Spartan Women Research Paper

Sparta was a society in which war was at its center. This militaristic lifestyle translated into the role of women being higher than that of other Greek women such as the Athenians. When a fellow Greek women asked the Spartan queen Gorgo, “Why is it that only Spartan women can rule men?” she replied, “Because we are the only women who give birth to men.” Her response here shows that Spartan women were brought up to be tough like their male counterparts. Spartan women had more freedoms than the Athenians. For example, unlike the “housebound life of the Athenian matron” , Spartan women were able to go out in public and even interact with other men. Despite both being Greek, women had very different roles to play in their societies. These differences

Sparta was the only Greek Polis to have and education system offered to both girls and boys. Cite While boys were out physically training to become Spartan soldiers, girls lived at home and were encouraged to spend time learning new things such as music and poetry. Cite , Cite every claim The goal of educating women was to “create mothers who would produce the best hoplites and mothers of hoplites...” (Pomeroy 4) . Even though their education system was not exactly built on equality as child bearing was still an important role for women, the Spartan women were at least given an education unlike the women of Athens. Cite Some Athenian philosophers, such as Plato were surprised upon hearing of the educational system in Sparta as they were completely different from those in Athens. In Plato’s Laws, he explains that the program included gymnastics as well as mousike, which was an art form that included music, dance, and poetry. Music and poetry were seen as a way of worshipping the Gods on Greece, and were seen as sacred acts that only few were allowed to do. So, seeing the participation of females in such sacred events demonstrates that they had social