Throughout history, many cultures have kept women in a traditional role- the homemaker

that is inferior to men. However, women have been able to work their way up, beginning with
taking control of their lives in society and in home life. Although women’s power in Afro-Eurasia
was suppressed by men between 1100 c.e. and 1450 c. e., in some societies they were still
able to gain influence in their homes and society, while they succumbed to the oppression in
others.
Mali, Egypt, and France were similar in that women worked against oppression to gain
more influence and respect in society. In 1300 c.e. Egypt, according to Document 2 women
defied the standards expected of them by walking confidently through the streets, and handling
matters of negotiating with vendors, which has traditionally been thought of as a man’s role. The
women proved that they could be just as smart and responsible as the men. As mentioned in
Document 3, in Mali in 1352 c.e., women similarly acted in untraditional ways, by pursuing
companionship with men outside of marriage. They broke the barrier of modesty and separation
that was often emphasized in North African cultures. In France around 1405 c.e., women used
writing and poetry to demand more respect. In Document 4 Christine de Pisan wrote in her book
that men must not speak ill of women, as she was created in God’s Image, and has contributed
greatly to mankind through people such as Mary. This excerpt also shows women rising against
an oppressive perspective towards women to demand more respect and influence.
Most women in earlier Egypt and China differed from this narrative, however, and felt the
full weight of oppression, having a much harder time being able to rise above it. In Egypt around
1170 c.e., an interpretation of the Torah in Document 1 claimed that fathers should not teach
their daughters Torah, and that women who did study it on their own would not be rewarded for
it the same as men. Even in studying religion in Egypt, women were not given an equal position,
and were held down from the same opportunities and religious exploration as men. During the
Confucionist era in China, a set of morals and values were taught and brought into Chinese
culture. Confucianism taught that women were inferior to men. Although women could express
their experience through poetry or writing, they weren’t able to go against this moral code.
Women were even suppressed through their physical appearances in China through a process
called foot binding, which would alter the shape of a woman’s foot, to the point where it was
barely possible to walk a long distance. It was meant to signify class, but it did much to
physically suppress women in addition to the cultural and societal suppression. In early Egypt
and China, it was more difficult for women to gain much influence in society.
Gender certainly had a large effect on the point of views expressed in the different
documents. Document 1, written by a man, asserted that women were of inferior intellectual
strength to men, and therefore they should not be taught Torah, and should not be rewarded as
much as men for studying it themselves. This perspective was influenced by the fact that a man
expressed it, as many men at the time thought they were superior, and men were the
oppressors of women. In Document 4, a woman expresses that women should be respected
and should be allowed to have influence in society, because they have had great influence and
purpose since the very beginning. These two perspectives differ so much because men wanted
to keep their position of power while women wanted to rise against it.
 Throughout various societies in Afro-Eurasia in between 1100 c.e. and 1450 c. e.,
women in some societies were forced to give in to oppression of their power, while in others
they were able to push back against itr, and find ways to gain influence and respect in society.