How was the position of women in feudal Japan different from medieval Europe?

Question: How was the position of women in feudal Japan different from medieval Europe!?
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In feudal Europe and Japan the position of women would vary greatly according to their station in life!.

The peasant women of both societies, who would make up the majority of the population, would undoubtedly work very hard indeed!. In medieval Europe, medieval women of all stations were responsible for the running of their households, and since in those days most people were largely self-sufficient, this meant not just cooking food but preparing and preserving it (getting enough food to last through the winter was always a problem)!. women were usually responsible for the dairy, and would milk cows, make their own cheese and butter, look after the poultry!. They would brew their own ale, which was usually drunk instead of water!. Candles or rush lights were also made at home, and so was soap!.They would spend a good deal of their time spinning wool or flax into thread to be woven into cloth to make clothing!. Spinning was such a common female occupation that the word 'spinster' was still used to describe a single woman even into the 20th century!. January 7th, the day after the long Christmas holiday ended, was known as Saint Distaff's Day because it was the day on which women resumed spinning after the holiday!.

Many young women worked as servants until they married, large households would require a lot of servants, so there would be plenty of work for them!. Some girls were also apprenticed to various trades, especially the textile trade, though there were women in a wide variety of occupations in medieval times!.

if they were the wives of tradesmen or artisans, they would often be involved in the family business, since most businesses in those days were run from home, and tended to be family affairs!. Widows would often run a business after their husbands died, and some women were in business on their own account!. A woman who ran a business independently, rather than with her husband, was known as a Femme Saule!.

The wives of landowners would be expected to manage the family estate while their husands were away, which meant they had to have a good knowledge of estate business!. they would also be responsible for overseeing the servants, making sure that food supplies and cloth production were kept up, so that everyone had enough to eat and wear!. medical care was usually the responsibility of the mistress of the house, she would be expected to have a good knowledge of medicine and first aid, and women generally made their own home remedies!.

Although women were generally regarded as subordinate to their hsubands, and were expected to be obedient, that did not mean that they did not have an important contribution to make to the family life and to the economy!. The efforts of women as producers of foodstuffs, clothing, etc, as amangers aof their households and as contributors to their family businesses, were vital to the medieval economy!.

Some upper-class women became nuns, and a nunnery could provide a woman with a very good education, some medieval nuns became notable scholars!. Other women learnt to read and write, it was necessary for an upper-class woman to be able to read documents, write letters to her husband when he was away etc, and the wives of merchants and tradesmen would also need to be able to read so that they could deal with business correspondents etc!.

I do not know to what extent the lives of Japanese women were different from that of European women of the same period, but it is certain that there were many literate and cultured japanese ladies!. for instance, there is a wonderful book called The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagan, which is a sort of diary written by a Japanese court lady in about the year 1000, which gives a fascinating picture of court life at that time, and describes her views and opinions on many subjects!. it is evident that japanese ladies of that period were expected to be cultured and literate, good handwriting is frequently mentioned as a desirable quality in a lady!. There were quite a number of other notable women writers in medieval Japan!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

In Europe knights had to follow the code of chivalry which made them honor high class women in contrast in the Japenes fudeal system women were always bellow men and where stickly property!. However, the positionof women in both cultars where was bad for the lower classes!.Www@QuestionHome@Com