American Perspectives: Response to "Exaltation of Widow Chastity" from "Celestial Women."

"As with other inner Asians, elite Mongol women played significant roles in political and military decision making.  Mongol Empresses, consorts, and other imperial women appeared openly at court unhidden by curtain divides in contrast to Song Empresses...One of the most significant developments in Chinese gender history occurred during the Yuan, the exaltation of Widow chastity, that is the honoring of women who remained as widows in their deceased husbands' families for their whole lives."--Keith McMahon "Celestial Women."

This was done for a couple of reasons.  1)To keep the family structure stable in a tightly knit tribal based community where the more family you had, the better off you'd be.  And if the widow had no interest in marrying her husband's younger brother (I certainly wouldn't be interested in marrying my husband's younger brother), or his son from a different mother, then there's high risk of the pre-existing family structure collapsing. 2)The issue of Widow Chastity aligned with Han Dynasty values for very different reasons, which lessened the likelihood of political unrest.

With widow chastity, I can see that door swinging both ways.  Prior to it being a thing, Mongol wives who did not want to marry younger, unrelated male members of the family, would find ways to get out of it, such as becoming monks.  So, in that regard, I see it as a means of empowering themselves with a choice.  However, because it became part of the legal code, and took away that choice in its effort to not only keep the family structure intact, and to keep the Han Chinese at bay, I can see it becoming oppressive.  What if the woman met someone later on who was more compatible with her, and who could give her a much more fulfilling life?  She'll never know due to widow chastity being the only other option, aside from marrying a brother in law or unrelated son, with the possibility that she can't stand either one of those men. I would definitely like to read more about the after effects of widow chastity for both Mongol and Han, and see how it affected the women, or if it was so normalized that it didn't really affect them at all.

 

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