Describe the lives of women in Ancient Greece and whether class or geography contributed to significant changes in their rights.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Women were largely in a subordinate status in most Greek polis as a result of a patriarchal system, gender segregation, and the belief men had that women were incapable of understanding higher concepts such as love. A woman's place was in the home, regardless of social status, although poor and lower-class women worked outside the home. Women were expected to marry at a young age and have children. They could not own property, have voting rights, or be able to allocate the use of money within a household. As children, boys were preferred and girls were often left out in the open, and could be picked up and enslaved as unwanted. A difference in classes meant that well-to-do women would never appear in public unchaperoned by a male, even if it was a boy. Otherwise the only public participation for well-to-do women was in religious ceremonies. Poor women and slaves could appear in public unaccompanied, but were often treated poorly. In Sparta, by contrast, women possessed a much higher status than in Athens, with the perception that they were giving life to warriors. Spartan women married at 18, compared to 14 in most other polis. They could appear in public and participate in politics (although not hold office). Finally, women in Sparta were able to inherit property.