Gender Roles In Ancient Greece

From Ancient Greece to the 21st century, there is still a continuation of sexual division because of set norms and hierarchical standards. Even as time passes, conventional gender roles that Greek philosophers established are still visible in present day, such as when media portrayed Thomas Beatie as a dominant male figure even though he was having a child. Society needs to have strict division roles between the sexes because it’s the only way of having control over emerging generations. Men are portrayed as the dominant gender that are incapable of doing harm, while women only have a single role of being child bearers. However, there have been minor alterations to the gender norms, such as males beginning to play a significant role in their
While there have been changes in the male gender, the representation of females continues to stay the same just as it was in Ancient Greece. In 420 to 348 B.C. Plato’s Timaeus addressed the distinct sexual differences and desires between males and females through a gender-biased perspective. Timaeus mentioned a transformation in men who “proved themselves cowardly and spent their lives in wrong doing were transformed at their second incarnation into women.” Society attributed characteristics of weakness and cowardice feminine, so males who failed to achieve their masculine gender roles must be women. Timaeus is criticizing not only males that have more emotional tendencies, but at the same time condemning females because the norm for them was to be emotional creatures.
Additionally, he goes on to explain that if females do not engage in sexual encounters and do not become seed holders then their “womb… is an indwelling creature desirous of child bearing – [but if it] remains without fruit long beyond due season, it is vexed and takes it ill… [causing] all maladies.” Since the only female role in this time period is to have children and serve as vessels of seeds, then it is acceptable that they expect females to suffer greatly by not engaging in their custom of bearing children. Women are belittled entirely in Ancient Greece by only having a single purpose of having children. If they were to go insane, it would justifiable because they are only needed for reproductive purposes. Timaeus’ audience is all the citizens of Ancient Greece because he wants them to understand what is expected of them and what role they play in