In the context of the ancient agrarian economy, men, as the main labor force, had a significantly higher social status than women. Due to the demand for a working population, men can have multiple partners at the same time.
So, if men had so many partners, would they all live in the same place? It should be noted that the status of wives and concubines is different and cannot be confused.
Although their husbands are the same person, their status and rights are very different. In ancient times, the standard of marrying a wife was very strict, and only after the order of the parents and the words of the matchmaker, the woman who the man was marrying with the dowry of the eight sedan chairs could be called a wife.
And other ways, such as chance encounters, elopements, or private lifelong women, are called concubines. A son born to a wife may be called a concubine and has the right to inherit her husband's property and titles, while a child born to a concubine does not have such a qualification.
In the case of children, the wife is the mother of all the husband's children and has the duty to care for them, whether or not they are born to the wife. The children born to the concubine only have a blood mother-child relationship with the concubine, and there is no patriarchal mother-child relationship.
In some TV series, the concubine can't even hear the child she gives birth to call her mother, because the child can only call the wife as her mother. In general, the treatment of wives and concubines is different.
In ancient times, the system of wives and concubines was strict, and they were treated differently according to their ranks. Wives are of higher status than concubines and usually live in the main house, while concubines live in remote places and may not even have their own rooms.
The role of the concubine is usually that of the wife's dowry, who is responsible for serving the wife and the master. In terms of eating, the wife eats at the main table, and the concubine's room is on the side, and in some cases it is not even served.
The law is also clearly biased towards the protection of wives, and for wives who beat their concubines, as long as they do not cause serious consequences, they are generally not punished, but for concubines who beat their wives, they will be severely punished.
Despite this, the status of the concubine was still low and deeply suppressed.
The above description reveals the fact that the social status of concubines was extremely low, and they had no right to express their opinions, let alone participate in decision-making. Although a man may have many wives and concubines, there is only one main wife, and the other women, no matter how favored, can only be called aunts at most, and cannot change the status of concubines.
Even if their husbands are nice to them, have children, and their lives may improve, they still don't have the power to control their own lives. In addition, the hierarchy of wives and concubines is strict, and even if the main wife dies, the concubine has no chance to become a regular wife directly.