Chapter 3. India. Women of Mughal Empire
In this chapter of the book Women in World History , the Mughal rule and its consequences for women in conquered lands are discussed. The first concept presented in this book is the aspect of slavery. Non-Muslims were allowed to be enslaved according to Islamic laws, so for women, slavery was a greater threat than being forced to conform to a foreign religion and ways of living. Due to famines, many women were sold into slavery or seized to be sold at auctions away from their homes.
At that time, bhakti, an art movement of female poet-saint, began. Bhakti means “devotion”, so this genre concerns religious matters such as denial of pedantry, rejection of asceticism, and depths of personal devotion. This way of self-expression had no boundaries, and its followers (many of whom were women) could present it anywhere. However, this does not mean that women did not struggle with acceptance in those realms. Another critical aspect of women’s lives was the production of cloth. The cloth had become a big part of Indian export, and every woman in a castle was capable of spinning thread (Hughes, & Hughes, 1997). Weaving had become a family production, and many of them settled near cities where silk, cotton, and wool were in great demand.
For royal women of Mughal, a great responsibility was to ensure the health and success of younger generations that were to take power. They educated and advised princes in their coming-of-age and wars for the throne and subsequently influenced politics. Empress Nur Jahan could exceed the power limitations set for women at the time by commending channels of power to herself. She enjoyed displaying her superiority, but she could keep in the background and manipulate others.
Chapter 4. Europe. Witches, Workers, and Queens
Religious cataclysms have colored women’s lives in Europe in the 16th and 18th centuries. On the one hand, due to Protestant ideas of a personal approach to salvation, women were able to access education. On the other, beliefs that women were affiliated with the devil have plagued the minds of authorities. Witchcrazes have been caused by patriarchy and misogyny, and their effects crippled females’ trust and confidence for ages to come. Public executions for witchcraft were ways for men to dominate women through pain, humiliation, and fear.
A significant shift happened in the area of female work and empowerment; when earlier women could perform specialized work and play a prominent role in politics, in the 17th-century men have pushed them off that path. For women, household chores, children bearing, and taking care of them were the utmost priority. Urban crafts that females were involved in mainly consisted of beer-brewing and provisioning (Hughes, & Hughes, 1997). However, at the end of the 17 th century, beer-brewing privileges were lost for women.
While male rulers and philosophers claimed that women were too emotional to be good at governing, plenty of queens came into power in the 16 th century. For many of them, the power was inherited, and some of them governed as regents for male heirs (Hughes, & Hughes, 1997). As opposed to the ideas of men, those women were as competent in managing kingdoms as men could be. An excellent example of that is the Maria Theresa of Austria. She exuded courage, ambition, and common sense when ruling. In addition, she valued education for herself and the authorities. Her life story and actions serve as a rebuttal to misogynistic ideas within authority structures.