走马楼吴简所见“女户”

The Female-headed Households in Zoumalou Slips of Wu Dynasty

走马楼吴简所见"女户",为目前已知该词的最早使用实例。男性户主去世后,无男性或无合适的男性继承人,只得由女性担任户主,当为吴简"女户"产生的基本原因。当时存在赘婿是有可能的,但他们又不能成为户主,因而由妻子等女性来担任户主,这应为"女户"产生的另一原因。"女户"在吴简中较为常见,但不能据此推测"女户"在整个户籍中占有过高比例。"女户"的户品多为"下品""下品之下",因无力也就无需承担政府徭役。《嘉禾吏民田家莂》中所见"女户"佃田状况,可以想见"女户"生活的不易。

The term of ＂female-headed households＂ was earliest used in Zoumalou bamboo slips accordingto the present findings. If the male head of a household died and left without a legitimate male inheritor,there was no choice but to make a woman as the head, which should be the main reason for the appearanceof female-headed households. It was likely that, at that time, the marriage did exist in which the husbandwas married into and lived with his bride＇s home, yet the man was not justified to be the head of the households,so the wife or other qualified woman had to be the head, which is another reason for the femaleheadedhouseholds＇ appearance. The female-headed households are indeed commonly seen in the slips, but itis illogical to conclude that the female -headed households shared a much high proportion in the wholehousehold register. Most of the female-headed households had a low status. Therefore, they could not as wellas should not pay the tax. From the field tenancy condition of the female-headed households in the slips titled Jia He Li Min Tian Jia Bie, we can see the tough life of those female-headed households.