...Gender Roles in Ancient Greece and Rome Mary Wright HUM/100 November25, 2013 Ryan Roark Gender Roles in Ancient Greece and Rome In ancient Greece and Rome the roles of each gender played a significant part of the history that we learn of today. Each gender had particular a different role in the ancient times of both of these empires. Men and women were valued for different reasons and had different responsibilities and duties that they were to uphold. Today those roles are not thought of as the same, the gender roles have pretty well evened out. In Athens women were looked greatly upon to not gossip amongst themselves, to keep their homes neat and tidy, for giving birth to legitimate children. This is how they were valued, based upon how well they did each of these duties. Unfortunately, women in Greece were not considered as citizens. In these times, the father had rights over his daughter. After marriage a father had the right to ask for his daughters return. Women in Greece often were kept at home and could own their own property but was not allowed to sell or dispose of her property. In Rome, women were more free as they were able to own their own property as well as sell or dispose of their property. Women also were free to go about where she liked, they were not kept at home out of sight. As to where women in ancient Greece belonged to their father, women in Rome were subject to the dominant male role in her birth house or if she was married that...
Words: 879 - Pages: 4
...Throughout history, the role of Chinese women has changed dramatically. In ancient times women were mutilated with painful foot bindings and forced to marry men of their family’s choosing at very young ages. Today, Chinese women have received world-class educations alongside their male counterparts and command high power roles in business, politics, the sciences and other industries. Chinese men and woman now work side by side in most modern Chinese cities, however; this trend does not hold true for women living in rural Chinese villages. Gender roles in modern China have come leaps and bounds from where they were in ancient times, yet women in rural China still follow traditional guidelines. Women in China have worked hard over the past century to reach where they are today. The change in gender roles was sparked by China’s republic years. During this time, women in large cites were able to seek formal education and even travel to the west to receive it. Communism, although a questionable form of government, ended the distinction between men and women and finally allowed women to break out of their defined gender role. Women stepped up and took positions of political power and for the first time received influences from outside cultures. New laws have been enacted calling for equality in education, marriage, and rights, but a large group of women do not receive these benefits. Women in rural Chinese villages do not see the advances in gender roles that women in the city...
Words: 465 - Pages: 2
...The roles of women in ancient Greek tragedies . The ancient Greek society was a society dominated by men, even the plays and proses mostly constituted of heroics of men, like Hercules, Achilles and many other. In such societies , women were considered to be frail and were expected to be submissive to men, a prize of war for victors, and their main role was to support their husbands. However, in many tragedies, women were often depicted as major characters, inkling that women may not have been the weak the submissive characters as they were thought to be. Many well-known Greek plays contained several well-written, complex, and heroic female characters. Each female character took upon herself, the role of villain, the role of victim, and the role of heroine. The tragedies also revealed the problems women encountered in this era within marriage, inheritance and social life when they attempted to break out of their traditional gender roles. Clytemnestra, daughter of Leda and Tyndareus, was probably one of the most recognizable female villains in history due to her partaking in the murder of her husband Agamemnon and his female consort, Cassandra. . in the play Agamemnon by Aeschylus, she was depicted as brutal, treacherous, and cunning woman. Her speeches made the citizens and the audiences to be well-aware of how she would welcome her husband home. “Let there spring up into the house he never hoped To see, where justice leads him in, a crimson path. In all things...
Words: 2094 - Pages: 9
...personal identity. There has been much attention given to the role of sports in the lives of men than to the importance of sports to women. The twentieth century saw a massive change in women’s involvement in sport and exercise. When women first began to take part in activities, they had nothing to wear. Clothing had been divided into menswear and womenswear. Men and women dressed appropriately for their sex. In ancient times and the late nineteenth and early twentieth century sport took place in the public sphere and in public women were expected to wear the fashion of the time. Women’s clothing for sport was by definition clothing for interaction with men....
Words: 511 - Pages: 3
...Blackstone gender is defined as a constructed individual, interactional, and structural ways to create environmental constraints and opportunities that usually benefit men more than women. When most people think of gender they think of either a male or female. In some places it goes more into depth classifying it as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and social class. Gender roles can be confused with sex. It’s actually based on values and characteristics that people have described of the opposite...
Words: 901 - Pages: 4
...Over several years, women have overcome numerous hardships. Bearing the role of a woman it was expected for them to have been belittled and mistreated. Required to be obedient to their husbands and the rest of the men they come in contact with, women had only a few roles which mainly consisted of cooking cleaning and bearing children. During this era of time being a woman was a minority in itself let alone being inferior. Men were known to have a lack of respect for women, and would often treat them as if they were slaves. During the time of the Greeks Herodotus, Aeschylus, Euripides, and Aristophanes women were depicted as wise, powerful, revengeful and deceitful creatures. These four characteristics show the similarities and differences...
Words: 1308 - Pages: 6
...Men and women have always been different, each having there own strengths and weaknesses, never the less each gender has played a pivotal role in the development of the world we have today. Even though Gender equality has made huges leaps in progress over human history, it is shown in early civilizations the vast differences in the treatment and expectations of men and women. In this essay three primary source documents will be reviewed and analyzed, to clearly pinpoint the key similarities and differences regarding gender relations. Each source document will be relating to a different civilization at a different time. It is important to note that even in similar historical time frames gender roles ranged greatly from one civilization or empire...
Words: 883 - Pages: 4
...evolving society that represented greater gender equality and independence, in a time where it was uncommon in...
Words: 1017 - Pages: 5
...Review Chapter 7; Chapter 8; Chapter 9 I. Gender roles A. Gender roles are sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as a male or female. However, there is much evidence showing that gender roles have more to do with social status then biology II. The Women Question A. What is the root of patriarchy? III. Patriarchy A. A nearly universal system involving the subordination of femininity to masculinity B. A wide range of theories and approaches have been applied to the study of gender, including structural functionalism, psychoanalytic theory, conflict theory C. Each perspective has contributed to our understanding of gender differences, gender roles, and this complex and fundamental social institution IV. Structural functionalism A. Theoretical tradition claiming that every society has certain structures(the family, the division of labor, or gender) which exist in order to fulfill some set of functions(Reproduction of the species, production of goods, etc). B. A structural functionalist approach to studying gender assumes that gender differences exist to fulfill necessary functions in society V. Sex role theory A. Talcott Parson’s theory that men and women perform their sex roles as breadwinners and wives/mothers, respectively, because the nuclear family is the ideal arrangement in modern societies, fulfilling the function of reproducing workers VI. Limitation A. Their theory doesn’t allow for the possibility...
Words: 1375 - Pages: 6
...A Theater for Everyone When a play is performed, the theater is filled with spectators of all races, genders, and backgrounds. Most theaters target the vast majority of the populous using broad ideas and plots we’ve seen before in movies and other theaters. However, since the 1960’s a great number of theaters have been formed devoted to plays by and about specific ethnic, gender, and political groups. These theaters have many different purposes and the plays performed are altered in ways they may reach different people. Plays make money by corralling people in a theater and appealing to their senses in different ways. But, these plays and theaters must attract as many different people as possible in order to make a good profit. Plays like Twelve Angry Men have been altered in some theaters to incorporate women roles in order to appeal to a specific gender. Seeing as though fifty percent of the world is composed of women, a play with all male roles seems a bit outdated. Twelve Angry Men has had it’s name altered to Twelve Angry Jurors in order to add women roles to the jury and even the main character. Gender is a big factor in playwriting. Women enjoy plays as much as men do and diversifying roles is a good way to bring more women into the theater thus increasing profit. Profit is not the only reason for reaching out to specific genders. The Weird Sisters Women’s Theater Collective is based in Austin, Texas and is dedicated to promoting women in Theater and other arts...
Words: 879 - Pages: 4
...Long Essay #1 09 March 2016 Ambiguous Roles Throughout centuries women have tried to be equal to men, from their position in the workplace to voting rights, women have struggled to obtain the power that men withhold. In the ancient society, many would say that women had no power, but after reading The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey it revealed that the role of women is actually very diverse. In some readings, women play little to no role at all, but in others, women demonstrate their power and play vital roles. During this era, women endured many difficulties which had ultimately shaped them into a submissive figure. While women were not the most influential gods, nor the strongest or intelligent humans,...
Words: 1249 - Pages: 5
...Evaluation Essay on Gender in Advertising Gender differences and biases have been a part of the normal lives of humans ever since anyone can remember. Anthropological evidence has revealed that even the humans and the hominids of ancient times had separate roles for men and women in their societies, and this relates to the concepts of epistemology. There were certain things that women were forbidden to do and similarly men could not partake in some of the activities that were traditionally reserved for women. This has given birth to the gender role stereotypes that we find today. These differences have been passed on to our current times; although many differences occur now that have caused a lot of debate amongst the people as to their appropriateness and have made it possible for us to have a stereotyping threat by which we sometimes assign certain qualities to certain people without thinking. For example, many men are blamed for undermining women and stereotyping them for traditional roles, and this could be said to be the same for men; men are also stereotyped in many of their roles. This leads to social constructionism since the reality is not always depicted by what we see by our eyes. These ideas have also carried on in the world of advertising and the differences shown between the males and the females are apparent in many advertisements we see today. This can have some serious impacts on the society as people begin to stereotype the gender roles in reality. There has...
Words: 811 - Pages: 4
...to read and write as well as to count and draw. Having a physically fit body was important to the Greeks so Greek boys would start Physical Education during elementary. In modern world Education is a little different from ancient Greece but not by much children still are put under guidance by having teachers and still have Gym or Physical Education classes (P.E.). In ancient Greece was the Olympic games which is one of the oldest religious and sport festivals in the world, the games were help in Olympia, Greece and were held to honor the Chief God Zeus and even had ritualistic sacrifices there are some similarities to the games we now know in the modern world Olympic Games instead of brutal fights with bloodshed and loss of life, we still do Sporting games such as distance running, disk throwing, javelin, and wrestling. Gender Roles in ancient Greece were way different back then. Woman and men had their own respective roles in society. The women were supposed to have kids and stay home to take care of the family and household. This isn’t so different from today’s House moms who take care of the family while their husband works, but most women today have respectable careers and some husband even take the role of taking care of the kids and house. In ancient Greece woman didn’t have any rights men had all the power. It took a long while but woman in today’s modern world are well respected and have the same amount of rights as men now, we might even get a female...
Words: 303 - Pages: 2
...Global Issue response must be on one or more of the plays we have read in this course and the surrounding culture of 5th Century BCE Athens and Greece. _____ Describe and analyze a culture or society outside the United States, or describe and analyze some part or aspect of this culture or society in relation to the wider culture or society of which it is a part. (Choose this outcome for a topic that relates to the entire culture, such as religion, customs, and political structures.) __X___ Identify and analyze cultural or social diversity in a culture or society that is found outside the United States. (Choose this outcome for a topic that relates to some form of diversity within the culture, such as issues involving race, class, or gender.) Identify, in a sentence or two, your specific Global Issue topic and how this topic relates to the learning outcome you have selected and to your specific play(s) and the culture of 5th Century BCE Athens and Greece. Here is where you identify the specific Global Issue topic that is the subject of your response, which is the specific “part or aspect of this culture or society,” or “cultural or social diversity in [this] culture or society” you are...
Words: 1381 - Pages: 6
...Themes from Ancient Cultures: Greece and Rome A gender role is something that decides what role the man will play in society, and what role the woman will play in society. These roles can include the position, status, activities, and behavior that is appropriate for one’s sex. The roles of men and women have always been different, and they have generally been expected to have different attitudes and thoughts. Social aspects are reflected by behavior, and the idea that specific behavior is naturally tied to the biological sex of a person is challenged by these social aspects. The word “role” can be reducing because it indicates that something is strongly characterized, but gender roles are specific to culture and history, and the roles do change over time. Gender roles have stayed fairly regular over the course of time, such as women being the sole custodian of the children, many of the roles have changed. It is necessary to know that gender roles can be explained in different ways depending on the culture and background of a specific people. Some cultures feel as if the woman should stay home and take care of the children and the home, while other cultures may feel that the woman should be out making money to help support the family. Even today some cultures believe that women should not be independent or build a family for themselves. Some expectations of gender roles even still prohibit women the right to vote or try to be equal to men. The specifics of gender roles are not determined...
Words: 841 - Pages: 4
