Women and Ancient Societies

           Women and Ancient Societies 

From ancient times, the thought of feminism arose. Plato prescribes in his revolutionary book Republic that "Women and men have the same nature in respect to the guardianship of the state, save in so far as the one is weaker and the other is stronger."......."A man and a woman who have a physician's mind (psyche) have the same nature." ......."If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.”  But at that time not everyone agrees with Plato. Not even his student Aristotle, he holds that the women are apt to be only subjected to men."The male, unless constituted in some respect contrary to nature, is by nature more expert at leading than the female, and the elder and complete than the younger and incomplete." dialogues from his book Politics is a work of political philosophy indicating the subjectiveness of men over women. 

During the 3rd century BCE, After ruinous defeat by Hannibal, the Oppian Law was passed in Rome. Many men died in the war, this made the women of Rome become rich by succeeding their husbands and fathers lands and property. But Rome needed help to pay the cost of war, so they passed the Oppian Law to take a share of women's wealth.  Which limited the women's rights to the use of expensive goods. The women of ancient Rome staged a massive protest to revoke this Law. The law was repealed in 195 B.C.

Another wave of feminism developed in the 15th century when French philosopher Christine de Pisan wrote in a prejudiced manner about misogyny and the role of women in the middle age in her book The Book of the City of Ladies. In the book Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen (“Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen”) by  Jean-Jacques Rousseau, where he did not address the rights of women. In response to this book french author, Olympe de Gouges wrote her Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne (“Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen”) in 1791. This is another important facet of feminism.

Earlier, a landmark event of feminism evolved in Europe. Mary Wollstonecraft argues on the status of women in society through her book  "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman". Charles M. Talleyrand-Périgord, the then bishop of Autun whose views about women education were unpleasant to Wollstonecraft.

All this shows how women fought for their rights. But this is not the whole about women status in the world scenario. There were some societies since ancient times where women were considered almost equal to men. 

In ancient Egypt, women not only enjoyed the same rights as men but also ruled the empire. Hatshepsut was the first woman who holds the rank of a pharaoh. The famous Egyptian female leader Cleopatra became the queen of the large Egypt empire at the age of 18. Yes, these are about royal families, but women from common families also have rights. In Egyptian society women could run their own business, they could keep their own property. A woman could stage herself in legal affairs. If a woman wants, she could save herself from a bad marriage by divorce. All this made them the most emancipated women of their time.

Not entirely but the Viking society was also loyal to women's rights like the Egyptians. In this society, women savour freedom in their lives. Women had the authority to own property, appeal a divorce. If divorce is done, they could reclaim their dowries. In a family male was the ruler and the female played an active role in managing her husband, as well as the households.

Not everything is as it seems, that's right a big portion of history is not fine about women. But as mentioned there were some ancient societies where women were treated well. So, it could be labouring under a misapprehension if we look upon only on the barbaric side.