In feudalism woman functioned as property transmitting land to men

Evidence

Like the Greek epikleros, woman is the instrument and not the bearer through which the domain is transmitted; that does not emancipate her; in a way she is absorbed by the fief, she is part of the real property. The domain is no longer the family’s thing as it was for Roman gens: it is the lord’s property, and the woman also belongs to the lord. He is the one who chooses a spouse for her; when she has children, she gives them to him rather than to her husband: they will be vassals who will defend his property. She is therefore a slave of the domain and of its master through the “protection” of a husband who was imposed on her: few periods of history seem harsher for woman’s lot. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 207

Categorization

• XREF: The woman-as-instrument-not-bearer formulation echoes Beauvoir’s argument that woman is the Other who facilitates rather than possesses transcendence; also connects to the Greek epikleros from earlier chapters. — connects to: Sedentary agriculture gives motherhood sacred status because property demands heirs — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 161; The advent of private property converted woman from sacred being into owned property — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 167; Biblical-era women were property bound to male kin and taboo-burdened (+11 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies the feudal mechanism by which woman is absorbed into real property, a concrete case of her general thesis.

Broader Connections

• Domesticity is an alibi for conflating person with property #expands (0.78) — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 124