Women During The Period Of The Greeks

Greek Woman was considered to be submissive which means once you are married to a woman, then she is in your full control. The woman in ancient was not allowed to own the property, in one way we can also relate that the woman had fewer rights than the man because they could hardly express their feeling. The woman was not considered as the citizens.

Throughout history, most societies held women in an inferior status compared to that of men. This was often justified as being the natural result of biological differences between the sexes. In many societies, for example, people believed women to be more emotional and less decisive than men. Women were also viewed to be less intelligent and less creative by nature. However, research shows that women and men have the same range of emotional, intellectual, and creative characteristics. Many sociologists and anthropologists maintain that various cultures taught girls to behave according to negative stereotypes (images) of femininity, thus keeping alive the idea that women are naturally inferior.

Similar to the lives of women in other ancient civilisations, Ancient Greek women’s lack of independence was largely a result of the patriarchal ideology of their society. Although contemporary evidence suggests that ancient depictions of women lack some credibility in their assertions, the weight of evidence reveals that while Greek women were socially and economically secure in marriage, the ideal image valued by Greek culture, one of humility and domesticity, meant that women exerted little legal, political and social influence. Despite doubts about their accuracy, ancient evidence shows that women, in accordance with the bigoted Greek society’s idealised view, enjoyed a degree of responsibility within their household, but had little independence in the wider community.

I realized how powerful women are on my 10th birthday. After an eventful day that consisted of everlasting hugs and conventional speeches about how much I had grown during the past ten years, my grandfather and I found ourselves sitting outside on the balcony alone, capturing the infinite darkness of the woods and hearing the humming sounds of the wind chimes. As if the age of ten had suddenly turned me into an adult, my grandfather began to give me advice on women: “Women love diamonds”, “women love flowers”, “women will fall in love with you if you grow up to be a man with an abundance of money”. Above all, however, he emphasized one idea: he told me that the ideal woman to marry is one who is less than me – less intelligent than me, less

From hunter-gathering societies to the Roman Empire, women all over the world have had varying status. This status has fluctuated based on the culture of each society. Culture itself is influenced by time, location, need and beliefs of the people. The great contrasts of women’s status can be seen with hunter-gatherers, Greek civilizations, and Roman civilizations. It is truly astounding to see how the same group of people are generally degraded and treated so differently throughout history.

The roles and status of women in ancient Greece are hard to asses since there is very little evidence from that period written or illustrated from a women’s perspective. Most literature and art from ancient Greece comes from men, thus making it hard to evaluate exactly what it was like to live has a women in those times. Sarah Pomeroy states in Goddesses, whores, wives and salves: women in classical antiquity "the study of women in ancient literature is the study of men's views of women and cannot become anything else." . This viewpoint is supported by many scholars in as stated in Ideology and “the status of Women” in Ancient Greece by Marilyn Katz. (pg 79) Pomeroy also suggest that This indisputable fact about ancient sources -of

Since the beginning of recorded history, there is evidence that women had a much, much lower status in society than men. It is reported in Ancient Greece as early as 400 BC, that society actively cultivated the demeaning role of women. They endured many difficulties and hardships especially in the three main areas of marriage, inheritance, and social life. Many believe this ancient culture and treatment of women molded what society still views as the submissive role for females. Our word for “marriage” can be traced to ancient Athenian legal definitions. Ekdosis is the giving the hand of the women into marriage by her master or lord. It was seen as a meeting between the fathers of the young couple based on the needs and best interests of the senior men, with little concern for the thoughts of the groom and absolutely none for the wishes of the girl(Marriage,n.d.).

In Ancient Greece, when a family was expecting, it was completely undesirable to have a girl. Greeks did not want girls because females were looked upon as weak, and considering that this time in history was primarily "violent" or "war-like," they wanted to strengthen their army - which was all male. Greeks thought that baby boys would grow into men that would be able to carry more responsibility than women.

From the role of the guileful seducer, to the dutiful housewife, to the furious feminist, women were a central point of Ancient Greek society. Although they were declined legal status and held no political voice, the roles they played in their society were undeniably important. The women of the society functioned as the conferrer of life, established a family which was held as the center of Greek life, and managed the home. Women of that time may have been seen and thought to be have little worth than a man of that time, nevertheless their unquestionable power and influence in society cannot be gone unnoticed. As we see the main character a.k.a the protagonist Medea, in the book Medea.

Women in Ancient Greek and Roman culture usually had the role of looking after the home and the children. Women were not allowed to attend any political events. Respectable women were able to wear a long dress as a sign to others that she is a good woman. If the woman were not respectable, such as a prostitute, she would wear a toga, which would embarrass the women. Men were obviously more idealized by Romans and women had less a role.

Traditionally, women in history have held the status of a second class citizen. In ancient Jewish society, a woman’s role was to raise the children and take care of the home and family. Sex was for the pleasure of the male only. Men were permitted to have multiple wives and women did not have the right to seek a divorce. In ancient Greek society, woman had only 2 roles, wife and mother. Women, at least those that were not hetaerae, were not educated beyond the knowledge necessary to maintain the household. Ancient Roman society saw a rise in the status of women. In this society the concept of bi-humanity, what was good for one sex was good for the other, was developed. Roman law, unlike the previous examples, allowed women to own property, hold elected offices and obtain a divorce if desired. Sex in ancient Roman times was not only for procreation, but also recreation. Sex was considered to be natural and to be enjoyed by both sexes. The rise of the Christian family led to the decline in the status of women. The early Christian family believe it was better to remain single and chaste, however if one could not control oneself then marriage was a necessity. Sex was for procreation only, period. Sex was not to be recreational, or enjoyed by either party. Early

The role of women during history is always important subject. Women have been struggling during centuries to find their positions in the different societies. They are the important asset for each society as their contributions makes a family and family builds a society. In the past, women are considered as wives who were responsible to clean, cook and take care of the children and women did not have enough ability and right to make decision without their men ‘s approval but in these days, they play the bigger role than wives in the societies. During the history, money has a strong relation with power. In the past, they believed a person who brings money to home, they had more power therefore men had more power and they treated women as their own property but in the modern societies, many people do not accept men as stronger gender. They have more positive perspective about women. There are many stories that explain women’s dependent personality and women’s weakness before 19th century like prohibition of women‘s suffrage and prohibition of women’s social rights.

“Women are not equal to men in their physicality nor their mentality. By nature, man is superior and woman inferior, the male ruler and the female subject.” Aristotle argued.

Since the beginning of the Greek civilization, women have been seen has objects; docile, passive figures who are held at the mercy of men. (Buckingham-Haitfield) While women were supposed to stay within the household, men took control of the world slowly destroying the planet with toxic and hazardous chemicals. The image of women has been this way for centuries, with very little change up until past hundred years. Women began to fight back against the social construct and took matters in their own hands. They began to fight for their social independence, no longer did women want to be seen as passive and docile; they want to be strong and active within their community and especially their environment. Many women take charge by creating environmental

Clark (2000) “Women, Gender, and Religion,” talks about how the Ancient Greeks believe men and women were two different species. Men are the superior and women are the inferior. Clark says {“Greek medical writers differ in their ideas about male and female bodies. The Hippocratic school presented men and women as separate species (what we might call a “two sex” model),’ whereas Aristotle considered women to be, ‘Imperfect or defective men in what has been termed a ‘one sex’ model. Women lacked the firm control of bodily boundaries that men had. Women changed shape during pregnancy, and they leaked: blood, tears, and emotion. ‘Since woman does not bound herself, she must be bounded.’ This is achieved by organization of her space, prescription of her gestures, ordering of her rituals, imposition of headgear, attendants, and other trappings.”} This describes women as a completely different and weak species, which have no control over who they are. They are fragmented beings. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, believed that the way to “bound” the female species was by trapping