Roles Of Women In Classical Civilization Essay

Women were viewed as inferior in both societies. Ban Zhao’s Lessons for Women defined the role of women in Han China with dictated customs and traditions. Confucius stated that a women was submitted to the will of a man all her life. Women didn’t own property nor were they educated. The Gupta Empire also believed that women were subject to a man for their entire lives.

While the role and treatment of women in China and Persia were alike in that they were inferior to the men because of the patriarchal societies at the time. They differed in that woman in Persia had a greater role in government while women in China were overshadowed by the men in all aspects of society due to Confucius beliefs and filial piety. Unlike the male-dominated societies during this time, Persian women were viewed as important assets in Persian society and were given equality in almost all aspects of life, such as the military, business, religion, ruling and marriage. However, men held higher positions than women. In this current patriarchal world, women were expected to marry and have children, but in Persia, woman did not have

Women were treated a lot differently than men were. Men controlled everything that went on. They made all of the decisions, and women did not have a say over

Women rarely held any job positons, while men did all the working. Boys were allowed to go to school and learn to read and write to further their education. Girls on the other hand, had to stay home and learn the everyday ideals the would be expected of them. Girls must learn how to clean properly and had to tend to the children that they created. They were in charge

Men believed that women served only one purpose which was to take care of the household. Being a wife and a mother was considered

Different societies view women in different lights. Therefore, a woman’s position is greatly different from one society to the other. The societies in question do not necessarily have to exist at the same time. Even in the same time frame, two societies could exist, where one treat women as equals to men, and another that treats women differently than men, whether better or worse. The societies in question are: Mesopotamia, Greece, China, Rome & Europe, and this essay aims to study different societies’ viewpoints on women, and to compare and contrast them against each other.

Introduction Women in the Middle ages were treated as the second class members within their social class. They were taught to be obedient to their husbands and were expected to run the household and raise children. Their role in the society, however, was much more complex, while some medieval women achieved a high level of equality with men. In the Middle Ages women had a secondary role, coming second after men.

The treatment of women has been a topic all throughout history. Women would be treated as lesser beings compared to men. Back in 430 b.c when Oedipus Rex took place, women were not treated equally by men in power. An example of this is when King Laius died, Jocasta did not become the ruler. She had to wait for someone to marry her to have a new ruler.

Women of the Medieval Times Women have always had a significant role in history even though they were treated horrible in most cases. During the Medieval Times was really the first time women were allowed to become more than just a house wife. The fight for equality has always been a struggle and even in today’s society is still an ongoing battle. Although women of lower and middle class were treated poorly in the Medieval Times, some powerful women held great responsibility and were looked up too by both men and children; despite being admired, “men were thought to be not only physically stronger but more emotionally stable, more intelligent, and morally less feeble” (Hopkins 5). “The position of women in the Medieval Society was greatly influenced by the views of the Roman Catholic Church” (Heeve).

The effect of this was this became the dominate role for women and all the women did was have babies, take care of children, and certain task they were assigned for example cooking or gathering water. Another piece of evidence to support this is how even though the men had more priority over women some women had accepted this lesser role over time. “Although there were clear disadvantages to women, paradoxically, many of them enjoyed being provided for and complied to the female gender roles that had be reinforced within the group for years. As these expectations had been accepted as traditional, gender roles and stereotypes were internalized to the point where the men and women rarely butted heads over what had become social norms”. - http://ibthingsfallapart.weebly.com/children-and-gender-roles.html.

Throughout the 16th century Reformation through the Enlightenment in the 18th century, was a period of time that saw both change and continuation in European society. One of the biggest examples of this was the role of women and how they should function in European society. Women in this era faced a large amount of hardships and obstacles from great leaders and philosophers such as Martin Luther and Immanuel Kant, who were both against the equality of women to men at this time. From the time period of the 16th century Reformation all the way up to the Enlightenment in the 18th century, the women of Europe were viewed as fragile and unworkable women whose main priority and purpose should only be being a housewife. As time progressed, women

Role of Women in Ancient Empires Throughout the modern world, we mention the concept of equality between men and women and try to equalize their positions in society. It is illogical for women to ask and try to prove that they are equal with men because equality is something that are already given to humanity, but contradicting the role of women by men is what created the gap between them. By looking at history, we can say that accomplishing that goal of making their position equal is not easy.

Back in time, women were not treated the same way as they are today. Education was not a basic right for women. In fact they usually had no education whatsoever. Women had the job of running the household. They were to stay home, do housework, cook for their husbands, and raise their children.

EARLY MODERN EUROPE' NOTION ABOUT WOMEN In order to understand the position of women in Early Modern Europe, firstly we need to understand the society of this period. The society took place in Early Modern Europe was the patriarchy.

The women in the empire were given high position and honor. They enjoyed the social and legal freedom and were always treated with high