Greece (and Ancient Greece)

Women in ancient Athens were often divided into two main categories: wives and potential wives made up the group with the most expectations and respect; all other women were grouped together, including prostitutes, concubines, and hetairai (women who were known for their entertaining and companionship capabilities). Wives had very specific roles to fulfill, namely to produce healthy male heirs to receive the wealth of the father, to weave cloths and other textiles, and to keep a house in order.

Thought to be irrational, have weak minds and to be completely at the mercy of their strong emotions, women were deemed incapable of controlling the vast majority of their own affairs. As a result, women had kyrios (male guardians) who would oversee any financial or property transactions that involved the woman, including her marriage partner. Kyrios were often the closest male blood-relative or a husband, and were required to accompany a woman in nearly all of her excursions out of the house. Thought to be overwhelmingly seductive to men, women were expected to dress modestly covering their necks, hair, and the majority of their bodies so as to not tempt men.

Outside of birthing, raising and caring for children, respectable women were not thought to have much use in ancient Athens. Women in Athens who were not legitimate citizens (i.e., not born to parents who were both Athenian citizens) had no hope for obtaining citizenry by neither marrying an citizen Athenian man, nor giving birth to a child in Athens.

Births were considered a time for great celebration among Greek women, especially that of a first-born child. Male children were honored with an elaborate naming ceremony approximately a week after birth. In fact, sons were so widely favored over daughters that barren women and women who had multiple daughters sometimes smuggled in sons of their slaves to be passed off as their own legitimate children. In addition, men often performed female infanticide to control the size of the family and to reduce the number of daughters for whom the family needed to provide a dowry.

Further, women who wanted to control their family size had some access to contraceptives, including vaginal suppositories with a type of spermicidal substance like olive oil or vinegar. Women also used abortifacients, such as ingesting toxic potions, or performing strenuous labor.

Ancient Spartan women, however, lead drastically different lives than Athenian women. The nation, not the individual family, was the focus of attention and affection for Spartans. At 7 years of age, Spartan men left their houses to be raised by the state as warriors. At around 30 years old, Spartan men left the army to establish their own households, but returned to the barracks to eat daily. This overwhelming neglect of Spartan women, wives, and mothers engendered a wholly different way of life for Spartan women, who married later, could own property, and both daughters and sons inherited property from their parents. Spartan women were also known for being much more outspoken, opinionated, and bold than Athenian women, a characteristic that was not valued outside of the Spartan city-state.

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