For example, contemporaneous sources from the Byzantine Empire describe the social norms that governed women's lives. Eventually, the norms of feminine seclusion unfold past the elites, but the observe remained characteristic of upper and middle courses, for whom the financial means to permit one's spouse to remain at home was a mark of excessive standing. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male kids, unmarried daughters, feminine home servants, and different unmarried feminine kinfolk. The apply of female seclusion is just not unique to Islam, however the English word harem usually denotes the home house reserved for girls in Muslim households. The word has been recorded in the English language since the early seventeenth century. Some earlier European Renaissance paintings relationship to the 16th century painting the women of the Ottoman harem as individuals of status and political significance. Historical data exhibits that the ladies of 14th-century Mamluk Cairo freely visited public events alongside males, regardless of objections of religious students. Some students have used the term to discuss with polygynous royal households throughout history.
