ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys the gendered opportunities and limitations experienced by premodern women in Eurasian societies. Premodern women experienced significant, socially instantiated disempowerment, including naturalized gendered hierarchies, gendered labor division, attributions of “innate” incapacities to women, stereotyped notions of modesty and honor, and the intersection of these gendered issues with class. Yet many women had some agency within these patriarchal societies. A minority held public power as monarchs or regents. Some participated in emerging egalitarian religious movements. Many more gained agency through the use of legal systems. This chapter utilizes evidence from ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, Judea, Persia, Assyria, Yemen, China, Korea, Japan, India, the Mongol Empire, and medieval Europe. It also engages with a wide variety of Eurasian religious traditions. Warning against any idealization of premodern societies as “feminist,” egalitarian, or matriarchical, the chapter calls for continued attention to recovering an inclusive and accurate premodern history of women.
