Male VS. Female: The Argument of Every Err Gender rights are a prominent theme in many Classical Greek plays. Greek women were given no rights. They were not aloud out of the house with out a watchman, they were not aloud to have their own property and they were not granted citizenship. This is a repeated theme in many Greek plays.
Xenophon wrote, “Lycurgus thought that for free women the most important job was to bear children”. Marriage was unusual in Sparta; it was common for a married couple to keep their marriage a secret until the birth of their child. Women married around the age of 18, or when according to Plutarch, they were “ripe for it” – mentally and physically ready for motherhood. Spartan women naturally had very strong maternal instincts and were sought after in Athens as nannies. The role of rearing children was paramount and their relationship with their sons was not of the norm.
Describe the role and status of royal and non-royal women in Persia society of this period. Supported by many historians and sources found, the Persian empire during the reign of Darius and Xerxes was strongly patriarchal. This is evident through the lack of sources of women during that time as the images that exist are mostly of men. Many Greek writers such as Herodotus did mention and name some Persian women of the court but these accounts are coloured by Greek prejudices of the authors so can’t always be reliable source of evidence. Thus, understanding of women in Persia during the reign of Darius and Xerxes is limited as sources found only briefly add to our understanding of the economic and social roles of non-royal and royal women throughout the empire.
The Trojan War: Its Causes and Principle Actors The Trojan War was fought between the Trojans and the Greeks over the loss of one man and the gain on another. It all started with a royal wedding. Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons, was marrying a sea nymph named Thetis. Many of the gods were invited to attend but Eris, daughter of Zeus, was not. Being the goddess of discord and strife, she was bound to make trouble at the wedding.
They could also not hold important positions in public life and have no political rights because the world was dominated by men. For a woman to be considered a respectable woman, she was not seen or heard, she was docile, obedient and her place was in the home overlooking and partaking in daily operations of the household. However in The Odyssey women were prominent characters of power and wisdom instead of meek and subordinate figures who were clever and conning and at the same time seductive and sensual. Homer was a prominent poet in ancient Greece in 5th century B.C. who not only wrote The Odyssey, but also The Iliad, the story of Troy; but not much else is known about him.
Women are mentioned relatively few times in Iliad in comparison with the books devoted solely to the men. Women treated as an object: The Iliad began with an argument between Achilles and Agamemnon over Briseis, who was considered a war prize. Agamemnon's prize was Chryseis, the daughter of a priest of the god Apollo. Achilles' reward was a maiden named Briseis. Both women were taken against their will.
Moreover, what can one woman of Athens do by herself? Lysistrata assembled women from Athens, Sparta, and many other ancient Greek cities. Although the women came late to the meeting, they were anxious to her plan because they wanted the sex they had missed from their husbands. As Kleonike complained, “My husband’s been gone for the last five months!” (Aristophanes 14). Once united, Lysistrata proposed her plan to end the war.
She threw her head back in defiance as a man was bent to one knee pleading her to marry him she called out, “What? Give up my freedom to become your slave? Not in a thousand years!” In 1927, many people still believed a woman’s place was at home, taking care of the children, doting on her husband all with a smile on her face, but things were changing. Women were finally being able to have their own voice heard, choose who they would marry, and most of all be able to vote. Up until then however, if a woman “rebelled” against the rules such as having an opinion or speaking up against men then she was declared insane and committed to an asylum.
The Women’s Right Movement changed the lives of the American Women for the better, due to gaining the right to vote, access to higher education, and the opportunity to enter the workforce. Before the reform movements of Women’s right, the American women were discriminated in society, home life, education, and the workforce. Women in the 1800s could not only vote, but they also were forbidden to speak in public. They were voiceless and had no self-confidence, they dependent men, since they had little to no rights (Bonnie and Ruthsdotter). Before the reform movement, the American Women were voiceless, they had no say in society, however the reform movement will soon change that.
At the start of the twentieth century women were subjected to widespread discrimination that ousted them from all aspects of political life and treated them as if they were second class citizens. At this time women did not always identify with one another, their collective identity and solidarity relied solely on their personal divides of class, ethnicity, race and religion which made change hard to evoke especially in 1900 when women had very few rights and their legal standing was govern by their marital status. Sadly, a married woman’s legal identity relied solely on that of her husband. A woman of this time could not: control her biological reproduction, own property, have a career, serve on juries (because they had no standing in court), vote, or hold any form of public office. In the eyes of the Supreme Court of this time women were not considered to be “persons” under the 14th amendment of the United States Constitution.