Compare And Contrast Athens And Sparta

When you think about women today, you probably just think humans. Humans with rights, freedom, and privileges. However, long ago in Athens and Sparta, women were looked upon in a very different way. When it came to education, marriage, and basic privileges, women were considered anything but humans with rights and freedom.

The education of women in Sparta is very different compared to the education of women in Athens. In Sparta, reading and writing wasn’t very important, however they still learned it along with both arts and athletics. Just like the men, women learned how to fight, but in a much less brutal manner. Spartans believed that with a healthy women comes and even healthier baby. Even though Spartan women got a good education, they
couldn’t use it for a career or to earn money. In Athens, women were homeschooled and learned how to run a household and be a good mother. They were expected to be good mothers, because unlike Sparta, the children were at home and in need of care all the time until their sons were in their teens and their daughters were ready to be sent to adulthood. When learning at home, they practiced many skills like weaving, motherhood, and housekeeping. Women were not allowed to be “spoiled” and learn how to read, so they were allowed to take part in wrestling. They were only taught the knowledge they were going need for their future. (Thompson)

In both Athens and Sparta, the role women play in marriage was very different.
The father chose their loved ones, and marriage in both places was mostly for the making of children. In Sparta, all education had to be finished before marriage. Women never married before they were twenty, and they usually married a man in his thirties. (Thompson) In Athens, women would marry at a very early age, and the man was usually in his late thirties early forties. Once married and gifted with children, in Athens, it was the mother’s job to take care of the children, and in Sparta, until their sons reached the age of seven, it was also the mothers job to take care of the children. When married in Athens, the husbands expected obedience and cooperation. No male would ever admit to taking advice from a women. In Sparta, men accepted advice from women without any problems nor doubts. Spartan women also had a very dominant voice in arrangements and opportunities.
(Graham)

Every day life and privileges for Athenian women and Spartan women contrasted greatly.
As said above, Spartan women had a dominant voice. They were allowed to take charge in everything outside of army purposes. Spartan women owned over one third of spartan land, and not only did they have to power to own land, they also had power in economics. Women in Sparta could also speak their mind not only at home but also in social settings. In Athens, women had very little freedom and privileges. When at home, women were secluded and there was a separate part of the house with no windows towards streets designated for them. Women were not allowed to associate with men in any setting, not even if one was to knock on the door. (Wikipedia) Athenian law required that women were protected by kyrios. Kyrios were guardians who were responsible for the safety of women, and contact with the social world. Religion was the only area of public life in which women could have a say in, and the only time women could socialize with each other. Even that privilege couldn’t compare to how many privileges were taken away.
(Thompson)

To conclude, there were many disparities between women in Athens and women in Sparta. If education, marriage, and privileges changed, then so would the lives of women. If you were a woman alive back then, would you want to live in a place where you have rights and privileges, or in a place where you were only looked upon as a housewife who takes care of children and does all the housekeeping? Either way, you weren’t looked upon as just another human like women are viewed as today.