Pages 169-174 From GENGHIS KHAN His Conquests His Empire His Legacy by Frank McLynn.
The Mongols were polygamous (taking many wives) and polygynous (taking many concubines) but the children of the chief wife were the ones who could be considered for the succession when their father died.
Genghis Khan's troops killed half the population of Hungary in the 1241 era, and one of the Mongol warriors favorite activities was raping the women, often in front of their father or husband. So what was life like for a MONGOLIAN WOMAN? Well, it turns out that compared to most medieval women, they had better status. This didn't mean they weren't treated as chattel, but consider; Genghis OUTLAWED RAPE. In the past only women were executed for adultery but now both men and women suffered the same punishment, "unless they were rich enough to buy themselves out of the predicament." Women could also decided if they wanted to be married and divorce became possible for them as it was by mutual consent. They did not expect a woman to be a virgin when she married and there was no stigma about having children before marriage or divorcing with children or having been married before. What this means is that if a couple could deal with their differences mutually and peaceably, the consequences were not great.
For the chief and high status men, marriage was not a personal decision so much as a community decision. Marriage was also considered to be eternal. Genghis was concerned about inbreeding but his precautions were not always followed. (It's possible that shorter lifespans were a result.)
In their nomadic and hunter-gatherer society, unlike the more European Agricultural societies, women and men performed many of the same or similar jobs, so there wasn't the divide of roles or "men's work," seen elsewhere. She was kept busy with household and other tasks. She was expected to know how to drive a large wagon, some with as many as 20 horses. "One woman would often be expected to drive as many as thirty interconnected wagons,; seven women would often be needed to transport a single oligarch's possessions, for one of these elaborate dwellings, when transported could fill over two hundred wagons; moreover, a single noble with multiple wives might have several such portable palaces." (171) Sometimes the woman had to figure out how to load the horses - and camels - so that everything was weight distributed.
Wise old women were prized for their wisdom and thought that some women had magical powers. Women did not have their feet bound as women did in China, nor did they wear clothing that prevented than from moving or seeing freely, such as Person chadors or Arabic burqas. They could even be regents or the realm or advisors. So in the 13th century there were many notable Mongol women. All this upset visitors from the Christian and Muslim faiths, and Buddhism and Confucianism when adopted from China, also reduced the role of women.
Overall, Genghis was considered a very pragmatic man and a genius about human nature. All the changes he made so that women would have a greater role and more respect than they had before were probably made to make life easier for the entire tribe.
C 2016 Book Excerpt/Review Magyar American BlogSpot All Rights Reserved
