Women in Mongolia

Mongolian women

Though Mongolian women traditionally enjoyed a higher social status than women in many other Asian societies, they were subordinate to men and many were herdswomen and mothers, however they were allowed during the Middle Ages as warriors, and as members, respectively speakers in the Khuriltai (respectively Council) as on history-world.org/mongol-empire.htm and even in commanding roles during the taking of cities. Their status in the active field may have declined with Buddhist notions and more importantly after the Manchu victory. However there was the wife of the ruler and military commander Anu of the Dzunghars. Women have made tremendous strides in education and participation in the workforce.

Traditional subordination

Leading Western scholars have argued, based on indigenous sources like the Secret History of the Mongols, that Mongolian women had higher social positions and greater autonomy than women in Islamic, Sinic, and even Christian European societies. Such arguments focus on certain foreign practices like footbinding and professional barriers to entry. journal|url=http://cambridge.academia.edu/FrankBill%C3%A9/Papers/91648/Resisting_resistance_Women_and_nationalist_discourse_in_Mongolia%7Ctitle=Resisting Resistance: Women and Nationalist Discourse in Mongolia|first=Franck|last=Billé|year=2009|month=April|series=Papers presented at the ASA 2009 conference in Bristol|page=4}}</ref>

Women herded and milked sheep, and they routinely managed the household if widowed or if their husbands were absent to perform military service, corvée labor, or caravan work. However many wives and sisters accompanied their husbands including in battle from the days of Hoeluen onward till Mumtaz Mahal (Arjumand Banu). William of Rubruck reports on the full toleration of women in the Mongol armies, although Tatars by then are more referred to as Mongol women sometimes married Tatar husbands from which still today they will have Mongol mitochondrial DNA. They also had commanding roles at times in the capture of cities. Women, however, did not in practice attain the full rank of men and many were only herdswomen and mothers. Unlike other steppe cultures such as the Scythians or Sarmatians, women were sheltered from much more specialized duties; a traditional Mongol saying is "women are short of knowledge", but it appears that Chinggis Khan was alleged to originate the saying that an immature man does not heed the advice of his woman. Marriages were arranged by parents, but with some interest in the wishes of their children, and not at all times, it served as a means respectably to present young spouses to each other and reassure each other. Rashid al-Din did not know that beyond one wife similar to China all others were just Nokeger "friends", sort of "lady friends". During nomadic migrations, women were often abandoned during enemy attacks, or gifted or, by Muslim Tatars as a rule it would appear, sold to the enemy, excepting that the Mongols wanted at times a symoblic bride-price for a woman because of the work with the herds.

It is characteristic of Mongolian attitudes toward male and female contributions that the care of sheep—which provided Mongolians with their basic, daily sustenance—was the responsibility of women, while the care of horses—which contributed much less to subsistence but more to prestige, war, and sport—was the prerogative of men. Traditional Mongols combined notions of masculine primacy with a flexible attitude toward female participation in male-associated tasks, and women ordinarily filled in for men when no males were available for such activities as milking horses or even riding them in races. Archery contests, one of the "three manly sports" (the others are racing and wrestling), always included a female round. Till the 14th century there were also Mongol women warrior wrestlers such as Chatulun, probably Buddhism and health problems as well as any possible racial admixtures then made this practice cease. Healthy, fully productive and developed women are essential to maintain all races.

The 1921 revolution began efforts to bring women into public life and into the extra-domestic labor force. The state's constant efforts to promote population growth also have led to a strong emphasis on women's reproductive capacities; bearing large numbers of children has been considered a civic duty. The tension had existed, however, and frequent childbearing, state-mandated maternity leaves, as well as caring for young children probably have affected the sorts of jobs women hold and their commitment to their occupational roles. Formerly childcare was available.

Education and employment

File:Mongolian women.png

Young women

The major change in the position of Mongolian women is their nearly universal participation in all levels of the educational system and in the paid work force. In 1985 women made up 63 percent of the students in higher educational establishments and 58 percent of the students in specialized secondary schools. In the same year, they constituted 51 percent of all workers, up from nearly 46 percent in the 1979 census. By 1979 medicine and teaching were predominately female fields; women were 65 percent of all doctors and 63 percent of those working in education, art, and culture. Women made up 67 percent of the teachers in general schools and 33 percent of the teachers in higher educational establishments. They constituted nearly 47 percent of agricultural workers and 46 percent of those in industry. Women's high level of enrollment in higher education reflected the female predominance in medicine, nursing, teaching, and professional child care. This echoed the pattern in the Soviet Union, where most physicians were women and where the social and the economic status of physicians was lower than it was in the United States or Western Europe.

The most highly skilled Mongolian scientists, engineers, military officers, and administrators had been trained in the Soviet Union. In 1989 no figures were available on the percentage of women among these elite professionals. Mongolian accounts of working women indicated that some women worked in such jobs as airline pilot, judge, and sculptor, and that women predominated in the less highly paid food processing, textile, and catering trades.

Mongolian women had legal equality, but once in the labor force they suffered the familiar double burden of housework and child care on top of a day's work for wages. This problem was recognized, and a series of studies begun by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in 1978 found that the greatest source of strain on urban women was excessive hours spent in transit to and from work and shopping. There were too few buses or routes; retail and service outlets were not only scarce, but they were located too far from many residential areas and kept inconvenient hours. The proposed solutions, all indirect, included state provision of more buses; the opening of more service outlets, including food shops, restaurants, and carryouts; public laundries and dressmakers; and the expansion of nurseries, kindergartens, and extended-day elementary schools. The issues of female over-representation in the lower paying occupations and of the representation of women in the higher professional and administrative ranks in more than token numbers were not addressed.

References

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(Data as of June 1989.)