Women in Greek Society

Women in Greek Society

Dating back to ancient times, the role of women has never reached true equality with men. We can trace this inequality back to as early as the great Athenian society, where life as we know it today started taking form. On the other side of the inequality, throughout the ancient history of the world, the roles and positions that women have had have improved over time. We can see this tracing time from Athens, to Sparta, the Roman Republic, it's Empire and the rise of Christianity. Although some of theses societies lived parallel in time, each one shows a difference in the way they treat women. Each one did not treat women the same, but the end result compared to the beginning is positive for women.

According to Xenophon's "Household Management" in Athenian society the women were looked at as possessions. The Athenian woman would be given to the man by their parents. It was like a business deal and the bride to be had no say in it at all. She was typically much younger than the man. Often times, half their age if the man had a previous wife but was now divorced. To a man, a skilled woman was a valuable tool. The major skills of the woman included cooking, sewing and weaving. The wife simply stayed at home and took care of the house duties. She watched over anything that came in and out of the house. If a woman could tend to the household chores and master sewing or weaving she would be considered valuable. It was her responsibility to manage the house while the men were at work or at war. Once the woman became the property of the man he had the opportunity to control her in any way he liked. She would be kept under

strict restraint so that she would see as little, hear as little and ask as few que...

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...a member of the Roman Republic or Empire. Instead, they would just be punished without death as a

consequence. The Christian community respected women like anyone else, they were treated the same as others. (Jesus) (Christian)

As we can see, not all women were treated equal to each other, and certainly not to men. But over time it is obvious that the end result is better off. Like any minority, it takes time to eventually find level ground. The struggle that women have faced is thousands of years old and still to this day perfect equality between men and women is absent. The issued that were important to women in ancient history are still important today. For instance, women still find that they want to have political power, and good paying jobs. They want to be liberal and speak their minds. But like today, women are better off now than they were 200 years ago.