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Question -

How important were gender differences in early societies ? Give reasons for your answer.



Answer -

Gender differences in early societies were very important because it had effects on social life of men and women in the following ways :

  1. No share for women in the paternal estate : According to Manusmriti, the paternal estate was to be divided equally amongst sons after the death of the parents. Women could not claim a share of these resources. Women were allowed to retain the gifts they received on the occasion of their marriage as stridhana.
  2. No hoarding by women : Manusmriti warned women against hoarding family property, or even their own valuables, without the husband’s permission.
  3. There was the ideal of patriliny under which sons could claim the resources, including the throne in the case of kings, of their fathers when the latter died.
  4. Gotra of women : Women were expected to give up their father’s gotra and adopt that of their husband on marriage.
  5. Polygyny : Under polygyny, a man could have several wives. Satavahana rulers were polygynous.
  6. Wives to be treated as property of their husbands : Wives were treated as property of the husband because Yudhisthira after losing everything including himself had staked their common wife Draupadi in a game of dice and lost her too. However, Draupadi asked whether Yudhisthira after losing himself could stake her. The matter remained unresolved and ultimately Dhritarashtra restored to the Pandavas and Draupadi their personal freedom.

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