What were some of the changes that women and peasants dealt with in Japan after the upheaval of the plague?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A. Effects on women in Japan
1. changes of the period were oppressive for women of families of warrior
and aristocratic rank
2. women could attain responsible positions in the emperor's court
3. changing marriage customs
a. unfavorable to women's personal independence
b. became increasingly formalized, as a union of two families
4. self-expression was now considered inappropriate for the female sex
a. stopped writing fiction and the kind of personal diaries familiar
from earlier periods
5. changes in the practices of the imperial family
a. women aristocrats to merely receive a life interest in a share of
family property, rather than inheriting property outright
b. property rights were steered toward a single male heir
c. practice failed to take hold with commoners, and women held
growing amounts of property and engaged in business
B. Effects on peasants in Japan
1. peasants profited from aspects of chaos
2. relaxation of central authority freed villagers from intrusive legislation
3. rapid turnover of lords, who were usually absentees, also allowed the
peasants to get on with their business
4. population growth nor the extension of cultivated land was interrupted
5. successful exploitation of formerly marginal lands outside the great
estates, the numbers of small independent farmers multiplied