Table of Contents

Chronological Table of Contents vii

Acknowledgments viii

1 Introduction 1

Sex and Gender 2

Gender History and Theory 6

Structure of the Book 11

The Origins of Patriarchy 13

2 The Family 25

Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia (4000 BCE–600 BCE) 27

The Classical Cultures of China, India, and the Mediterranean (600 BCE–500 CE) 29

Africa, the Americas, and Southeast Asia in the Premodern Era (600 BCE–1600 CE) 33

Medieval and Early Modern Europe and the Mediterranean (500 CE–1600 CE) 36

The Colonial World (1500–1900) 39

The Industrial and Postindustrial World (1800–2010) 45

3 Economic Life 55

Foraging, Horticultural, and Herding Societies (20,000 BCE–1800 CE) 56

Agricultural Societies (7000 BCE–1800 CE) 60

Slavery (7000 BCE–1900 CE) 63

Capitalism and Industrialism (1500–2000) 65

Corporations, the State, and the Service Economy (1900–2010) 72

4 Ideas, Ideals, Norms, and Laws 83

The Nature and Roles of Men and Women 86

Binaries 91

Motherhood and Fatherhood 95

Ideologies, Norms, and Laws Prescribing Gender Inequity 98

Ideologies of Egalitarianism 100

5 Religion 109

Animism, Shamanism, and Paganism (from 40,000 BCE) 110

Written Religions in the Ancient Near East (from 3000 BCE) 113

Confucianism and Taoism (from 600 BCE) 115

Hinduism and Buddhism (from 600 BCE) 117

Christianity (from 30 CE) 121

Islam (from 600 CE) 126

6 Political Life 137

Kin Groups, Tribes, and Villages (from 10,000 BCE) 139

Hereditary Aristocracies (from 3000 BCE) 141

Warfare 147

Citizenship (500 BCE–1800 CE) 151

Women’s Rights Movements (1800–2010) 155

Colonialism, Anticolonialism, and Postcolonialism (1500–2010) 158

7 Education and Culture 170

Classical and Postclassical Cultures (600 BCE–1450 CE) 174

The Renaissance (1400–1600) 178

Democracy, Modernity, and Literacy (1750–2010) 182

8 Sexuality 195

Classical Eurasia (600 BCE–600 CE) 199

The Americas (500 CE–1500 CE) 202

Third Genders 204

The Colonial World: Sex and Race (1500–1900) 206

Modern Sexuality in the West (1750–1950) 209

The Globalized World (1950–2010) 214

Afterword 224

Index 228

About the Author

Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks is a Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the author of more than twenty books which have appeared in English, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, and Chinese.

Reviews

This wonderful little volume packs an impressive amountof research into 227 pages this text makes excellentaddition to an ancillary reading list for students who too oftenreceive a seriously abbreviated version of women s roles inhistory. (World History Connected, 1 February2013)