A Challenge to the Patriarchal Elements in the Societies of India, China, and Rome in Psalms of the Sisters, Lessons for Women, and an Ancient Roman Document

Throughout history, women have played an incredibly important role in shaping the world that we live in, although the recognition for these women has been thrown by the wayside. The reasons for this are plenty, but women’s role as the perceived inferior gender has only been proliferated and supported by patriarchal systems which have been in societies and civilizations since the inception of man. But with these patriarchal systems which still exist in our supposed modern world today, there have been women throughout the generations who have fought back, and stood up for gender recognition. Within the three documents provided, women in India, China, and Rome used rhetoric to challenge the patriarchal elements of their respective societies and in today’s world we can see the same methods women used in past societies, being used today by modern feminists seeking gender equality.

The document provided regarding India includes four poems called the Psalms of the Sisters and was written in the First Century B.C.E. These poems not only reflect the buddhist revolution within India, but also represent the beginnings of the idea of women’s empowerment and independence. Through buddhism, and through the monastic lives that follow, the women in these poems reflect a sense of independent spirit that was looked down about by the traditional Hindu patriarchal system of India at the time. Within the poem titled Sumangala’s Mother, the author clearly states her newfound freedom from not only her husband, but also society’s expectations.

She says, “O woman well set free! How free am I. How thoroughly free from kitchen drudgery! Me stained and squalid ‘mong my cooking pots, my brutal husband ranked as even less”. The expectation in the patriarchal society that she was living in, was to be a good and subservient housewife, with no grander ambitions other than that. This author wanted more though, and through the use of rhetoric using a poem, she’s able to effectively communicate the feeling of empowering herself through buddhism. We can see in today’s society and in the past, many women authors have been able to express their concerns, wishes, needs, etc, through the power of poetry.

The next document provided is a piece by the Chinese author Ban Zhao titled Lessons for Women and was also written in the First Century B.C.E. Ban Zhao clearly lays out the patriarchal system in which she has lived in her entire life, and lists the expectations for women in her society. She’s not only writing this piece to shed light on the belittling expectations for women, but also to show the reader that women can be more than just housewives. In fact the whole premise that she’s writing this essay is ironic in so far as in the society that she lives in, women on the whole were supposed to be submissive, and not write criticizing pieces of the culture.

Although Ban Zhao became a successful court historian, she was “married by the age of fourteen, gave birth to several children, and was widowed early in life”. Even though she was born into an elite family, her role as a women in Chinese society placed her on the backburner. She applies the principles of confucianism, (especially ying and yang) to justify the system that she is occupying. The yin represents the female and is submissive and weak, the yang on the other hand is the male and represents dominance. She argues that both yin and yang need to be in perfect harmony in order for a society to function. Now did Ban Zhao really believe that women in China were born naturally inferior to men? Probably not, but she does realize that she has to accept the system that she’s living in. The only thing she can do is produce pieces such as Lessons for Women in the hopes that it will shed light on the plight and unfairness of the Chinese patriarchal system.

In today’s world, feminists use the same technique of highlighting gender equality issues. For example the fact that a woman earns 77 cents to every dollar a man makes is consistently brought up in the attempt to persuade people that there is a real and legitimate issue going on. Women chronicle and tell their experiences of being judged just because they are a women, and this insight allows individuals to see why we need more gender equality within our society.

Finally the last document provided takes place in Rome in the year 195 B.C.E. After having their luxury items taken away during a time of war, and not returned after twenty years of peace and prosper, women in Rome took to the streets in protest of the laws passed to restrict their luxury items. What’s interesting about this document is that the two first hand sources are both males, so we can never really see inside the female perspective about this issue. But the fact that the women of Rome came pouring out in support of repealing of the law shows that they were in fact passionate about this issue, and wanted real change to occur. Did these women represent the entirety of the Roman empire’s women? Of course not. In fact because of their wealth they represented an extremely small minority as the large majority would not have been able to afford luxury items. Nevertheless these women still represented the fight against the patriarchal system within Roman society. The battle goes beyond items such a gold, carriage rides, or multi-colored dresses, but extends to male rights vs that of a female within their society.

The men of Rome took away something from the women, without taking something that belonged to them, and this is the perfect way to identify a patriarchal system. Not only were women in Rome supposed to be accesories and good housewives, they were forced to make sacrifices from their daily lives that men did not need to make. By protesting, and having representatives speak on their behalf in Rome’s government such as Lucius Valerius, women were gaining the right to have their voices heard, and not just simply ignored. Today, we can see individuals doing this multiple ways. One of the best ways to promote gender equality is to create a platform. Not only have feminists reached a national stage with their issues, but by using media, social media, and networking, they have expanded their spheres of influence to beyond just their inner circles. The more coverage gender equality gets, the likelihood of advocates of equality will increase, which ultimately in the end is the goal.

In conclusion, even though disadvantaged throughout history for the mere fact of being a female, many women have found ways to fight back against the systematic patriarchy that appears time and time again within different cultures and societies. From Rome, to India, to China, women were able to use rhetoric to highlight these patriarchal systems, and attain a sense of independepence from men in their respective societies. The strategies women used in Romen, India, and China are even being used today in modern times in the advocacy of gender equality. Change starts with one small step at a time, and the women of past generations and societies certainly have laid the groundwork for women’s equality so far, and equality to be achieved in the (hopefully near) future.