Women in society

w The status of women in Ancient Greece

In the ancient greece the status of women varied from a city state to another.

In the ancient athens, women had no legal personhood, they were  under the guardianship of their father or other male relative, that is to say they were not considered full citizen.

By contrast, in ancient Athenianc democracy, spartian women even if they were excluded from political life they enjoyed the statuts of mothers of spartain warriors,they had the right to loof after their estates when their husband were engaged in war and they were owners of propreties.

Besides, girls had equal chance, like boys to education.They would enjoy themselves outdoors unlike Atheninans women who were prevented from this privilege/right.

Plato said that women had not to participate in civile and political life for fear thats that right would alter the nature of household and the estate.

Aristote, althought he denied that women were slaves or subject to property, he argued that woman’s duty is to safeguard her husband’s household. 

« the art of household management is not identical with the art of getting wealth for the one uses the material which the other provides »

Contrary to these wiews, the synic and the stoic had developped different philosophies :

-The synic considered that men and women should have the same education, and saw marriage as not a biological or social necessity but rather companionship between equals/

-The stoic argued that inequality between man and woman is a contrast to the law of nature. Both of them adopted a strong philosophy based on sexual egalitarianism.

Women in Ancient Rome

During that period, women considered as weak minded to practice law and to decide on political matters. They could not vote, hold public offices or had further education( education was limited to primary school) However the woman of the upper class would.

Besides, only freeborn women were citizens, the slaves and non  citizens were not.

NB :The woman who went beyond that leve of education was Hy Oartia of Alexandra she thaught advandes courses and was the advisor of the Roman perfect of Egypt on politics, she had a violent death, in other words she was assassinated ( it is a form of violence against women who had political influence)

The middle Ages

Women were the subject of all sorts of violence oppression and restrictions. They suffered from injustice and inequality with an exception for ANglo-saxons women who were given a relative freedom.

Even if that many aerican and english precgers believed that women and men are equal => women had neither the right to choose nor to decide, the only law that dominated the society is the Patriarechal order.

The 18th and 19th century

In those centuries, the concept of rights was given a political and social importance. There were movements which demanded freedom of religion, universal siffrage and the abolition of slavery. Inspite of the fact that woman’s rights became central in France and Britain some philosopher, especially Jean Jacques Rousseau who fought fro humans rights, thought that women should not look for equality with men. He wrote « Women do wrong to claim of the inequality of man-made law »

In 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was published. It said that these principles should be applied only to their gender « men are equal born and remain free and equal in rights » This declaration was criticized bu the politician De Gouges who published the Declaration of the Rights of women and female citizen, it states « women are born free and remain equal to men in rights »  She also rectified the declaration by expanding the sixth article « All citizens including women are equally admissible to all public dignities, offices and employment (…) with no other disctinction… »

Many wollstoncraft, a british writer and philosopher was against gender oppression and inequal opportunities. She argued that man and woman were alike, that is to say, they had the samed moral and rational capacities, she also demanded « justice » and « rights to humanity ».

In the 1£9th century, the 1st aim of women’s ovement was the right to vote and participate in making law. wOmen were prohibited from voting till 1£918 when a bill passed allowing women over the age of thirty to vote ( New zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote on a national level). Today, suffrage is considered a right under the Convention on The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

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