It is an inherent shortcoming of the profession that historians end up being at least partially inconclusive in their research and unavoidably biased in their conclusions. The chronological distance from the object of study and the challenges presented by the available source materials are commonly responsible for the generally allusive conclusions that medieval historians deliver at the end of their work. This study is not an exception and, unfortunately, is subject to similar, if not greater, challenges than other surveys on the role of medieval women in general, and on the Mongol Empire in particular. The general lack of archival documentation adds further complications to this enterprise, since the history of the Mongol Empire needs to be interpreted based mostly on ‘literary sources’, be they historical chronicles, hagiographies or travel accounts, to name a few of those used in this work. In addition, this particular research has had the added difficulty of dealing with not only sources produced mostly by the conquered peoples, but also the always elusive role of women in pre-modern societies. Despite these problems, it is hoped that this book has offered some insights into the status and role of women in the Mongol Empire through the two lines of analysis that have been presented. On the one hand, this book has examined female participation in politics, economy and religion, and, on the other, it has focused on the evolution, continuity and transformation of the role of the khātūns as they moved from their traditional Mongolian environment into an empire that brought them face to face with new cultures, religions and conceptions of the role of women.

That the role of women among the medieval Mongols was a prominent one can already be inferred from the fact that a woman existed in the Mongol origin myth, linking the divine with the human. This can be viewed as symbolic of a culture in which the role of women was highly significant and carefully considered. However, this high concept of the feminine in the Mongol understanding of the divine did not prevent medieval Mongolian society from being patriarchal and patrilineal in its social organisation, though it nevertheless prepared the ground for influential women to emerge in different areas of society. In the last decades of the twelfth century, and up until 1206, women in Mongolia influenced the political balance of the Steppe.