Feminism In Ancient Greece Essay

Feminism in Greece today reflects a gradual increase in the importance of the role of women in the Greek society and is similar to the status of women in most developed countries. Feminism in ancient Greece was much more complicated due to the perceived lower status of women vs. men. On the one hand, women were objects and possessions with no rights. But on the other hand, they were central to the actions of the men around and often carried great informal influence. They were the weaker gender, but were also seen as people who could easily persuade men. They often had to achieve a sort of balancing act between being an object and being an influencer. This contrasts with today, where women have gradually moved away from being an object and their

On the contrary, they were necessary for many reasons in ancient Greece. For example, they were needed for war. In the article, No woman no war: Women’s Participation In Ancient Greek Warfare, the author talks about how women helped in war and their thoughts on war. One poem written by a woman states, “Death took you in your prime / dying, you brought dark grief to your mother Pheidia. / But the poem on this stone above you sings / about how you died doing battle for your beloved fatherland” (Loman 35). The author of this poem also writes another poem. In both poems, she showed that she “thought highly of men who were willing to sacrifice their lives for their country” (Loman 35). Sometimes women would be more interested in whether they were winning the battle or losing it. They wouldn’t care as much that it was over. For example, there is a story of a mother in Sparta who had received news that all of her sons had died in the battle. She then yelled at the messenger for delivering the wrong news. She wanted news as to whether they had won the battle or

One example is the goddess Hera. Hera was the goddess of marriage and childbirth and she was known for the protection of married women. She was both the sister and wife of Zeus, and they had three children. In these ancient Greek times, she was expected to stay home and watch the children, even though her husband would go off having encounters with other women. She was jealous of any woman that Zeus slept with and hated the offspring that he had with these women. For example, she despised Hercules. When Hercules was a baby she even sent two snakes to try to kill him. Hera also brought all sorts of unfortunate events to the lives of Zeus’ lovers. This is one reason she was seen as an independent woman; she didn’t let any man control her