Oppression or Demography? Throughout the years females have undergone tremendous amounts of oppression. From our limited roles in society, to our confinements at home, we were seen nothing more than the lesser sex. Compared to males we were the inferior gender, in terms of knowledge, physicality, and stature. Now, one would ask why? What logical reason would make sense to explain this kind of thinking. Most feminists would argue it’s due to misogyny; the hatred of women. Looking through all of history, is it accurate enough to say that the oppression that females have undergone is the result of hatred. The answer that I would like to argue is no. I won’t exclude the idea that there may have been some hate, but to say the limited roles and …show more content…
According to Mr. Dorans’ lecture on women “How Racist were the Greeks and Romans?”, he emphasized with such high mortality rates, females were expected to have from 6 to 9 children, and with each child, she was expected to nurse for up two years. So from the moment a baby is born, to the time they can actually take care of themselves, the child would have to be physically attached to the mom for most of the time, as Mr. Doran explained. With that said, it’s no wonder females were not really acknowledged to do anything else, because they spent most of their time with their children, in addition to caring for the household and working in the fields. If females wanted to join the military they would have to abandon their motherly roles and devote their time to training. More less if they even wanted any time to themselves they would have to hire a nursemaid to care for their children, since there would be at least a minimum of 6 children to look after. But the fact that only elite could afford nursemaids, and the majority of females could, not, most found no time. Even though people would see this as sexist, females found respect and societal status through raising children that would serve society. Due to demographics, there was pride in raising a …show more content…
In fact there is evidence in the 1st century BC of Priene, a woman named Phyle became the first woman in office as a crown bearer, who also paid for a cistern to store water, and water pipes for the city( “A Woman in politics: Phyle, Wife of Thessalos”, page 227). In addition there was evidence of a female philosopher named Hipparchia from the city of Maroneia, a female doctor and midwife named Phanostrate, from Athens in the 4th century BC, and a harpist named Polygnota from Delphi in 86 B.C. ( “A Woman Philosopher: The Life of Hipparchia” page 227; “ A Professional Women: Phanostrate, Midwife and Doctor”, page 227; “ A Professional Woman: The Theban Harpist Polygnota, Daughter of Socrates”, page 228). In addition there have been discovered letters dated back from 90-120 AD, which were actually birthday invitations from an officer 's wife named Claudia Severa to her friends and sister . With these sources, one can’t conclude that females had no other roles in the ancient world. Although a majority of women were forced into the life bearing kids and just caring for the household, because that was the ideal role that was given to them and there was no other role to look up to, not all females were restricted that life. Females like Phyle and Phanostrate were both married and in addition was a doctor, or politician. Also, the
For a long time ago, women just did anything at home: clean the house, wash clothes, cook the meals, and work outside the house and nutrient their children. Then they followed to order from their husband at home, and listen to the words of their husband. In addition, they made many little things in the military: wash clothes, serve the meals, and fix the clothes. The next things that it was convinced me when women had their own value in society. They began to raise their own worth and sense of themselves to build their country even though no one explained to them. People can consider that they endured very much but they did not still accept
Throughout history, women have been mistreated as the weaker gender. It has been evident throughout the epic of Sunjata, the history of Greek society as well as Indian society. It is evident today with the social classes we have formed that there are predominant gender roles in our society; history as we know tends to repeat itself.
This institutionalized oppression of females that began in the young ages of 5-12 is still present in our everyday lives. I have noticed it more this as I observed
To understand the significant changes within the role of women, it’s important to look at the position women held in society prior to World War II. In a famously quoted ruling by the United States Supreme Court in a case denying a woman’s right to practice law, the following excerpt penned by the Honorable Joseph P. Bradley in 1873 sums up how women were perceived during that period of time by their male counterparts. Bradley declared, "The paramount destiny and mission of women are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother -- this is the law of the Creator" . While many women may agree that the role of wife and mother is a noble one, most would certainly not agree this position would define their destiny.
Women had very few rights, they lived as prisoners, serving men 24 hours a day. Women were sheltered from society, restricted to their husbands and their husbands houses, crying out for help and justice but there is no one to there to hear their screams. In the play Antigone when the title character had to sneak out of the house to meet up with Ismene. Ancient Greek men ruled a lot like over protective fathers with teenage daughters. Men were also scared of women gaining confidence and begin thinking on their own or worse taking action or speaking out against men, like in the play Antigone where Antigone confronts Creon by burying Polyneices after Creon strictly stated that no one bury him. If someone were to bury him, the whole Polis would stone them to death. When Creon found out that someone buried Polyneices, he did not even consider that it could have been a women that did it.
There isn’t enough literature from this time period from the lower and middle classes of society, and the view of women we have comes from writings of the upper class males. As much of an enigma that the women of Athens were, it is clear that “women were for the most part legal nonentities,” (O’Neal 117) that were denied any association and participation in the intellectual life of their city. The women were not involved in getting an education, and never learned to read or write. O’Neal writes, “The principal spokesmen of fifth century Athens, Pericles and Thucydides, disdained Athenian women.” (O’Neal 117) Based on their writing, and on surmountable evidence, it can be assumed that women had only two roles in Athens - a wife, or a mother. A girl was ideally married at 14 or 15 years of age, and there was necessity that the bride was a virgin, otherwise she was shamed and sold into
Throughout most of recorded history, women generally have endured significantly fewer career opportunities and choices, and even less legal rights, than that of men. The “weaker sex,” women were long considered naturally, both physically and mentally, inferior to men. Delicate and feeble minded, women were unable to perform any task that required muscular or intellectual development. This idea of women being inherently weaker, coupled with their natural biological role of the child bearer, resulted in the stereotype that “a woman’s place is in the home.” Therefore, wife and mother were the major social roles and significant professions assigned to women, and were the ways in which women identified and expressed themselves. However, women’s history has also seen many instances in which these ideas were challenged-where women (and some men) fought for, and to a large degree accomplished, a re-evaluation of traditional views of their role in society.
Men have a broader, more masculine figure compared to women, being less manly and more feminine-built. These physical disadvantages are the reason why women stayed home to care for their family because it was thought of as too dangerous to be doing the hard “men’s work.” Women were also considered to have been less intelligent, more emotional and less decisive than men. Women had low social status and fewer rights than the men. History states that women are the child bearers who nurse infants which led to the assumption that women hold the responsibilities around the household, while men went out long distances to do the tough work....
Women in antiquity did not have an easy lot in life. They had few, if any, rights. Surviving early records of the civilizations of antiquity from ancient Greece, Egypt, China, and Rome suggest the diversity of women’s roles differed little from region to region. There were a few exceptions, mostly concerning women of nobility and the city-state of Sparta. Excluding the rare instances mentioned most antique women were generally limited on education, mobility, and almost all possibilities interfering with domestic or childbearing responsibilities. The limited social roles of women in antiquity suggest the perceived c...
It is apparent that they took that into consideration as shown by the Women’s Diaries and even today is seen as their role. Women were a nurturing part of the household and therefore it was seen as their job to take care of the children.... ... middle of paper ... .... .
Greek and Roman women lived in a world where strict gender roles were given; where each person was judged in terms of compliance with gender-specific standards of conduct. Generally, men were placed above women in terms of independence, control and overall freedom. Whereas men lived in the world at large, active in public life and free to come and go as they willed, women's lives were sheltered. Most women were assigned the role of a homemaker, where they were anticipated to be good wives and mothers, but not much of anything else. The roles of women are thoroughly discussed in readings such as The Aeneid, Iliad, Sappho poetry, and Semonides' essay.
In ancient Rome men held all the power in the family, politics, and in society, because of this Ancient Rome was considered a man’s world. The oldest living male had rule over the household. Sons were also important because continuing the family name was very valuable. Woman married as teenagers and were usually much younger than their husband. During the roman empire woman were considered an image of their husband and were expected to behave a certain way. Woman were valued based on their spouses. Though there were still limits some woman were allowed more freedom than others. (PBS website) The work that the woman did depended on their social status as well as their financial status. Female slaves were very common during this time whereas business owners, doctors and midwives were rare. During the first century AD woman started to have much more freedoms. The Roman Empire depended greatly on religion. During that time religion was considered to be a force that bound families together. Romans believed highly in gods and each god had an image. The first century AD began the rise of Christianity, some Cristian’s in Rome suffered persecution, their ideas never died and Christianity eventually conquered
Sophocles lived in Athens, and so his experience of women and his perception of their role in the world were formed by Athenian society. Athenian women may have lived in a different culture, but they were similar to many other Greek women in at least one respect: they were treated as entirely unequal. “In law Athenian women had no independent existence” (Blundell 114). Women were defined, controlled, and protected by their male guardians, who were their fathers, their husbands, or their eldest sons. They could not testify in court, but had to have their guardian testify for them. They were only allowed to trade in small sums, no more than the value of one measure of barley. It was theoretically possible for women to inherit property, but only if there was no male relative available. Most Athenian women were married young (from fourteen to eighteen) to men who were around thirty, which reinforced the unequal power dynamic between the spouses. Women were not educated in much more than the running of a home, and they were expected to raise a family and do little else. Women were not citizens in Athens, they could not vote, and they could not serve in political positions (Blundell 114-129). In short, in the society Sophocles lived in, women were treated as less than men, legally and
Since the beginning of time, women have always been seen as things purely for the pleasure and benefit of men. Women have always been objectified. Objectification is seeing and treating a person as if they did not have thoughts and feelings, as if they had the status of an object.{1} Only in recent years have they begun to be seen as individuals of equal intelligence and ability. You may think, ”Women have had equal rights for a while. I do not see how this is a problem.” It may not seem like women were given their rights recently, but in our history, women have been treated objectively for thousands of years, even dating back to biblical times. Still, even when women have the same rights, opportunities, and responsibility as men, women can be found almost everywhere being treated as though they were incompetent and lesser human beings.{4}
Women have always been essential to society. Fifty to seventy years ago, a woman was no more than a house wife, caregiver, and at their husbands beck and call. Women had no personal opinion, no voice, and no freedom. They were suppressed by the sociable beliefs of man. A woman’s respectable place was always behind the masculine frame of a man. In the past a woman’s inferiority was not voluntary but instilled by elder women, and/or force. Many, would like to know why? Why was a woman such a threat to a man? Was it just about man’s ability to control, and overpower a woman, or was there a serious threat? Well, everyone has there own opinion about the cause of the past oppression of woman, it is currently still a popular argument today.