Women's Rights and Mercantialism in Southwest Asia

[The_Q]

Recently I've been pondering this.

As I was keeping myself busy with remembering the trading customs of different societies through history I noticed an interesting trend in Southwest Asia during the end of the Classical Era and the Post-Classical Era. With the rise of merctantialism came the greater subjugation of women. After further reasearch, this is what I found.

This starts in the bedouin eras. In the beduoin culture, women are highly revered and honored socially, economically, and politically. They were allowed polygamy and often held high status in the family. They didn't have to wear veils or were they segregated as in the neighboring Persian ideals. The men were often off herding, so the women became the staple of both the economy and politics of the clan. They were regarded with much respect in the counsils. During this whole time the level of trade with local and distant areas was minimal.

Even in the same time period, the trading cities had stricter rules on women. They weren't allowed polygamy, they couldn't participate in many political activities, they began their segregation, and they did not participate in much of the trade outside of their home market. Even the betroathal and marriage exchanges favored men.

Later, when Islam was introduced and the Umayyid caliphate was in rule, the woman's position in economic and political life deteriorated further into nothingness. They were now treated just as well as men (as Muhammad had shown with his own wife and daughters) and were very literate. They continued the art of poetry from the beduoin ancestors. Unfortunately, they didn't do anything with the economy at all, anymore, besides ask for their husbands to purchase things. As the wealthy class developed further, the women of the lower class remained to do dirty work and live as slaves. Slave women worked either as prostitutes or market traders, but they never left home and did very little in terms of running the family. Most of the time they just spent their time tending the fields, weaving, or farming. Many were illiterate. Trade had become international, with the expansion of Islam.

During the Abassid reign, the decline of women came to an all time low. The sexes were segregated and women were forced to stay at home. The lower class women were nearly all slaves and concubines, but some remained as market workers. Slave women didn't have to wear veils, but all other women did. Many richer girls were married at the age of 9 to get the bride price earlier. Women were kept in harems, as well, with the concubines. Trade at this point extended to as far as Great Britain (yes, there's proof somewhere). It was week long trade as well, because of the religious differences in their Sabbath.

Here's the ultimate question. Does this apply to other cultures? Is it even related at all? Please comment.

Q

EDIT: Sorry for typos. I did this at midnight. I was tired and bored.