Women's Role in History
Women’s Role in History
Karly Turner
HIST 103 World Civilizations I
Instructor: Bruce Carruthers
March 18, 2013
To the present without women many cultures would not have evolved. Women were the background in each and every aspect of life’s developments. Women were a very important key factor in societies. From the beginning of history there have been women who have worked hard within societies to achieve a greater social, political, and economic involvement. To strive for rights, women formed political groups called Feminist movements.
Throughout history, most societies held women in an inferior status compared to that of a man. This was often justified as being the result of biological differences between men and women. In many societies, people believed women to be more emotional and less decisive than men. Women were viewed to be less intelligent and less creative by nature. In ancient Rome, the Athens women 's primary role was to manage the household affairs. Women could not hold public office. Men in Athens and Romans were dominated as head of the household. But the Romans developed a system of government based on the authority and leadership of a noble class that included not only statesmen and military leaders, but also the matrons of leading Roman families (Mahdavi, 2012).
Upper-class women gained greater control over their property and over marriage decisions. But, even these women could not vote or hold public office. The lives of most of these women were centered around their households. In the Greek city-state of Athens from about 500 to 300 B.C., women raised children and managed the spinning, weaving, and cooking in the household (Mahdavi, 2012). Wealthy women supervised slaves in these tasks, but they also did some of the work themselves. Respectable Athenian women seldom left their homes. Only men could purchase goods or engage in soldiering, lawmaking, and public speaking. Roman and Greek women lived in a world with strict gender roles.
Karly Turner
HIST 103 World Civilizations I
Instructor: Bruce Carruthers
March 18, 2013
To the present without women many cultures would not have evolved. Women were the background in each and every aspect of life’s developments. Women were a very important key factor in societies. From the beginning of history there have been women who have worked hard within societies to achieve a greater social, political, and economic involvement. To strive for rights, women formed political groups called Feminist movements.
Throughout history, most societies held women in an inferior status compared to that of a man. This was often justified as being the result of biological differences between men and women. In many societies, people believed women to be more emotional and less decisive than men. Women were viewed to be less intelligent and less creative by nature. In ancient Rome, the Athens women 's primary role was to manage the household affairs. Women could not hold public office. Men in Athens and Romans were dominated as head of the household. But the Romans developed a system of government based on the authority and leadership of a noble class that included not only statesmen and military leaders, but also the matrons of leading Roman families (Mahdavi, 2012).
Upper-class women gained greater control over their property and over marriage decisions. But, even these women could not vote or hold public office. The lives of most of these women were centered around their households. In the Greek city-state of Athens from about 500 to 300 B.C., women raised children and managed the spinning, weaving, and cooking in the household (Mahdavi, 2012). Wealthy women supervised slaves in these tasks, but they also did some of the work themselves. Respectable Athenian women seldom left their homes. Only men could purchase goods or engage in soldiering, lawmaking, and public speaking. Roman and Greek women lived in a world with strict gender roles.
References: Chao, B. Z. P. (c. 80 CE). Lessons for a woman. Retrieved from http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/banzhao.html Hammurabi. (c. 1780 BCE). Code of Hammurabi (L.W. King, Trans.). Retrieved from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/hamcode.asp Maynes, M. J. & Waltner, A. (2001). Women 's life-cycle transitions in a world history perspective: Comparing marriage in China and Europe. Journal of Women 's History 12 (4), 11-21. Retrieved from the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Online Library Muhammad. (n.d.). Surah 4 (M.S. Ali, Trans.). In M.G. Farid (Ed.), The Qur’an. Retrieved from http://www.muslimaccess.com/quraan/arabic/004.asp