After a quick reading of the file, I would answer the questions as follows.
How did people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community?
People in Sparta were not allowed to participate in the government. Men were only for military and women were for just giving birth of soldiers. The government in Sparta was ruled by two kings form the two royal families. Under them were the Gerousia and Ephors who represented the "elder council". Only the kings and the Gerousia were the only ones who have the right to make decisions and interfere the public life. Yet, the assembly, which is formed by Free Spartan men, has the rights to elect the Gerousia and the Ephors.
In Athens we have different stages for governing. The first one is the stage of aristocrats who controlled every decision and rules-making during the archaic period (around 800-500 BCE). The second stage was the most important stage after Cleisthenes' reforms. Cleisthenes reorganized the Boule or “legislative council”. Thus, free male Athenian citizens have the right to pass or refuse any law made by the Assembly. This stage was the first to have the sense of democracy. However, only free men of Athenian origins had the right to participate in political life.
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In Sparta, only the two kings, the Gerousia, and the Ephros had the right to held public offices. While in Athens, we have firstly the aristocrats and then the Athenians men who were free and wealthy enough to be elected and then can held public offices.
What rules governed the selection of public office