Social Expectations Of Women In The Roman Empire

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The Social Expectations of Women During the Roman Empire: The account of Roman women is a fascinating facet of the greater saga of the Roman Empire itself. During the Roman Empire, the economy, politics and civilization as a whole, was dominated almost entirely by men. As a result, a number of expectations were placed on women, detailing how they should look, behave and with whom they should associate. These expectations were reinforced and affected by both the social and political fixtures of the Roman Empire. Although women made a number of important social and legal advances in Ancient Rome, the development of the Empire proved to be detrimental to the emancipation of women as the pre-existing social expectations were altered in order to impose a more conservative moral order. These antecedent expectations were crafted from a number of ideals concerning female intellect, sexuality and influence, that existed in society prior to the development of the Roman Empire. The social liberty experienced by Roman women developed dramatically throughout history, however, the Roman Empire is a specific point of contention. Women in Rome were defined as veritable …show more content…

Despite the overwhelming power of the state and government, women in the Roman Empire were able to gain some degree of emancipation. However, this autonomy was often met with equal levels of suppression. The reforms implemented by Rome’s first emperor, Augustus, proved to be detrimental to the emancipation of women and made the distinction between ‘good’ women and whores blatant (MacDonald, 2000). In general, while harboring more respect for women than other civilizations of the time, Rome was belligerent in its treatment of women. Evidently, the social expectations of women developed considerably during the Roman Empire, however, as a whole, the behavior expected of women was that of an obedient and veritably inferior

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