About: Women in the Sasanian Empire

In the Sassanid Empire, the state religion Zoroastrianism created the policy that dictated relationships between men and women. Zoroastrianism set what roles women would have, the marriage practices, women's privileges in Sasanian society and influenced Islam when it arose. The moral standards, the structure of life, and the practices of the Sasanian society were found by looking at the religious writing and laws of the time. Women had legal rights, such as to real estate, but the privileges a woman had depended on what type of wife she was (privileged, subordinate, or self-entrusted/self-dependent), as did the restriction that were placed on her.