Examine the role of women as an important resource in the Mughal agrarian society.
The role of women in the Mughal Agrarian society:
(i) They worked shoulder to shoulder in the fields.Men tilled and ploughed, while women sowed, weeded threshed and winnowed the harvest.
(ii) Artisanal tasks such as spinning yarn, sifting and kneading clay for pottery, and embroidery were among the many aspects of production dependent on female labour.
(iii) They even went to the houses of their employers or to the markets if necessary.
(iv) They were child bearers in a society dependent on labour.
(v)Women were kept under strict control by the family and the community.
(vi) Marriages in many rural communities required the payment of bride-price rather than dowry to the bride’s family.Remarriage was considered legitimate.
(vii) In most cases when women petitioned to the panchayat, their names were excluded from the record: the petitioner was referred to as the mother, sister or wife of the male head of the household.
(viii) Wives protested against the infidelity of their husband. Amongst the landed property, women had the right to inherit property.
