Gender Roles Of Roman Women

Roman women lived in a world with strict gender roles. Men were placed above women. Men were active in public life and free to come and go as they willed, women's lives were controlled by the men in their life. Most women were assigned the role of a homemaker, where they were supposed to be good wives and mothers, but nothing else. Women in ancient Rome were viewed as possessions of the men who they lived with. They were handed from their father to their new husband at the time of their marriage and submitted any property they owned, or dowry they were given, to their husband. Women got married around the age of twelve years old. Many girls would die in childbirth or because of complications from having too many children. Women were expected
They also could not keep a child if her husband reject it. Many female infants were rejected by their families because they could not carry on the family name. In Pandora's Daughters: The Role and Status of Women in Greek and Roman Antiquity, Eva Cantarella says: “The earliest power that the father could exercise over a filias familias was that of exposure. At birth, in a highly symbolic rite, newborns -- male and female -- were deposited at the feet of the father. He -- without explanation or justification -- either recognized the child as his by picking it up, or withheld his recognition by leaving it where it was. The recognized child became a member of the familia; the unrecognized child was abandoned to the river or left to die by starvation” Girls did receive some informal education in their homes and learned to read and write, but it was frowned upon for women to become too educated. Women were already finished their educations and having babies while the men, mainly the upper class, were studying abroad in places like Athens. Women from the lower classes received enough education to run small businesses or work in stores. Even the girls would receive a home education because they would teach their own children later in
They were controlled by their fathers, male relatives, and husbands. Roman women were not allowed to drink wine and they could be punished by death. In Memorable Deeds and Sayings: One Thousand Tales from Ancient Rome Maximus tells how Egnatius Metellus beat his wife to death for drinking wine. It was believed that wine caused women to have cheat on their husband, which was common since most marriages were for economic reasons, and not for love. Women who committed adultery could be put to death by their fathers or guardians. Women did not have a choice in who they married and would often be forced to marry men much older than themselves. Their fathers had absolute control and had the power to sell them into slavery or force them into, or out of, a marriage Women could be forced to get a divorce if their father had found a richer family for them to marry into. If they had children in the previous marriage they were forced to leave them with their father and never got to see them again. Fathers kept the property of his daughter, even if she was married and controlled her wealth. Roman women were not permitted to do anything they wanted with their own money, since personal wealth is equated with power. Even women with wealth weren't allowed to make their own choices and instead their father, guardian, or husband would control her life. Women were forced to have a legal guardian because they were not considered “smart enough” to