Woman Through the Ages : Nothing Changed - She Is Still Regarded As A Commodity

I stay in Lokhandwala area in western suburb ofAndheri in the city of Mumbai. The one Km.long market of Lokhandwala attractspeople from the entire city. It is very famous for the trendiest fashionableclothes jewelry and make up accessories. Most of the shops caters only women,you will hardly find more than 10 shops keeping any thing for male customers.Is it not surprising ? Less or more this situation you will find in most of thecities. In Calcutta there is a 3 km long stretch called Goriya Hat, whichcaters only women clients. So you can say that woman spend more time and moneyon their dresses, makeup, jewelry.

What is the reason for it ? Frankly speaking,through the ages, men tried to make woman only as a sex object, or in simple words a commodity, remember the ancient wars when the women of defeated kingdom were distributed among the winner army as trophies, it is a grim reality recorded in the history books. More so, the male dominated society did not allow woman to read, write, or to be a part of democratic electoral process, you may find few honourable exceptions. We shall talk about this in the later part of this write-up.So it has become a part of women mindset over the ages to spend more time in looking beautiful and attractive. Despite spread of education, despite woman now became more independent, they are still treated by men by and large in the same way as it was in the past and now there is a small contribution of women also to continue this as they are easily allured by market to buy more trendy stuff right from cloth, jewelry, shoes, makeup accessaries
in the name of fashion. 

The world has become a market place from last150 years and to sell products aggressively from Cigarette, Beedi to pair of male shoes images of women are being used, as the sex sells. I have recently watched a tv ad in which an attractive 25 years something is coming out of sea water in bikni, to my horror the ad was for a cement brand! They have been shown as weaker section of the society who can be easily get carried away by men. In ads like that of perfumes and bikes the products are compared with that of a woman’s body. For example the AXE effect (perfumes/deodorant’s) advertisement,wherein after the usage of the perfume all young girls try to jump on the man,who has applied it. Moreover, the girls/women used for the different kinds ofads are shown to be fair and exceptionally thin. This has created a negative image of women in society, and high expectations amongst families and peers.

To sale male shoes you need half clad woman images

To sell a product advertising community can go to any extant

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These advertisements leave an impression on a common man’s mind that a woman is just an object, which can be exploited easily as she is weak by nature and always needs a man for her protection. This type of projection of women is termed as stereo type.

Well, not only men but even women who come in contact with such ads start feeling inferior of themselves as they are not as pretty or thin as compared to the actress or models shown in advertisements.

Woman’s journey through the ages has been full of struggle. Take example of ancient Greece, Athenian women were given no education and were married at puberty to grown men. They remained forever the property of their fathers, who could divorce them and make them marry another.They lived in segregation and could not leave the house without a chaperone.They could not buy or sell land. If one were raped her husband had either to divorce her or lose his citizenship. A raped woman was no longer allowed towear jewelry or take part in public ceremonies.

Under Roman law the power of the husband wasabsolute; he could chastise his wife even - until the later Roman period - tothe point of killing her.

The Gentoo Code is a legal code translated from Sanskrit to Persian and then from Persian to English by the East India Company.One chapter, 'Of what concerns women', included this edict: 'A man, both by dayand night, must keep his wife so much in subjection that she by no means be mistress of her own actions... If a man, by confinement and threats, cannot guard his wife, he shall give her a large sum of money, and make her mistressof her income and expenses, and appoint her to dress victuals for the Dewtah(i.e the Diety)'...'Women have six qualities... an inordinate desire for jewelsand fine furniture and nice victuals; violent anger; deep resentment; another person's good appears even in their eyes; they commit bad actions.' (Quoted inthe Court Magazine, April 1834.)

'Among the Anglo-Saxons women occupied the same important and in depended rank in society which they now enjoy' wrote theeditor of the Lady's Museum in 1829, 'They were allowed to possess, to inherit,and to transmit landed property; they shared in all the social festivities;they were present at the witena gemoror parliament, and the shire gemot, or county council; they were permitted tosue and be sued in the courts of justice; their persons, their safety, theirliberty, and their property, were protected by express laws...' (1 July 1829)

English law and culture and customs derived muchfrom these ancient cultures and their revered texts; and so, by the time chronology begins, patriarchal attitudes have been so deeply embedded for so long thatthey seem completely natural, unassailable, indisputable, and indeed theexistence of a 'patriarchal ideology' was invisible: it was 'just the way lifewas'.

Under English Common Law a woman's legal identity disappeared upon marriage, she was a 'feme covert' a woman eclipsed, covered byher husband. She could no longer contract, sue or be sued. All her property,her dowry or portion, and anything she earned or inherited during the marriage belonged automatically to her husband. with the exception of paraphernalia(clothes, jewels, bed linen and plate). He had a life interest in any realestate but could not sell her land without her consent.A widow could regain herreal estate property. She was also entitled to dower for the rest of her life.By the 14th century this meant one-third of the property he had owned. A widower continued to have a life interest in her property even after the wife's death, this was known as tenancy "by the curtsey".

These rules were circumvented by the rules of equity, as enforced by the Court of Chancery. Property designed for the benefit of a married woman was vested in trustees, and her rights under that trust remained her own and did not vest in the husband. This state of affairs continued until, after a campaign by women, the laws were changed in the late nineteenth century.

In medieval times a woman (feme) who killed her husband (baron) was guilty not of murder, but of petty treason and was condemned to the same punishment as if she had killed the king. This was because such crimes threatened the established social order. Her sentence was to be drawn and burnt alive. For all other murders, including a husband killinghis wife, the punishment was hanging.

In the 12th to 13th century men used an iron girdle, or 'chastity belt' to ensure their wives were faithful. (The last one manufactured was in France in 1910.)

Marriages were often arranged when thegirls were  only three of four years old. The law stated at the time that a girl as young as seven was capable of consenting to marriage. However, the marriage could not be consummated until the girl was 12 years old. In the 14th century courts were unwilling to convict rapists when the victim was pregnant. It was generally believed that her pregnancy signaled God's approval of the marriage.

During the 1500s and 1600s Britain was analmost entirely  misogynistic culture.

During the Renaissance women lost even more ofwhat little economic power they had, because men increasingly went out of thehome to work in all-male professions, thus separating home and work, leaving women behind, working unpaid in the home.

Education was revered by society and thefamous literary  salons of the period were centers of intellectual debate and educational lectures. Women were generally excluded from them, because educating girls toread and write was not considered necessary. Some humanists argued that aristocratic women should be educated, and indeed some were; however, a womanwho was exceptionally accomplished risked being labeled as 'mannish' or - muchworse - accused of being a witch.

The church was extremely powerful andreligious fundamentalism  dominated every aspect of life in Britain to a degree that people of today often find hard to imagine. Girls continued to be indoctrinated from birth they were the instruments of the devil, who lured men away from Godand into sin. People believed that Adam was created first, then Eve was created from his body to serve and obey him. Women were inferior to men and this meant strict obedience to fathers and brothers as well as husbands. Anything else wasunnatural and against God. Famous thinkers, philosophers and writers repeatedlyrestated women's natural subjection to men. For example John Knox, leader of theProtestant Reformation, wrote in 1558 that 'Woman in her greatest perfectionwas made to serve and obey man'. Perhaps to ensure absolutely that his wifewould be inferior, servile and obedient, at the age of 50 he chose for a wife agirl of just 17. It is very pertinent that none of this has prevented his beinghailed, even today, as 'the greatest Reformer in the history of Scotland'.Clearly, he did not wish to 'reform' the oppression of women.

A woman's worth and standing depended onher strict  chastity. Women wore corsets of leather or wood which flattened thebreasts. Married women were required to wear their hair in a hood or veil,while widows had to wear a wimple and chin strap.

In order to be useful wives, girls were taughthow to manage a household. Marriages were arranged and, while there was nominimum age, fourteen was considered a suitable age for a girl to be wed. (Lifeexpectancy of women was about thirty.) Women usually brought a dowry into themarriage, commensurate with their social class.

Once married, a wife was trapped in totalobedience and subservience to her husband. This was believed to be ordainby both  God and nature, so few dared to challenge it. Her body and property of man absolutely to do with whatever he wished. If she displeased him he could legally turn her out of his house penniless or beat her mercilessly and she had no power under the law to prevent it or gain any redress. A wife had to bededicated to serving her master in silence and bearing his children: a good wife produced as her first-born a male heir. Sperm was believed to contain the seed of an entire person, the woman was merely a place for it to grow. Typically,wives were pregnant yearly, though half of all babies didn't survive toadulthood and many women died in childbirth.

A woman who killed her husband, or a servant who killed her or his master, was guilty of petty treason and burned at the stake.This was because such crimes threatened the established social order. For allother murders the punishment was hanging.

Exodus 22:xvii stated: 'Thou shall notsuffer  sorceress  to live' but the first legislation against witchcraft was around A.D.670. It wasn't until the 14th century that thousands (the lowest estimate is100,000) of people across Europe, 75% of them women, began to be killed forthis imaginary crime. Henry VIII made witchcraft a felony in 1541; this waslater repealed but reintroduced by Elizabeth I in 1563. and the firstEnglishwoman was hanged for the 'crime' in 1566. The 120-year witch-killingcraze had begun, which was to see over 5,000 British women accused. The lasttrial in England was in 1712, but persecution continued until the end of the18th century.

Men accused of witchcraft were often practicing sorcery for political reasons, but the victimization of women, ostensibly onthe grounds of being 'witches', is considered by many historians to have been areaction to women's leaving their male-allotted domestic sphere and increasing their status and knowledge through books and academic education. They were also seen as morally weak, sexually voracious, and more likely to be tempted by theDevil. Wise women, who mixed potions and herbs, midwives, elderly women, whoknew the ways of the world, who were eccentric, living independently of the control of a man (widows and spinsters) were the most vulnerable to accusation, likelyto be accused.

In India also, particularly in rural area ,if some body wants to deprive a woman ofher property right, or if a woman opposes sexual advancement of a powerful person or a group of people, theylevel her as a witch and burn her in full public view.