Gender Equality: Ancient Rome Vs Today

Gender Equality: Ancient Rome vs. Today Ancient Rome has a structure very similar to that of the United States--especially through its complex legal system, classes of people, and treatment of women. Although America has, as of late, become quite progressive, fifty years ago it was not dissimilar to Rome’s backwards view of women. They worked in the home, raised children, and served their husbands. In both cases, women weren’t allowed to vote and it was unheard of for them to hold public office. In a sense, women were merely property and meant to fill roles that limited their opportunities in life and were confined to only a few jobs. Not only that, but they were also thought to be less intellectual and unable to reason properly. Though Rome’s view of women seems to be very off-putting and wrong, the United States in the past, and even many countries today, are actually quite parallel in their behavior toward women. “Widespread belief that women are intellectually inferior to men led most societies to limit women's education to learning domestic skills. Well-educated, upper-class men controlled most positions of employment and power in society” (Adegboye). This quote from A.A. Adegboye’s article on gender and education perfectly demonstrates the setup of Roman society and the position of women within that male-dominated society.“This view that women had weak judgement (infirmitas consilii) was expounded by Cicero”(Cartwright). They were below men-less than human almost-only useful to please men and bring them an heir. “...while women have been relegated to the role of biologically reproducing human life and society while performing all the other domestic functions involved, mainly household chores such as cooking, cleaning, taking care of the children, the elderly, and the sick, and attending to the needs of their husbands. Not being recognized as "work", these duties have not been ascribed any value” (Adegboye). No matter how difficult the labor at home be or how cumbersome it can be to rise children, women were not given much credit for all that they did, as these were just seen to be the natural role of women. Unless a women was of a higher class she would most likely not get a break in her life. Not only that but she would not receive much of an education, if any. The limited education for women in Rome is similar to that of Pakistan in the sense that very few girls received the privilege of education as the boys did. “As a child, she became an advocate for girls' education, which resulted in the Taliban issuing a death threat against her”(Kettler). Rome was not quite as aggressive in its stance of education for women, …show more content…
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