Women's Role In Athenian Democracy

The ancient city of Athens is the birthplace of democracy. While the Athenian democracy may not have been completely perfect, overall it provided the foundation for a very effective form of government. Despite being the birthplace of democracy, one flaw of the Athenian democracy was it did not allow everyone to participate in it. In order to be able to participate in the government of Athens someone needed to be a “proper” male citizen of Athens. In addition to being exclusively for males they must also be a proper male citizen, meaning it was necessary to have both an Athenian mother and an Athenian father. This excluded all of the women and foreigners who lived in Athens. The women citizens of Athens did have all rights except for those

The higher form of government in Athens was the Council of 500. Male citizens of the upper three classes could be on the Council of 500. Also, a person had to be at least the age of 30 years old to be allowed to serve as a member of the Council of 500. The men serving on the Council of 500 were changed yearly. A member of the Council of 500 could not serve more than one term. In Attica, there were also laws in place which organized the citizens into ten tribes composed of a variety of people from all geographic regions to prevent one region from overpowering another. There were 50 men from each of the ten tribes selected to the Council of 500 each year, in order to have differing opinions. The main role of the Council of 500 was to create the agenda for the meeting of the Assembly. The Council of 500 would create bills and decrees. These would later be voted on by the Assembly. The Assembly was another branch of their government and was open to all male citizens, or in other words any male citizen from any of the four classes. The Assembly was held throughout the year. They would vote on important decisions. Furthermore, anyone could make a speech at the Assembly. For the assembly to be held it was required for there to be 6000 men present. In the 4th century BCE there were 40

Male citizens had full rights in the city of Athens. Male citizens of all of the four classes were able to participate in the Assembly. The Assembly was open to any male citizen of Attica. They would vote on important decisions. Also, anyone could make a speech at the Assembly. Another way male citizens could participate was in the Council of 500. Male citizens of the upper three classes were allowed to be on the Council of 500. Yearly, the men serving on the Council of 500 were changed. There were 50 men from each of the ten tribes serving on the council so no one group of people would have more say on the Council of 500 than another. The men serving on the Council of 500 had the important role to create the agenda for the meeting of the Assembly. A third way a male citizen could participate was to serve as a juryman. Six thousand jurors were selected each year to act as jurors on court cases. One unique way which made it possible for male citizens of all classes to participate in their government was they received a stipend for their time spent away from their place of work. In some governments not only were lower classes not able to participate in government, but even if the lower classes were allowed to they were unable to attend meetings needing to stay at work to earn money for themselves and their family. However, in