Women Roles Throughout History Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Women Roles Throughout History - Research Paper Example It is here that historians and scientists first encounter the role of women in society. In addition to Biblical teachings, the roles of women have evolved differently all over the world from Europe to Middle East, Africa to South Asia and America to Australia (Brown and McBride (2005). The differences in roles are mainly attributed to different cultural and religious beliefs that determine the role of women in society. For example, the role of Muslim women living in Middle East may be quite dissimilar from those of women in European countries dominated by Christians. The same applies to South Asia and Africa. This implies that culture and religion is a major determinant of the women’s position in society. Despite the differences, it is also true that certain roles are the same irrespective of the geographical region. For instance, at the beginning, in the backward society, women dominated the society and family due to the important roles they played. This is due to the fact that finding food like vegetables and fruits which were the major food during this period was left for women. In most cases, women were inferior to their men and were denied several rights in male dominated societies according to Brown and McBride (2005). ... The paper will also explore how the lives, roles and status of women in the society has changed and varied over different cultural areas and early world history eras. Throughout history books and the Bible, several events are documented pertaining to the different roles played by women in the society that has helped transform the society. In the Bible, for example, Esther is depicted as playing her role as Queen, and helped save the Hebrews at the verge of being exterminated. It can, therefore, be argued that the Jewish community could not have been in existence were it that Esther could not have played this important role. In Europe, the role of women throughout history has been centered on equality and injustice. Nevertheless, one thing that is acknowledged among historians is that the role of women has changed greatly in Europe since prehistory to the end of 1500. It is reported that, during the Middle Ages that lasted from 5th century to about the fifteenth century, women played an important role in helping family produce enough food supplies. As such, they participated in planting, wedding and harvesting, as well as storing the food harvested from the farms. In addition, female gender, wives and daughters were also responsible for cooking meals for the family; attend to home chores such as maintaining general cleanliness of the house and home compound. They were also responsible for rising of children (Bardsley, 2007). It is also reported that women during the middle ages in Europe were supposed to be submissive to their male counterparts in the family. In this regard, they were expected not only to obey their father, and other family members such as brothers. As such, any woman who is rule was to be forced into submission and disrespect was perceived as a