers that gradually came together as the population expanded. In the early beginnings, women were treated as equals. During the Shang Dynasty, yin and yang were the symbols to represent male and female. Day and night, sun and moon; yin and yang were opposites that had to work in together to create a perfect balance in the world.
Later on in ancient China, under the influence of Kongzi (known in the western world as Confucius) in the Zhou Dynasty, yin and yang changes from a pair that is balanced to male superiority. Under Kongzi’s ideology, the strict Chinese legalism was the metaphor for how a family should function. (If you don’t know, legalism was a political idea that all people are bad and will only behave under strict laws and harsh punishments. The legalist hierarchy had the ruler at top, followed by public officials, and the common people at the bottom.) In a way this is how Kongzi saw a family. The father was the ruler, followed by the sons (according to age), and the mother and daughters would be nothing more than common folk.
By the time historians can trace written records in ancient China, it is apparent that patriarchy is very prominent. The role of women now is to be the submissive wife. Men had control over their wives and daughters, men could arrange marriages, men could sell the labor of his family members.
The rise of patriarchy and misogyny came with the rise of agriculture, and a lot of what they did then they still do today. Men are still known as the people who bring home the money and have to provide. Women are still supposed to be submissive wives who stay inside to cook and care for children. We have to do something about that.
Agriculture is great –it really is because without it the Earth wouldn’t be this populated– but this degrading of women in countries all over the world is not okay. Men can bring home the money, but still have time to watch kids and women can do the same. Just because the rise of agriculture also created patriarchy, doesn’t mean we can’t change the world into an equal place
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