Assessment by Diamond and Lerner - Essay Example

Societies After having studied prehistoric and Mesopotamia, discuss how this assessment by Diamond and Lerner is reflected (or not reflected) in these The assessments made by Diamond and Lerner are true and they were reflected in Mesopotamia and other ancient societies. Patriarchy was evident in these societies and it became even much more pronounced once the community entered fully into agriculture. The men became the owners of everything and controlled everything from the economic, political and even the cultural life of everyone from his slaves to his wife and children.

He made all the important decisions in the house and the woman’s role was to follow them and humbly obey the husband. She was treated the same way as the slaves and the children and this means she was by no means greater than them in any way and that was her social level (Lerner 79). The relationship between men and women before these ancient societies was one based on equality and cordial behaviour. There was a division of chores between men and women during the hunting and gathering era where the men who were physically strong hunted and the women gathered.

No gender was superior to the other. All this however changed with the incorporation of agriculture and the end of the hunting and gathering period and the women’s role in society started being that of subordination and inferiority while that of men became that of superiority and authoritarianism (Diamond 96). It was no longer about physical features and division of labour but became a master and slave kind of relationship with the slave, in this case, literary being the woman whose rights became non-existence, especially with marriage.

Virginity became a big issue for the women who were to ensure they stayed pure until they were married off. The husbands on the other hand were not required to be virgins. The more women a man had slept with, the more of a conqueror he was considered to be. Society employed double standards on this issue including the fact that an adulterer woman was sentenced to death while the man was simply released to go do as he wished. Once married, the rules of society dictated that the woman move to go live with her husband and his family and was part of the man’s property from them henceforth to control and do with her as he pleases.

The subordination of the women developed at this juncture where she was expected to obey and follow all the demands and commands of the husband without any question as the man was the authority figure. These beliefs and behaviours continued to intensify even after the society started moving from agriculture to other crafts such as engaging in trade with western societies. The westerns that were traders and went to these ancient societies to trade adopted the patriarchal behaviour and took it into the Western nations.

They started treating women as inferior beings to them and making their most important and mandatory role to fulfil their men sexually, bear children for them and handle all the other home affairs while the men brought home the food.