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1 results

  • 14 - Women and Gender under Mongol Rule

  • from Volume I Part 2 - Thematic Histories
  • Edited by Michal Biran, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hodong Kim, Seoul National University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire
    Published online:
    01 January 2024
    Print publication:
    17 August 2023, pp 628-654

  • Summary

    Gender relations on the Mongolian steppe were crucial to Mongol military successes and the rise of the world empire. Women’s labor within nomadic camps freed up men for wartime mobilization. Elite women were directly involved in policy decisions at the highest levels, and, like elite men, might control large armies and estates. Some were Christian, Muslim, or Buddhist, and served as patrons of these religions for their nomadic followers and for conquered people. Royal women also influenced public affairs through their marriage ties, and could thereby empower their male and female relatives for generations. The first section of this chapter discusses women and gender relations during the expansion of the United Empire, including marriage practices, women’s work, women’s participation in politics, and examples of powerful women in Mongol history. The second section covers women in the western khanates, and the third looks at women and gender in China during the Mongol Yuan dynasty.