The Role of women in Assyrian

The Assyrian women were the strongest, smartest women in the world. The Assyrian
women had one important role, and that role was to bear children and to marry men. The
Assyrian women did not have much of a say so back in the time. They were not allowed to
do everything a man could do. A man had special privileges over women that women did
not have over men. The Assyrian women were abused, belittled, mistreated, and
disrespected.
Assyrian women had to marry the husbands who were chosen for them. They were
not able to choose their own husbands. There was four stages to married the first step being
the engagement of course , then the groom had to pay the family, the fianc had to move
into the home , and then there was a marriage. The married women had to wear clothing to
cover them which is known as a veil. Once a woman married a man they were considered to
be owned by their husbands. If the husband was to die the wife would than take over and
play a role as the mother and the father. The wife would also have to marry his brother if
he had one, and if there was more than one the male parents would decide which brother.
Assyrian women also married as teens.
Women who were prostitutes could not marry a man. If they were marry a man they
would be severely stoned and punished. Prostitutes were not to be veiled. Women who
cheated on their husband would be put to death automatically. A man can have as many
wives as he pleases and would not get in trouble. Women back in the ancient times had to

share a husband. Most of the women sharing a husband would be sisters, men had the
rights to marry her sister if he pleases and also have children with her.
Assyrian women as the right to divorce their husbands if they wanted to if she could
prove that he was abusing her , committing adultery or not holding up his end of the
marriage. If a Assyrian women was to divorce her husband, she would be thrown out naked
without any money or clothes to take with her. Most Assyrian women chose to stay with
their husbands.
Assyrian women had legal rights to buy, sell or trade in for their husbands. They
also had the rights to help run the businesses owned by their husband. Assyrian women did
not get out of the house as often because most of their work was to cook, clean, bare
children and please their husbands. Women even had the legal rights to take and make
legal actions for her husband when he was absent.
Assyrian women had a important role to bare children. Without Assyrian women
birthing children, their population would have been at a drought. Assyrian women did not
have many rights when it came to baring children. They had to wear a necklace around
their necks which was suppose to keep away bad spirits. Assyrian women who could not
bear children was either divorced from their husbands or the husband was allowed to get a
concubine to add to his family, which was a woman who would bear his children for him. It
was never thought that a man was the reason why a woman could not bear a child.
Assyrian women could not keep their children if their children were deformed. They
also could not keep their child if the husband did not want the child. They had to leave

them on the streets to die or to be eaten by a dog. As for the deformed babies they had to do
a ritual over their child and then kill them because they were believed to be cursed.
In conclusion the women of Assyria or Mesopotamia were not given many rights at
all .They were limited to the things they were able to do. They were primarily used for
cooking, cleaning , bearing children, and pleasing their husband. Their rights were not
equal to men rights at all. Women did not share the same educational rights as a man, the
same religious rights as mean, the same rights when it came to marriage or divorce, the
rights to birthing a child, or even voting rights. Although women social rights were equal
their legal rights was not.

SOURCES

https://books.google.com/books?id=2rImhyXd3cC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=mesopotamia+babies&source=bl&ots=J4UXZzTKO1&sig
=MrdQGCELgzqviR1XkvMx2DTV540&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4sfSmt4rLAhVLd
T4KHbDFA-gQ6AEIKzAF#v=onepage&q=mesopotamia%20babies&f=false
http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/teacherresources/article.php?m=Lesson Plans
http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/teacherresources/article.php?
m=Lesson Plans