Socrates on Gender Equality Regarding Ruling a City

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.

In Ancient Greek society, the typical roles of men and women were pretty simple. Men were at the top of society. They were the rulers and lawmakers. Men owned everything, leaving women no choice, but to

The conventionally accepted roles of both males and females in ancient Grecian society were well defined and manifested. Women were considered the weaker of the sexes and, thus, were expected to remain in the home and perform their domestic duties, while the men were to be rulers and bread-winners. The woman’s voice was not heard on any issues affecting the society as her opinions were thought unworthy of consideration. She was required merely to reproduce, to execute her domestic duties well and to submit incontestably to the authority of the men. In essence the Greeks valued their women almost as little as a common slave was valued.

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

In addition to using education as a method of molding the warrior class, Socrates wishes it to be a means by which men and women’s positions and levels in society are equalized. “[. . .] If we use the women for the same things as the men, they must also be taught the same things [. . .] Now, we gave the men music and poetry and physical training [. . .] Then we must give these two crafts, as well as those having to do with warfare, to the women also to use in the same way as the men use them” (451e, 452a). Because Socrates believes that nature is defined by capacities, men and women aren’t to be separated biologically but rather by their capabilities as members of the working and warrior classes. To ensure that each man and women’s capacities are truly recognized they must be educated in the same fashion so as not to create an intelligence and job potential rift between the sexes. In this way education has brought men and women to an equal playing field, despite their apparent biological differences.

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

The Transcontinental railroad could be interpreted as the most memorable change in America in the 19th century. The railroad played an important role in the westward expansion and on the progression and development for the American economy. When America had acquired the West, the need for adequate transportation rose considerably. Suggestions dispersed about a railroad that would scope across the continent from East to West. Republican congresses ruled for the federal funding of railroad construction, however, all actions were on a standstill for a few years because of the Civil War. In the wake of the American Civil War of 1861-1865, the rush to put together the transcontinental railroad went underway in 1866. President Abraham Lincoln permitted the Pacific Railway Act of 1862, allowing two railroad companies the right to construct the first ever American transcontinental railroad. While there are several industries, which have left an indelible mark on California and may be more associated with California in the twentieth century, however no industry has had a greater impact on the American development of

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.

In Athens, there was a lot of opportunity for a male. An Athenian male could become a scholar, poet, politician, or pretty much anything they wanted; but females on the other hand, didn 't have that power. Men was under the understanding that females were incapable of making reasonable decisions in the political world. The idea of gender equality was non-existent in the Athens society. As said by Historian Don Nardo “throughout antiquity most Greek women had few or no civil rights and many enjoyed little freedom of choice or mobility.” He also stated “aside from poetry, women’s writing survives only in private letters written on papyrus preserved by ancient of nature, only from Hellenistic and Roman Egypt.” (O’Pry 2012) Women in the Athens society that were in an upper class were

It's like Hillary's worse nightmare come true, her "Basket of Deplorables" has taken on a life of it's own and instead of outrage from the right... For probably the first time ever, we love Hillary.

It may be argued that the notion of child abuse is socially constructed, in other words the definition changes over time and it may even be different from one culture/country to the next, it is ‘a product of a particular culture and context and not an absolutely unchanging phenomenon’ (Corby, 1993, p.39). For example, in the UK in the 1980’s there were four types of abuse, in 1988 there were five and in 1991 they were back to four. For example, work into child protection emerged in the 1960’s and so if this was the case Corby (1993) asks if child abuse did not exist before this or was it undiscovered? Corby (1993) speaks of ‘a conspiracy of silence’ as the NSPCC were reluctant to highlight cases of sexual abuse in the same manner as

The statement that the two sexes are not different in kind but only in degree, woman is the weaker man - always inferior in capacity (Book V, 454e), is problematic in itself. Women are associated with men in all human activities, but that association is not one of equals (Book V, 454e). Everywhere, women are only secondary if at all "women". Remarkably, Plato comes to the conclusion that females are first and foremost human beings, even if decidedly inferior human beings, when evaluated according to their ability to engage in characteristics human activities" (Book V, 454e). In addition, Plato considered the differences among members of the same sex far greater than average differences between the sexes in all the relevant aspects to the guidance of an ideal society" (Bluestone188). Plato intends that the guardian class should be composed of both men and women. He maintains that there is nothing in female nature to prevent women's participation, arguing, "there is no way of life concerned with the management of the city that belongs to a woman because she is a woman or to a men because he is a men, but the various natures are distributed in the same way in both

In the world of Ancient Greece, a large array of deities were worshipped. Each god had their own forms of identification in which they used to express themselves. This includes things such as personality, style, sexuality, and many other things. One of these forms of expression was gender. The Greeks seemed to focus more on the two typical genders, which are male and female. Some Greek gods seemed to play into certain gender roles, but others portrayed traits of the opposite sex. In this paper, I will be analysing the possibility that the Greeks believed the female and male genders were closely connected and that is why many of the gods are described with blended aspects of gender.

As women and men in today’s Western culture understand, it is important to have diversity among groups of people - not only Gender based, but people of different religion and ethnicity. In Canadian society, it would be criticized to have an all-male Cabinet in Parliament, so therefore “if women are to have the same duties as men, they must have the same nurture and education.” (Socrates, p61). Socrates does well in understanding the argument for equal education and opportunity, which is expected to help women succeed at what is characterized as a man’s job. Socrates argues that only good qualities matched with similar capacity will breed favorable offspring (Socrates, p64), as we know now, genetics plays some role with physical ability, however, less so with intellect, courage, and self-control. I believe that the traits above are taught through learning by exposure to circumstances and experience. Socrates uses the example of military, explaining that exposure to death and bravery at a young age will encourage acceptance of war, he also states that this will encourage learning through experience (Socrates, p72).

It wasn’t until the Greek and Roman empires that gender roles in society really started to widen the gap between males and females. The combination of a growing belief of women as servants and the impact of mythology on culture culminated in a “gender specific code of conduct” (Evans). In Greek mythology (coincidentally written by men), the Hesiod’s Theogony (The Birth of the Gods) played a tremendous role in the status of man and woman (Mason). In Theogony (The Birth of the Gods), Prometheus lives in a world of only men where life was great. There was no work and all leisure. Prometheus makes the Gods