What Life Was Really Like For Women Under Genghis Khan

The 13th century Mongolian conqueror Genghis Khan… or, JENG-is Khan, if you want to sound fancy about it, was notorious for his brutal subjugation of enemies - and pretty much the entire world was his enemy. Yet though he also treated the women in his personal life terribly, his reign was actually surprisingly progressive in many ways. Here's a look at what life was like for women under Genghis Khan.

Mongolian women were respected, often served as leaders, and were highly valued members of society, so there's at least one way in which they were way ahead of us. In fact according to Amonbe, the Mongols believed that a man ought to marry an older woman, because an older woman would have more wisdom than her husband, and would therefore be able to guide him in not making stupid life decisions. In fact, no one respected a dude who didn't listen to his wife - it was a sign of immaturity and unmanliness. So just in case you thought that a fierce Mongol warrior must also be a brute to the women in his life, well, you're mistaken.

Throughout history, an awful lot of women got abused by an awful lot of men, and the laws of society were often set up to allow and condone it. But relationships were actually a bit different under Mongolian law. How different? According to Amonbe, Mongol women had a lot of control in the home - and in the bedroom, too, where Mongol women traditionally took the lead.

In fact, if you were a Mongol woman and your husband wasn't up to performing his husbandly bedroom duties - and we don't mean dusting and making the bed - you could actually petition the government to intervene. In one case, Genghis Khan's son ordered a wrestler to give up the sport and use his energy, um, on a completely different kind of wrestling. Case closed!

Watch the video to see what life was really like for women under Genghis Khan!

#GenghisKhan #Mongolians #History

Read Full Article: https://www.grunge.com/167042/what-life-was-like-for-women-under-genghis-khan/

R-E-S-P-E-C-T | 0:23
Court ordered romance | 0:58
Equality | 1:40
Polygamy ain't so bad | 2:46
Women's lib | 3:39