which civilization do you think was best for women in the past?

13 comments

1. [removed]

2. Maybe Greek or Roman or maybe Viking or norse or whatever it’s called

3. The ones located in Mesopotamia thousands of years ago. We keep discovering proofs of matriarchal society in this area of the world.

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5. I’ve heard that a lot of North American Indigenous cultures were more egalitarian, if not outright matriarchal, prior to colonization.

6. I think the Spartans had a pretty good time exercising in the nude and fighting when they could but except for the myths women had a very raw social deal in ancient Greece and Rome.. by the time of the woman philosopher Hypatia she was actually slain by a mob of Christians jealous of her having any influence at all. As far as religious culture goes we could all say something about how both Judaism and Islam has little time for women but Buddhism until recently also ignored them. Some thought insists that female priests existed in ancient Aryan tribes but it is actually only Westernised sects of Hinduism that have legitimated female spiritual guides and India remains one hell of a place both for young girls and independently minded women. A secularised state has been overwhelmed by a religious political fusion and misogyny goes on hardly outlawed by religious tradition or secular feministic.

7. Women have it best now, save for some who think women were better off before feminism (I am not one of them).

8. Gonna get downvoted. But the west by far was and is still doing a great job.

9. Sparta. Surprisingly. Although they were expected to take care of the house and all that. The men were expected to die. And women were generally respected because they birthed warriors.

10. The Iroquois Confederacy (aka The Haudenosaunee Confederacy) was a matriarchal society. A Clan Mother was the one who appointed the four chiefs, who did the actual statecraft for the clan. The clan, by the way, consisted of a Clan Mother, her spouse, her children, her daughter’s spouses and their children, and her sisters with their spouses and children.

    The Clan Mother could order the four chiefs she appointed to make any political decisions, and fire them as needed. We have no record of any of these chiefs *ever* disobeying their Clan Mother. It was unheard of. The women held all the power.

    The Haudenosaunee are super interesting besides this fact, and I highly recommend [this video](https://youtu.be/S4gU2Tsv6hY) by my favorite history YouTuber if you want to learn more.

11. Being a norse woman during the viking age didn’t seem to bad.

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13. Ryukyu kingdom. Matriarchal society that was super prosperous and rich because they traded with everyone. Until they were conquered by the shogunate from mainland Japan in the 1500s and today are the poorest prefecture. It was renamed Okinawa.