Women

n many prehistoric cultures, women assumed a particular cultural role. In hunter-gatherer societies, women were generally the gatherers of plant foods, small animal foods, fish, and learned to use dairy products, while men hunted meat from large animals.

The first recorded instance of veiling for women is recorded in an Assyrian legal text from the 13th century BCE, which restricted its use to noble women and forbade prostitutes and common women from adopting it. Greek texts have also spoken of veiling and seclusion of women being practiced among the Persian elite. Statues from Persepolis depict women both veiled and unveiled, and it seems to be regarded as an attribute of higher status. In Islam veiling was not initially enforced, but by the 10th Century, as under the Mamluks in Egypt, laws and proclamations enforcing veiling were steadily applied. If worn with religious intention, it is meant to protect the woman from the environment or the public view to protect her grace and honor and thus is sometimes considered a symbol of patriarchy.[5] If not worn with religious impetus, veil and skirt have still been typical symbols of a woman.[specify]

In more recent history, the gender roles of women have changed greatly. Traditionally, middle-class women were typically involved in domestic tasks emphasizing child care, and did not enter paid employment. For poorer women, especially working class women, this often remained an ideal,[specify] as economic necessity compelled them to seek employment outside the home. The occupations that were available to them were, however, lower in prestige and pay than those available to men.

As changes in the labor market for women came about, availability of employment changed from only "dirty", long houred factory jobs to "cleaner", more respectable office jobs where a little more education was demanded, women's participation in the labor force rose from 6% in 1900 to 23% in 1923. These