From Huntress to Seductress - History of the Fairer Sex

Women are often the hidden half of history, while men dominated the public arena. Since antiquity, women had silently left their mark on the world, and at times changed it. Not many people know that it was a Chinese empress named Xilingshi who invented sericulture around 3000BC that made China a world power; the first named author was a lady named En Hedu’anna, a high priestess of Moon God in Ur who lived around 2300BC; there was a entire kingdom in Northern India, called ‘Strirajya’, that was ruled by women for over thousand years; the world’s first computer programmer, Ada, was a girl. Before the beginning of agriculture, in the stone-age, women were not just food gatherers, but also huntresses. These women were not only giving company to their Adam’s, but doing much more. There are stone-age paintings preserved in Kashmir which revealed that women went together with men for hunting. They danced together in the beats of the ancient drums. These huntresses of the lithic era shared equal status with men, and may be even regarded as superior. The first god human beings worshiped was the Great Mother. Among the first human images discovered are the "Venus figures," that date back to Upper Paleolithic period between 35,000 and 10,000 BC. We can still hear the echoes of the beats in which these free women danced, when we see the cave paintings in Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh, India). But the status of modern women is only a shadow of their past.

Even in the developed nations the male-female ratio of corporate officers is heavily skewed towards men. A survey conducted in 1996 showed that in both developed and developing countries women worked 35hrs more than men every week, they feed families, carry water, collect fuel, but still this is not counted as work, and 90% of the rural female labor force were labeled ‘housewives’. Though women produce ~80% of the food on the planet, they receive less than 10 percent of agricultural assistance. In India each year over 5000 brides are murdered or commit suicide because their marriage dowries are considered inadequate. Female infanticide is still common in many backward areas. When one looks back at the bygone era, one wonders when and why the women got left behind.

Around 10,000BC human beings switched to agriculture, which lead to production of food beyond mere necessities. An agricultural society was a wealthier one, but it brought with it new set of problems. The communities that did not have enough wealth were tempted to attack the wealthier ones, people who accumulated little extra feared those with less would seal him. State was created to solve these problems. State introduced law and governance, and with that came uneven distribution of wealth, rigid class barriers, and unequal gender status. The ancient scripts give us idea about the status of women of that era. Around 1800BC, in Hammumrabi’s code, women’s body was defined as men’s property, and rape was a ‘property crime’ against the owner of the woman and not the woman herself. Around 1450BC by Mesopotamian law and custom women were controlled first by their fathers, then by their husbands and fathers-in-law, and finally by their sons. According to Manu Smriti women, sudra, dog and crow embody untruth, sin and darkness.  This ancient custom hasn’t changed much even today.

800BC was another leap for mankind. 800BC-500AD was the axial age when the merchant class grew in power. Trading made states richer, and the small states grew into large empires. This mammoth cultural development required huge amount of constructions, and thus, masculine power. This resulted in further deterioration in the status of females in the society. While men went to work and conquer the world, their female counterparts got restricted to their house, taking care of their family and concentrating more on their beauty to please the powerful males. Aristotle believed that man is by nature superior to the female and so the man should rule and the woman should be ruled. Demosthenes wrote “We keep hetaerae for the sake of pleasure, female slaves for our daily care and wives to give us legitimate children and to be the guardians of our households.” Creation stories also tell us a great deal about a society’s view of women. In the Judao-Christian version Adam (man) was the first human and God made Eve (woman) to be just his companion. And it was Eve who tempted Adam to commit sin. In Greek mythology the first woman, Pandora, was created as a form of punishment because men had learned from Prometheus the secret of making fire. Pandora was beautiful and irresistible to men, but she was made deliberately in a way that brought sorrow, harm and trouble to man. The Asian women still enjoyed better status. It becomes clear form the Chinese creation story. According to it Goddess Nu-kua modeled human beings by dipping a rope into the mud and dragged it around, as drops fell off. Traditionally it is said that those beings she modeled became the noble and rich, while the drops became the humble and the poor. Indian myth contained powerful goddesses like Durga who fought against evil forces. Around 600BC, Ambapali, a wealthy Indian courtesan, became a disciple of Buddha. It showed that these women still had the freedom of choice. Even though the general condition of women in the west was poor, not all women preferred to live as the ‘second sex’. In 843BC Athaliah became queen of Judah and in her 7years reign she murdered everyone who tried to oppose her. On the other extreme was Sappho, who wrote poetry and taught young women poetry, music, and the social graces around 600BC. The word lesbian is derived from the name of the island of her birth, Lesbos, while her name is also the origin of the word sapphic; both words were only applied to female homosexuality beginning in the 19th century.

Jesus of Nazareth tried to improve the status of women. He treated men and women as equal, and Mary Magdalene, his most loved disciple, was an excellent example. Mostly women were present at Jesus’ execution, while most men, apart from John, fled. Even Prophet Mohammad fought for equality of sexes. Women were amongst his earliest converts. Koran strictly forbade killing of female children and gave women legal rights of inheritance and divorce. Most Western women had nothing comparable until 19^th century. The Koran did not prescribe the veil for all women but only for Mohammad’s wives, as a mark of their status. Unfortunately, as in Christianity, the religion was later hijacked by men.

The Medieval Era (500-1500AD) and Early Modern Era (1500-1800AD) was probably the worst era for women. It was the time when position of the Indian women also started degrading. Sati, child marriage, and ban on widow remarriages became integral part of social life among some Indian community. It was also the time when there was a craze of burning witches. The classical period of witch-hunts in Europe and North America was during 1480 to 1700 AD when an estimated 40,000 to 100,000 women were executed. The condition of ordinary women was that of piety. Only few of the rich women, who had support of their men, lived a good life. Thus most women wanted to impress rich and powerful men, and the best way to attract them was beauty and seduction. That is the reason why even the modern women go against all odds to look beautiful. The billion dollar cosmetic industry survives only because 90% women are never happy with their looks. In the medieval mind women were the carnal, lustful ones, while men were the spiritual ones victimized by their temptations. Prostitution was another option for independence for medieval women. In the earlier years of the 16th century it was very common for towns to support a municipal brothel, as a way of containing possible public disorder. In spite of these conditions, the huntress never died, she returned time and again. Razia Sultana became the only woman monarch to have ever ruled Delhi. The Gond queen Durgavati ruled for fifteen years, before she lost her life in a battle with Mughal emperor Akbar's general Asaf Khan in 1564. 'A'ishah, widow of Muhammad, rebelled against the caliph 'Ali in the Battle of the Camel at Basra around 659 AD. In 1429, Joan of Arc, supported by Queen Yolande, began her military and religious campaign against the English. At the Battle of Orléans she lead the French army to victory. In 1553 Mary Tudor became queen of England. Her persecution of Protestants earned her the name Bloody Mary. Elizabeth I, half-sister of Mary Tudor, became queen of England in 1558.

With industrial revolution and advancement of science, women slowly began to get back a bit of their lost status. The revolution was first started by few men, and later the women took over. In 18^th century the feminist movements began. The first wave of the feminism movement happened during 18th through to early 20th centuries. It dealt mainly with the women's suffrage. Writers such as Virginia Woolf are associated with this wave. On March 8, 1917 Russian women lead a revolution that overthrew the imperial government. The date was later chosen to mark International Women's Day. The second-wave (1960s-1980s) feminism was largely concerned with issues of equality, such as the end to discrimination. The biggest myth of second wave was the whole bra-burning legend, a fable promoted by the media. The third wave of feminism (1990s-current) is seen as both a continuation and a response to the perceived failures of the second wave. In addition to "responding" to the second wave, the third wave was less reactive, and had a greater focus on developing the different achievements of women. These feminist movements helped women realize their value in the society and brought them back to recognition. In few of the developed cities one can probably say that they are now equal with men, however in most places they are still fighting to get back their lost status.

Women, as huntress or seductress, have always affected the business of everyday life. There had been more battles fought for women then for anything else. At the same time as mothers they raised families, as lovers they gave meaning to the life, as daughters they took care of their parents, and as a woman they constantly healed the human race. But time and again, from amongst these women, returned the huntress, to get back what they deserve.

P.S. Pictures from public domain