Mesopotamia Women

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In the areas of Mesopotamia, India, and China, gender affected social relations significantly; some greater than others. Social relations were taken very seriously in these three areas judging on the time they were in. The impact that gender had on such areas depicts the strong roles that both men and women had to live up to. Three documents, “Babylonian Law Code,” which focused on the destiny of man and woman, “Law of Manu,” which establishes the rules for India’s caste system, and “Lessons for Women,” a writing on responsibilities of men and advice for women, expresses the ways that gender affected social relations and how it contributed to the roles of individuals in different time periods. The region of Mesopotamia was formed form farming …show more content…
Marriage in this area was arranged by parents of both the husband and wife. Hammurabi’s Code states, “If a man take a wife and she do not present him with children and he set his face to take a concubine, that man may take a concubine and bring her into his house. That concubine shall not rank with his wife.” In the rule, the husband of a woman can have a legal mistress or another wife if the first wife did not give him children. But a turnaround of this would be another the law that states, “If she have not been a careful mistress … neglected her house and have belittled her husband, they shall throw that women into the water.”2 In this law if a woman cheat on her husband she would be thrown in the water to drown. Although women did have some rights like owning property and selling goods, the men were always high in authority in this