Rise Of Women In Ancient Greece

"In politics if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman." (-Margaret Thatcher). History is told from a man's perspective. Powerful women are often viewed as novelties, and history itself is rarely explored from a female perspective. Why is so little thought given to the women that raised the men who shaped our world as it is today? Why is only slightly more thought given to the women in power that made and continue to make the world a more livable place for women (and men) everywhere? Despite the relapses that occurred throughout history, women's roles in general are on the rise; that is, women's influence and importance in world affairs and society have been gradually increasing over time. The steady rise
In his article "The Rise of Women in Ancient Greece," Michael Scott says that after the Peloponnesian War, women in Athens "began to work outside the home," alongside the men, out of economic necessity, and in Sparta, many women owned land. He says women during this time wrote their own words, thereby showing that despite their inability to vote in Athens, they enjoyed a degree of literacy denied of even ancient Egyptian women and many women and girls in some countries in our modern world. Though they enjoyed little freedoms in Athens, Sparta offered women a certain degree of equality. Scott asserts that "Sparta […] brought its women perhaps more to the fore than any other city in mainland Greece;" women were given physical training and some even won Olympic games. Women also held positions of power on the coast of what is now western Turkey; take, for example, Queen Artemisia, who ruled for several years without a husband at her side after his death (Scott). Regardless of their second-class citizen status in Athens, women in ancient Greece did see an increase in their influence in city affairs, much like women today see increasing impact in world politics with the election of more women into executive positions, such as Germany's first female chancellor, Angela Merkel ("Angela Dorothea
Hundreds of female scientists have made discoveries that have changed the field of science forever. Take, for instance, Mary-Claire King, a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who discovered that breast cancer is heritable and that "chimpanzees and humans are 99 percent genetically alike," (Svitil) findings that people today consider to be common knowledge. Historically, there are female scientists such as Rosalind Franklin, whose studies of DNA fibers directly led to the identification of its structure ("Rosalind Elsie Franklin"), Marie Curie, recipient of two Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry and discoverer of the element radium (Women who Changed the World 80), and Dorothy Hodgkin, who also received a Nobel prize for chemistry and identified the structures of penicillin, vitamin B12, and insulin, allowing for these compounds to be mass-produced (Women who Changed the World 133). It is evident that the discoveries these women made continue to benefit humanity today, and also continue to inspire more girls to become scientists, expanding the overall influence women have on the sciences and the