As the Classical World began to emerge, the relation between men and women start to change. During the Greek and Roman Empire, men continuing to be powerful in the society, and were the ones who trained for oncoming battles. As well woman rights were emerging slowly during the period. Women started as a possession of the men, and ended with own rights and choices of profession. The civilization of Greece had two main cities, Sparta and Athens. Men and women in Sparta were strong, they started training together, and at the age of twelve were separate. Then boys were sent to the barracks, were the military training continued, and girls keep with their trained to became worthy of a good male. Spartan women were free, they could ran businesses …show more content…
and visit neighbors. On the other hand, Athenian’s women were supposed to give birth of children and be modest. The democracy of Athens brought more separation between gender due to males were the only ones considered citizens. Women were still considered as a possession of the men. And there were specific activities only considerer for woman; for example, in the picture Women and Weaving , it show that weaving was a particular activity for women in ancient civilizations of Greece. It looks that one woman was carding wool, and two more women were preparing the fibers. In the Ancient Roman civilization, men had as a primarily job to form part of the Roman army, and naturally take care of the family due to had absolute power over his wives and children. However, the introductions of new laws in the Roman Republic, allowed women to have more rights. Married women could control their own wealth now, and if she died, her possessions would be for her children or her father. Women in a high society began to have more option; they could practice and enjoy social, intellectual and artistic activities. Moreover, women during this period could be priest, their name for this group of women were Vestal Virgins. One of the laws attributed to Nume Pompilius was “On the vestal virgins he conferred high honors, among which was the right of making a will while their fathers lived and of doing all other juristic acts without a guardian.” The relation between genders was improving during the Classical World. Even though The Greek and Roman civilization were very different, both contributed with the evolution of men and women. Throughout The Medieval Period, the human society was experimenting gigantic political changes.
One of the most important roles for women was the act of alliance between nobles, to avoid a conflict, for instances, Charles the Simple gave his daughter to Rollo the Walker to elude a fight with the Vikings. Moreover, monasteries became very powerful during this period. They created foundations that provide accommodations to males as well as females. The monasteries became ruled for women. Females in the monasteries had power over their bodies and minds. During the Charlemagne governance, he made the Capitularies , a series of documents that everybody follow. On document said “If anyone rapes the daughter of his lord, he shall die”. It is reflected that the women of the noble families were very important and they should be respected. Medieval Women were subject to their men. People believed that because the men is the image of God, and women were a creation from the men, the men should rule the women, and women should not have the right to be a witnesses or have justice. People blamed the women for the wrong of the world, because of Eva seduced Adam to eat the apple. As is reflect, people in the medieval period believed several things about men and women
rights. In conclusion, the relation between men and women during the Ancient Western Civilization can be divide in three main periods, the Pre-Classical, the Classical, and the Medieval world. Since the beginning both genders started with difficult situations, some civilization were harder to live than others. In particular the Women life was harsher, with more limitation, and injustices than were for men. But with the pass of the years the gender relations improve, and rulers created laws to benefit the people. The Ancient world is the base of the modern society. Without the struggles between men and women in the ancient periods, we would not have the equals’ rights we have now.
Women in ancient Greece are an interesting subject and only so much is known about the exact day to day lives of them however from what records remain it would seem that they were kept at a relatively low level on the social hierarchy. Even in Pericles ' Funeral Speech which seems to be an almost utopian discretion of aspects of Greek life Pericles himself states that “Great will be your glory in not falling short of your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is least talked of among the men whether for good or for bad.” Pericles states that the greatest of women should be the ones whom are not noticed but still preform there tasks while not catching the attention of men. Adding to this even the great philosopher Aristotle bags on the women of Greece simply by stating that ”female [souls are] inoperative” With this simple statement Aristotle makes it seem that women are somehow broken and can never live up to the same standards as men. Even Xenophon, The Economist rambles on...
Most classical society’s political and social organization revolved around the idea of patriarchy, a male dominated social system. This system exacerbated the inherit difference between men and woman and assigned gender roles based on these observations. Men were generally regarded as superior to woman therefore given greater religious and political roles as well as more legal rights. As the natural inverse, women were subordinated and seen as week; their main roles reproductive and domestic. Information about patriarchy in the classical era, though abundant, was, for the most part, written by men, therefore history does not give us an accurate depiction of women’s viewpoints. Four societies of the classical era, India, China, Greece, and Rome, adopted a patriarchal system, however, due to many factors, each developed identifiable characteristics.
The Middle Ages was a time when women were supposed to be models of virtue, yet they acted contrary to such beliefs. As young women, they were supposed to strive for perfection and protect their virginity (Bardsley 96-97). In reality, women were often free with their virtues, and according to Francis and Joseph Gies, “The chastity of women was eternally suspect in the eyes of canonists, who perceived them as ever eager for sexual gratification.” Women were presented with conflicting messages when told that they were sources of evil, but were also told they were to exemplify the model of Mary (Bardsley 172) By modeling Mary, women were to be virtuous and holy and not self-seeking. However, women were far from this model of Mary, and they received little respect from men. Men dominated women, and they never escaped male control. As girls, their fathers controlled them, and later in life they were subject to their husbands (McLean and Singman 24). Because of this, women were seen as scandalous if they attempted to obtain power, money, or land.
James Thompson’s research on women in Sparta is not clear where he got the information. However, he seems to be the only one who does not compare Sparta directly to Athens until the very end, were he provides a chart on why women were more dominant than their Athenian sisters. His main focus of work was explaining what women could and could not do. In the beginning he briefly talks about Spartan boys before beginning to talk about the women. Throughout the article he talks about how having the responsibility of the house, properties and children must have been enormous without the husband there. He mentions some of the responsibilities and explained why marriages were the way they were. He talks about the women having a strong voice in their societies and benign influential in the decision making of the country despise the fact that they could not vote. He often makes reference of other people’s opinions such as saying “some have suggested…”. He talks about women owned a third of the land and could inherited land like the boys too. His work is intended for a general audience and one can argue that it could be aimed towards children.
In the Bronze Age, early Greek’s political concern was largely on defense. During this time, while the men were serving in battles and war, women were expected to “bear future warriors” (Pomeroy 18), similarly to what Zeus enforced. Heroic Greek society demanded women to be married upon reaching maturity, and to begin having children immediately. The earliest writings of ancient Greece, usually accredited to Homer, show murderous arguments between men over women. Pomeroy writes, “It was a quarrel with Agamemnon over a valuable slave woman that precipitated Achilles’ withdrawal from the fighting at Troy and provided the theme for the Iliad.” (Pomeroy 25) Later, we will see how lawmakers enforced the role of women to prevent competition among
Unlike other Greek city states, women played an integral role in Spartan society as they were the backbone of the Spartan economic system of inheritance and marriage dowry and they were relied upon to fulfill their main responsibility of producing Spartan warrior sons. These principle economic systems affected wealth distribution among Spartan citizens especially among the Spartan elite class. Spartan women led a completely different life than women in most other ancient Greek city states, as they were depended upon to maintain Spartan social systems. In a society where the state is more involved in home life women had freedom of movement and they were permitted to communicate with men who were not their husbands. Women had domestic responsibilities including the maintenance of homes and farms when the men were on campaign, while the typical Greek female responsibilities such as weaving were delegated to slaves. Girls were raised much like Spartan boys as they were made to go through physical training insuring their success in fulfilling their most important role in society, child-bearing. The few primary sources on Sparta and Spartiate women, namely Aristotle, Plutarch, Herodotus and Xenophon were historians who lived after the prominence of ancient Sparta; therefore, the facts regarding the women’s influence in social, economic and political issues must be carefully interpreted and analysed with help from secondary sources.
Women in the ancient world had few rights, they differed from country to country or, in the case of the women of Athens and Sparta, from city-state to the city-state. The women of the city-states of Athens and Sparta had profound differences in their roles in the political and the daily lives of their families and their cities. When it came to the difference in levels of power and the rights of women, Sparta was a leader in its time. At the same time, their rights as citizens were almost the same. While they did not take an active part in politics, they had opinions and ideas like women all over the world. Their thoughts, deeds, and opinions rarely recorded or if they were, the male historians or philosophers of the time recorded them. What were roles did the women in ancient Athens and Sparta? Were they citizens, did they have personal freedoms? On the other hand, did they in a time when the beginnings of democracy were happening were they less than a second-class citizen? The misogyny and patriarchal societies continued throughout the ancient and classical periods only beginning to change in the Hellenistic era.
In the home, Athenian women were treated like slaves with no rights. Married women were not people under the law of the Athenians any more than a slave, as they were shifted from one male’s authority to another throughout their lives, powerless to affect anything except through the intercession of another male (To Have Power or to Not Have Power: Athenian vs. Spartan Women). Also, when other males occupied their home; women we told to evacuate the male quarters. Women lived secluded in their own quarters, kept out of the lives of their husbands, working endlessly at the loom or some other repetitive chore. They competed for their husband’s affection against prostitutes, hetairai, and slaves of both genders, including those within their own household. By contrast, Spartan girls exercised publicly alongside boys(and often in the nude) (Fleck).Thus, Spartan women were rarely confined to the home. This is because of the abundance of a workforce and male children serving in the army from seven to
Women in Greece were treated very differently from the men, they were thought of as less and weak men. The men controlled the lives of the women and made sure the women felt this way and knew their place. “Married women in Greece had three main jobs raise their children for the sake of Athens, show no weakness than was natural to their sex and avoid gossip.”(J. Coffin & R. Stacey 125).This was thought by all men in Greece but even more so in Athens. As time went on women became more inferior to men the problem did not get any better as Greece went into the dark ages. During the dark ages it is not exactly sure how many resources they Greek people lost, many major settlements were abandoned there are no written facts from this time and it was assumed that the people were illiterate. Philosophers believed that woman had very poor minds and each woman needed to have their own guardian which was a male figure closest to her or if she was married her husband. Women were expected to stay inside their homes and when there was a woman seen on the streets they were usually prostitutes, slaves or poor. Women through time were always thought of as unequal to men; men believed this because they made sure it was true by not allowed women to own anything go to school or participate in many activities. Although women were just as capable as men, the men made sure they felt inferior in many aspects of their social position such as race, culture and sexuality. “If Athenian society could portray women as incapable of endurance and fortitude in the face of misfortune they could mark them as inferior to men. They could leave free and not have to worried about guarding ther...
When you mention gender roles in society the first thing that comes to mind usually are stereotypes, or the set labels that society has established on how everyone acts based on the different biological, social, and cultural categories they fit into. Throughout history these stereotypes that pertain to genders roles in society have been proven true. Gender roles refer to a behavioral and social norms that are widely accepted for people of a certain sex. In this report I will discussing the gender roles of the two most recognized types of gender, man and woman, from the perspective of a man and a woman who have lived 65+ years. I will also discuss how those roles have influenced society and how they have changed gradually over the years.
Understanding the way women both were controllers of and controlled by social, political and cultural forces in the medieval period is a complex matter. This is due to a number of factors- the lack of documentation of medieval women, high numbers of illiteracy amongst women, especially lower class, medieval sources being viewed through a contemporary lens and the actual limitations and expectations placed upon women during the period, to name a few. The primary sources: The Treasure of The City of Ladies by Catherine of Siena and Peter of Blois’ letter to Eleanor of Aquitaine concerning her rebellion, highlight the restrictions women were expected to adhere to, and the subsequent reprimanding that occurred when they didn’t. Women were not passive victims to the blatant patriarchal standards that existed within medieval society, even though ultimately they would be vilified for rebelling.
Men also oppress women so they can be seen as a man and are no longer sexually distracting. Even things that women do without the slightest intention of being sexual, a man will sexualize. Geng provides an example of this by saying “...panty hose are stripped off so that bare toes may frolic in the nap of the industrial carpeting”. Bare toes are not a sexual things but a woman is exposing her bare legs, which is seen as distracting towards men. Because of this, men are hired instead of women so they won’t be distracting towards other make coworkers. As shown, society has degraded women making them a “sexual object”. This is what causes men to think of women in such sexual ways. This may also contribute to why men disapprove or oppress women
Throughout the ages the relationships between men and women have been constantly changing. Comparing from the start of hunting and gathering societies to the modern world today, many aspects of everyday life have been altered. Especially the roles between men and women. What was once an equalitarian based relationship, where all people were fundamentally equal, slowly turned into a patriarchy type of relationship, where men became the central authority figures. However, these changes didn’t just affect the dynamics between the sexes, they impacted the way different civilizations functioned as a whole. The way in which each society reacted to or treated their women was directly impacted. Relationships between men and women have been consistently
Let’s travel back in time to about the 1700s and the 1800s, back when women had absolutely no rights as an individual and men were considered superior to women. A time where women couldn’t be anything but a housewife and do anything beside house chores, reproduce, and take care of the kids. Meanwhile, men would go out to the world and work. However, throughout the centuries, women fought for their equal rights until they finally succeeded. Back to the present day, women today outnumber men in graduating college, and in professional programs. Gender roles today took a complete twist compared to how it was back then.
Outline and assess the view that patriarchy is the main cause of gender inequality (40 marks)