While ladies in Egyptian towns and towns lived in a patriarchal society like those found in Mesopotamia, they were essentially preferable off over ladies in some other early human advancement. Ladies in Egypt had a few legitimate rights that ladies in other early farming social orders needed. They could possess their own property, maintain their own particular business, and start divorce procedures. Antiquated Egyptian lawful rights reached out to ladies by and large, which made the country's societal structure more libertarian than most others of the time. They could work outside of the home and construct riches.
Athenian vs Spartan Women Women in ancient Athens and Sparta were both considered to be subordinate to their male counterparts. However, Athenian women were considered to be much more subordinate to men; while Spartan women were of a more free status. Athenian women were bound to their home; an ideal Athenian wife pious and modest. The main activity of Athenian women was to weave elaborate textiles, birth children, and nurture infants.
Women in ancient Greece played a crucial role in religious worship. They participated in the Panathenaia festival, which was held in Athens every four years in honour of the goddess Athena. Women were responsible for making the peplos, a garment worn by the statue of Athena during the procession. The women responsible for making the peplos were called ergastinae. The importance of women's participation in the creation and offering of the peplos demonstrates their significant and highly valued role they had in religious worship in Ancient Greece.
The child would be denied if it were "unhealthy or deformed or even the wrong sex. " Female children were often considered inferior to males. 1 The wives were expected to clean, cook, weave and spin. The wives, mothers and slaves were generally not allowed in public, and their contact or association ended with their
The treatment of women during the Hellenic and Hellenistic eras differed from area to area with Polis’s such as Athens and Sparta, though geographically close, had different standards and laws set for women, while also sharing similar cultural views on women. Differently, with the rise of Rome, there was an introduction of more rights for women and a contrasting view of the relation between husband & wife, yet also retaining similar views to that of the Greeks. Lastly, the successor kingdoms of the Hellenistic era are where there is a significant divergent of how women are treated and viewed, with powerful female rulers springing up from these kingdoms. Athens was arguably the most restrictive of the four when discussing women’s right and how they were view in that society.
Comparatively, Athenian women had less right and freedom. Women were citizens who could participate in most religious cults and festivals but were otherwise excluded from public life. They could not own property beyond personal items and always had a male guardian: If unmarried, a father or male relative; if married, a husband; if widowed, a son or male
Finally, in ancient Rome, women were highly oppressed from participating in economic activities. Later in the republic, the women of higher status were able to own property, which again adds to the harmony of the overall gender
Life in Ancient Athens isn’t very exciting for a woman. We cannot do much. Women in ancient Athens had very little choices open to them. If they were lucky, they could read a little, play an instrument, and owned slaves to do the daily household tasks. Women could not vote nor own property.
They enjoyed positions of equal opportunity and were respected both in the family and society as well. They were not treated as a decorative objects, but co-partners in life, in its pleasures and hurdles, in its joys and sorrows. They were imparted education like men and enjoyed considerable freedom in their personal matters. In short, it may be said that women enjoyed a fairly reasonable position during ancient times and have a equal status. The communities as a whole showed proper concern and esteem for women, allowing them significant freedom in different activities of social and political life.
Even though women had more independence in Egypt compared to other societies, equality among the sexes was not apparent. There were certain roles in societies that were strictly male or female, causing a limited choice on careers and within the job had certain tasks relating the gender. For example, it was obtainable for both men and women to be servants but within that, they acquired different responsibilities. Men worked with the beer and meat, brewing and butchering it: and women dealt with grounding grain and baking bread. Throughout the kingdoms, an evolution of gender roles in society took place.
In ancient times, there is a general sense that women were simply items and slaves to their husbands. Ancient Greece specifically has a renowned reputation of favoring men. Men possessed the dominant role in public affairs and events while most women were pressured to stay at home. Very few records extensively discuss women; the records focus mostly on men. Despite the lacking records, it is certain how ancient Greeks viewed their women and their relationships with their male counterparts.
During the Roman Republic and Roman Empire, women were restricted to domestic life in a male-dominated society. Egypt’s capital, Alexandria, formally passed into Roman rule in 80BC , and was the greatest of the Roman provincial capitals, with a population of 300,000. In comparison, the Italian city of Pompeii had a population of only 20,000. To examine the role of women in Roman society, I will need to investigate the literature that survived from the period. This essay will compare and contrast the role of women in Alexandria and Pompeii.
Role of Women in Ancient Empires Throughout the modern world, we mention the concept of equality between men and women and try to equalize their positions in society. It is illogical for women to ask and try to prove that they are equal with men because equality is something that are already given to humanity, but contradicting the role of women by men is what created the gap between them. By looking at history, we can say that accomplishing that goal of making their position equal is not easy.
Over generations, the role of women in society has shifted and changed immensely, improving upon many aspects of rights and values that women have. The changes occurred gave women opportunities to provide ideas, to have the same rights as men, giving women freedom, leading to many contributions of many significant and valuable events. But from current roles of women being equal to those of men, how women stood in ancient society significantly differs and contrast with ours today. Throughout history, the role and significance of women were always outweighed by the dominance and influence of men. The role of women in ancient times varied throughout, depending on the place and area in the world, in which women had different roles and impacts on their own society.
2. Economic and legal standing Both the Roman and Egyptian societies in the ancient world were predominately ruled by the male gender, men were the rulers and lawmakers, in ancient Egypt, however, women were their own mistress and were accorded the same legal rights as men from the same social class. When it came to property and locus standi, women in Egypt enjoyed similar freedom in performing legal acts as women do in today’s modern society. All landed property was passed down through the female line, from mother to daughter. Egyptian women, irrespective of their marital status, could inherit, buy, and sell property.
