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Social expectations of women ancient greek
The role of women in Greek society
The role of women in Greek society
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The role of women in different civilizations, even though on different spectrums of the world, had many similarities and only a few differences. Women in these four civilizations: Greece, Egypt, China, and India faced many of the same hardships, struggles, and prejudices. Some of this treatment of women didn’t even end until present day (1920’s). In some of these civilizations women were able to rise up somewhat in their communities but it didn’t come without some kind of interference.
When it came to the rights of these women, they really didn’t have any at all. In Greece women were considered to be second class citizens at best. All women were forbidden to own property, inherit their own name, vote, or attend political debate. Men viewed them as nothing of real importance. To them they were irrational, fearful, and only to be used for their physical desires. They were considered to be the ward of a man (Sacks 263). Women in Egypt were treated fairly well compared to the others. They shared the same legal and economic rights as men they were capable of owning land, slaves, and could acquire possessions for themselves in many ways. Elite women did have more rights and opportunities than the nonelite but they were both very fortunate. Regardless of class though, all women had only a few main concerns and expectations. They were all expected to get married and raise a family, maintain the management of the household, and bearing and rearing children (Harrison 510).
The rights of women in China and India were similar as well. In India the rights of women have barley changed since ancient times. Women in this country are not allowed to own property, show their faces in public, and are the complete property of a man (www.geocities.com/hinduism/hindu_women.html). The women of china were also inferior to men. For around two thousand years they lived under the rules and laws set by Confucius. The Confucius doctrine said that women weren’t equal to men because they were unworthy and incapable of an education. These women were the property of men from birth till death (Andrea and Overfield 82-90).
Their rights were not only limited to their families though in some cases there were actual laws passed that limited the rights of women. In ancient times The Code of Hammurabi for example had several laws that restricted women when it had to do with marriage and what a hus...
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...ng their own property, they were encouraged to join athletics such as gymnastics, and some rose to be estate managers. They were even capable of participating in religion and could leave the house during holy days. During the Hellenistic age the treatment of women started to lighten up. Many started to realize that they have a greater value including their intelligence (Sacks 264). Chinese women didn’t start to rise up until the 20th century when communism began. Communists believed that women were equal to men; they felt that it would help the population of china to thrive (Dillion 346). The women of Egypt were treated well and did have a say in many of the things that involved them so they didn’t rise up too much more. Unfortunately for the women in India they have never truly risen up. They are still victims of being very subservient to men.
In conclusion, women in all of these cultures have faced many hard times. Either from their community, husbands, fathers, or any man they were put down and restricted but though it all many women found a way to rise up through it all. There is still a long way for women of other culture to go but times are changing and anything is possible.
In China and India, Buddhism helped women gain ground in maintaining education in. Buddhism allowed and encouraged women to join religion and education as equal to men. While in China a few women were Buddhist scholars, the Neo-Confucianists excluded women from the politics and educational system to prevent the power of women in government. Upper class women commonly had more opportunities for higher education then the lower class. Women in Europe and America lived more freely and openly than in other societies. European upper class women were able to read and write, become apprentices in towns, and perform family medicine, and some were caught with English Bibles.
During the Anglo-Saxon time period, women had rights, but they were limited. The Anglo-Saxon time period began in 449 and it lasted until 1066 (Leeming 10). In the later times of that era, research proves that women were able to inherit and maintain control of that property (Leeming 10). Even if the women got married, she still held control of her property, and not her husband (Leeming 10). Although, the men of this time were supposed to be in control at all times, they did not have any other choice in that particular situation. According to David Leeming, “A prospective husband had to offer a woman a substantial (called the morgengifu, the ‘morning gift’) of money and land" (Leeming 10). The woman would make a decision to keep, sell, or just give the gift away. There were not many opportunities that were offered to women during that time. Because of the limited amount of things women could actually do, they often joined religious groups (Leeming 10). Christianity was actually one way that women were offered opportunity (Leeming...
Men and women were seen to live in separate social class from the men where women were considered not only physically weaker, but morally superior to men. This meant that women were the best suited for the domestic role of keeping the house. Women were not allowed in the public circle and forbidden to be involved with politics and economic affairs as the men made all the
In the Greek society women were treated very differently than they are today. Women in ancient Greece were not allowed to own property, participate in politics, and they were under control of the man in their lives. The goddess Aphrodite did not adhere to these social norms and thus the reason the earthly women must comply with the societal structure that was set before them. Aphrodite did not have a father figure according to Hesiod, and therefore did not have a man in her life to tell her what to do. She was a serial adulteress and has many children with many men other than her husband. She was not the only goddess from the ancient Greek myths to cause doubt in the minds of men. Gaia and the Titan Rhea rise up against their husbands in order to protect their children. Pandora, another woman in the Greek myths, shows that all evil comes from woman. Aphrodite, Gaia, Rhea, and Pandora cause the ancient Greek men to be suspicious of women because of her mischievous and wild behavior.
Henrik Ibsen once said, “A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.”(Notable Quotes) Ibsen’s statement exemplifies what life was like for women during ancient times. In many of the organized ancient civilizations, it was very common to find a primarily patriarchal civilization in government as well as in society. The causing factors can be attributed to different reasons, the main being the Neolithic Revolution and the new found dependence on manpower it caused. As a result of this, a woman found herself to be placed into an entirely different view in the eye of society. In comparison to the early Paleolithic matriarchal societies, the kinds of changes that came about for women due to the introduction of agriculture are shocking. Since the beginnings of the Neolithic era, the role and rights of women in many ancient civilizations began to become limited and discriminatory as a result of their gender.
A woman was not seen as being equal to a man. This is clear in the laws dealing with marriage. Women were contractually obligated to remain with their husbands only, while their husbands were permitted to have a mistress or second wife. If a woman was caught with another man, she would be drowned (“The Code of Hammurabi”). Another thing that shows that women were not equal to men is the fact that they could be sold into slavery by their husbands at any time. Women did, however, have some rights such as the right to own property and the right to inherit and pass down that property. They also played very important roles in society. Some of these roles included shop owners, bakers, or scribes (Judge and Langdon,
It can easily be seen that while men were considered to be the most powerful and wisest humans and gods, women had the power to significantly influence these men. From Uta-napishti's wife who convinced Uta-napishti to tell Gilgamesh about the plant that would make him young again to the examples mentioned above, several women were put in roles that had important effects on the men they encountered. Of course, this is not much different from the society we live in today. While many may believe that women have still not reached the point of true equality, it is hard to say that they are inferior and the significance of their roles in society is undeniable.
When thinking of ancient Greece, images of revolutionary contrapposto sculpture, ornate lecture halls, and great philosophers in togas are sure to come to mind. As the birthplace of democracy and western philosophy, ancient Greece has had an inordinate influence on the progression of the modern world. However, the ancient Greeks’ treatment of women is seemingly at direct odds with their progressive and idealistic society.
Throughout ancient civilizations, women were lower than men. In some civilizations like Mesopotamia society, women were below slaves. It is not shocking that they would still not be equal to men. In Roman society, women had more independence and people were more encouraging of women being educated in philosophy. In the Hans society, women did not have any freedom. They were required to follow what the men told them. By examining Gaius Musonius Rufus’ essay and Ban Zhao’s essay, the views of women were different. Woman in Roman society had more freedom and women in the Han’s society were required to fulfill her responsibilities.
In ancient Greek society women lived hard lives on account of men's patriarch built communities. Women were treated as property. Until about a girl’s teens she was "owned" by her father or lived with her family. Once the girl got married she was possessed by her husband along with all her belongings. An ancient Greece teenage girl would marry about a 30-year-old man that she probably never met before. Many men perceived women as being not being human but creatures that were created to produce children, please men, and to fulfill their household duties. A bride would not even be considered a member of the family until she produced her first child. In addition to having a child, which is a hard and painful task for a teenage girl in ancient civilization to do, the husband gets to decide if he wants the baby. A baby would be left outside to die if the husband was not satisfied with it; usually this would happen because the child was unhealthy, different looking, or a girl.
Euripides, one of Ancient Greece’s most famous playwrights, could be considered as one of the earliest supporters of women’s rights. With plays such as Alcestis and Medea, he clearly puts an emphasis on the condition of women, and even integrates them in the Chorus of the latter play, a feat that was not often done in Ancient Greece. Throughout the years, it has been argued that the two central characters in each of those plays offer conflicting representations of women in those times, and I can safely say that I agree with that argument. I will expand on my view by pointing out an important similarity between Alcestis and Medea, followed by a key difference, and will finish it off by contrasting them with the Ancient Greek depiction of an “ideal woman.”
In conclusion, women’ status was very low at the ancient society because they must stay at home and took after their husband, father and sons. They must build the virtue figure and did well jobs at home and couldn’t charge the family affairs. For increasing the women’s status, they must accept the education and don’t rely on others. In the future, I hope many women accept the education and make themselves become stronger than before.
In Pharonic Egypt, women were the legal equals of men. They were not denied any rights in accordance of the law because of their gender. Women, like men, could own property, coming into it either through inheritance, as a payment for goods or services, or through purchase. Women could buy houses and goods, and with them, they were allowed to do as they chose. Being landholders and people of property afforded ancient Egyptian women a reasonable amount of social freedom. They could travel about freely in towns without veiled faces. In their own homes, women could move about as they pleased, they were not forced to remain in one section of the house or forbidden from other common areas as they were in other societies of the time.
Women were treated way better than compared to other civilizations. Women in ancient Egypt were highly respected because there were no divisions in gender, however, there were only divisions in different classes. "There was no division which was being made in terms of the gender, but there was division which was made only based on the classes of the society" (The Role of Women in Ancient Egypt). The ancient Egyptian women were not like other women in other kingdoms such as the Mesopotamian women. Other women in different civilizations were not cherished as much as the Egyptian women. In fact, women in other civilization were seen as inferior to men. Women in other kings were beaten by their husband, however, women in ancient Egypt were loved, respected, and cherished. The Instruction of Ptahhotep states, "Be not brutal; tact will influence her better than violence; her... behold to what she aspires, at what she aims, what she regards. It is what fixes her in your house; if you repel her it is an abyss" (The Instruction of Ptahhotep, 67). Ancient Egyptian women had power over their belonging because they were able to control, manage, and even sell their properties by their own will. If the women have enough money to purchase a product or property she was allowed to purchase the desired property without any type of consequences. "The women can manage all the property of hers and can sell it
...ere given all the power in the household. The women had no part in the government. They learned how to spin, weave, sew, cook and to perform household jobs. For their whole lives they were controlled by their father and by their husband once they got married.