Hammurabi’s Code: Oppression of Women
Hammurabi’s code: Oppression of Women
Throughout most of history women generally have had fewer legal rights and career opportunities than men. Wifehood and motherhood were regarded as women's most significant job. Money was used to buy and sell women like slaves. And men were given the upper hand in written law. Egyptian society and Hammurabi’s code have granted them fewer rights than their male counter parts.
Starting way back in ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian society women were view and treated inferior to men. This was shown in the harshness of Hammurabi’s code. It was written with little consideration to the women in society. It was established in 1686 BCE to bring order, retribution, and "justice" to the Babylonian society. There are 282 laws that were supposed to protect the poor from the wealthy; the weak from the strong, and other inequalities. However, some of the laws enacted by Hammurabi showed strong gender bias. They were considered to be family laws, but in many considerations were laws to control women. Some of the laws in the code gave women protection from patriarchal rule, such as laws placing restrictions on the use of women's dowries, the bride prices paid for women, and laws involving divorce can happen. These laws may have been seen by lawmakers as protection but they actually show the state's recognition that women needed some legal protections from male authority. In many cases, women were treated as children and not given equal treatment under the law.
Even in these laws of protection, women are referred to as lesser beings. For instance, often women are written down as chattels, which are actually just a little more than slaves. Hammurabi also paid special attention to women being married. He made laws that clearly showed women were lesser beings than their husbands. He gave the husbands all the control in the relationship. Marriage was done through the purchase of a bride with a bride's price and a dowry. This law is clearly
Throughout most of history women generally have had fewer legal rights and career opportunities than men. Wifehood and motherhood were regarded as women's most significant job. Money was used to buy and sell women like slaves. And men were given the upper hand in written law. Egyptian society and Hammurabi’s code have granted them fewer rights than their male counter parts.
Starting way back in ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian society women were view and treated inferior to men. This was shown in the harshness of Hammurabi’s code. It was written with little consideration to the women in society. It was established in 1686 BCE to bring order, retribution, and "justice" to the Babylonian society. There are 282 laws that were supposed to protect the poor from the wealthy; the weak from the strong, and other inequalities. However, some of the laws enacted by Hammurabi showed strong gender bias. They were considered to be family laws, but in many considerations were laws to control women. Some of the laws in the code gave women protection from patriarchal rule, such as laws placing restrictions on the use of women's dowries, the bride prices paid for women, and laws involving divorce can happen. These laws may have been seen by lawmakers as protection but they actually show the state's recognition that women needed some legal protections from male authority. In many cases, women were treated as children and not given equal treatment under the law.
Even in these laws of protection, women are referred to as lesser beings. For instance, often women are written down as chattels, which are actually just a little more than slaves. Hammurabi also paid special attention to women being married. He made laws that clearly showed women were lesser beings than their husbands. He gave the husbands all the control in the relationship. Marriage was done through the purchase of a bride with a bride's price and a dowry. This law is clearly