Women In The Thousand And One Nights

Although most of the accomplishments and contributions of women have been lost from history books, women have played a vital role during human civilization. From our main role being raising families to leading armies into war, women have made untold contributions to history. Throughout history women haven’t always been seen equal to a man, and in some places, weren’t viewed any better than slaves. The Thousand and One Nights, narrated by a woman, Shahrazad, gives us unique viewpoint on the roles of women in their society. They described women as disobedient wives, concubines and slaves only meant to please men, and as prisoners they kept isolated from the outside world.
It’s very clear that they degrade women in this tale. They don’t view women as anything other than objects of pleasure for men that can be bought, sold, given away, or as gifts worthy of the kings. Women are even brutally beaten and killed in some cases; they don’t have any rights and are held in harems, also their husbands are free to divorce and/or take other wives whenever they please. Although these stories don’t seem to sit well with us, if it were read by someone native to this area (like someone in Egypt or Samarkand) they would more than likely understand it better than us because
They cheat on their husbands and they get revenge for being treated unfairly. During the same time these tales were written, women were said to be more inclined to sin, therefore the prophet Muhammad supposedly said: “I stood at the gates of Paradise, most of those who entered there were poor, I stood at the gates of Hell, most of those who entered in there were women” (Walther 51). That’s a real intense conclusion about women. I’m not sure what his experience were with women, but I don’t see how they could have done anything that bad to make him say something like