Gender Inequality And The Aristotelian Society

In much the same way that a woman was not held responsible for acts of adultery,

Women have played important roles throughout history. They have been responsible for the rise and fall of nations, sustaining families, and have been the focal point of worship in ancient religions. Moving forward in history, women's roles have continually changed. Their status as matriarchs changed as the more advanced ancient civilizations rose. The patriarchal societies of ancient Greece and Rome viewed women differently from some societies of past eras. The study of the economic and political status of women, their rights, and their contributions to both these ancient societies reveals how views change throughout history.

Aristotle argues that in order for a polis to emerge, a union between man and women must convene. Later a household must be introduced which unites with other households to form a village, villages come together to form city-states. This theory is Aristotle’s natural view that an individual can not be self sufficient Plato argues that, in order to achieve absolute justice, a city-state is needed.

Throughout history, the roles of women and men have always differed to some degree. In ancient Greece, the traditional roles were clear-cut and defined. Women stayed home to care for children and do housework while men left to work. This system of society was not too far off the hunter gatherer concept where women cared for the house and the men hunted. Intriguingly enough, despite the customary submissive role, women had a more multifaceted role and image in society as juxtaposed with the rather simple role men played. Morals for the two were also different. Men obviously had the upper hand with women being the traditional passive.

Ancient Rome was one of the biggest and most influential civilizations in history. The world we know would not be the same without its involvement. Romans practically shaped the Western history, which influenced the whole world as the result. They affected the modern government’s systems, laws, arts, literature, languages and even religions. The importance of it is great and undeniable. Unfortunately, most of the works and sources we have today are written by men and lack sources about women in the ancient Rome. Most of the time in history books, women’s roles and achievements are hardly even mentioned. Even though the Roman Empire was very progressive and

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.

Women’s rights and societal roles have varied throughout history. Yet, a common theme that is notable across many times and cultures is the notion that women are inferior to men. In ancient Greece, the opinion toward women followed this trend, and women were often overlooked in how they could contribute to society. It was rarely considered that the traits women share could be of use beyond their household duties. In this essay I will analyze the Platonic and Aristotelian views on the role and status of women. Although Plato and Aristotle had distinct beliefs on what women could contribute to the collective well being of society, they shared similar opinions about the genuine status that women had in comparison to men. The

In ancient Greece, there was one dominant city-state, or Polis as the ancient Greeks called it, and this was Athens. It was a beautiful society that enjoyed art and literature very much and valued things like wholeness and excellence. However, one thing the Athenians did not value was women. They were deemed inferior by men, and treated more as a decoration rather than a human being.

Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals wholly or partly due to their gender. It arises from differences in gender roles. Gender inequality isn’t a exercise which has just recently developed instead it is a practice which has been part of our community since civilizations have begun. When one thinks of gender issues they directly connect it with females however this issue consists of both men and women which can be heavily seen in the early eras.

Respectable Athenian women seldom left their homes. Only men could purchase goods or engage in soldiering, lawmaking, and public speaking. The societies of ancient Egypt and of the Greek city-state of Sparta provided a rare contrast. Both Egyptian and Spartan women could own property and engage in business. According to Dr. Peter Picone, the author of “The Status of Women in Ancient Egyptian” states “the Egyptian women seem to have enjoyed the same legal and economic rights as the Egyptian man”. Also he states that legal rights were on a class boundary more than a gender boundary. The Women of Sparta on the other hand were quite different from the women of their neighbor, Athens. As you well know, the women of Sparta were bold, freer, and well educated. Also with the Sparta women, everything depended up money, which would determine your rank in society. While some of the Spartan citizens have quite small properties, others have very large ones; hence the land has passed into the hands of a few. And this is due also to faulty laws; for, although the legislator rightly holds up to shame the sale or purchase of an inheritance, he allows anybody who likes to give or bequeath it. Yet both practices lead to the same result. And nearly women held two-fifths of the whole countries; this is owing to the number of heiresses and to the large dowries that are customary. The Women of Sparta on the other hand were quite

“Rulers ruled by women”: an economic analysis of the rise and fall of women’s rights in ancient Sparta

Aristophanes and Agathon were peers in Ancient Greece. Aristophanes was the master of comedy, and Agathon was the master of tragedy. They traveled in the same circles and are present in the same works. In looking through the comic lens at Agathon in Aristophanes’ Women at the Thesmophoria, the reader is presented with a portrayal of an effeminate man with a flair for the dramatic and a queenly attitude. Aristophanes’ Agathon is a comic character to be laughed at, a man that is more female than male. In looking at this view of Agathon, Greek views of homoeroticism are brought up and Agathon’s reputation and character in the world of Ancient Greece is brought into question. How much of

I can say in the time of the Greek era women’s lives were very hard on them, referring to the way of thinking from men about the higher statues that they believe by showing inequality between men and women. I do think the reason why women lives were very restricted it was related to the patrilineality society, which is know to be based on the male line. I can conclude why it is less important in a matrilineal culture to keep track of a woman ‘s sexual partners, is because in the time of the ancient Greece they feel that women at the early age between 12 to 14 years old was the time to get married because young girls were pure. Greeks women’s were dominated by patriarchal society in the way that females only purpose in life was to be a mother

In Ancient Egypt and Greece women were held to certain standards and were often associated with household duties. Gender allowed to specify what role an individual may have in their society to help authorize order and hierarchy. The way anthropologist study gender roles is by collecting data on cultural gender norms. Anthropologists also focus on each gender’s job description within ones culture as well as compare and contrast it to other cultures. Gender roles are different patterns of mannerisms, attitudes, and behaviors, which are labeled by “male” or “female” by ones culture. When society changes, the gender roles change as well to meet the needs of the society. Different types of gender roles are able to support growth and the stability of a society and culture. There are expectations and roles that are expected to be met by the specific gender in most cultures. In ancient Egypt and Greece, both men and women took on a set of different gender roles in different cultures, which allowed them to contribute to their society and community.

The Middle Ages was a time of crisis, in a way, probably why it was associated with the name “Dark Ages”. My english teacher once said, “The richer were getting richer and the poorer, even more poor.” The middle ages, albeit having a number of similarities at present time, I guess, in my opinion, we can say that we would much prefer the circumstances of today, seeing that back then the role of women were much more unfavorable. The social hierarchy of the middle ages, despite being fit for their economic system, their economic system itself wasn’t a very good one due to the money mainly circulating around the rich and the poor, as was mentioned earlier were just getting poorer, therefore making their social hierarchy a bad one as well seeing that it was . Furthermore, there were many aspects as to where said crisis were evident, but let us focus on mainly these three: the social hierarchy, the economic system and the role of women during the middle ages.