Role Of Women In Western Civilization

Women’s Evolution and Arts in Western civilization
The Paleolithic age was a period of gathering and hunting, and although both men and women were responsible for finding food. Women bored, and raised children therefore their primary duty was to stay close to the camps and be care givers to their families. Before the 21st century women waits for the approval of their husband before they could do anything. A women role, as it pertains to development was to support their husband in every decision he makes whether she likes it or not, as it was the right thing to do. Western civilization’s role in women’s evolution must be remembered in our history for the reason that women have come a long way despite some setbacks.
The first civilization that
had a woman ruler was ancient Egypt. Although, men were still alpha’s in the household; Egyptian women were allowed to have some form of dependence, as they were able to keep their properties and inheritances even after marriage which seems very progressive for that time period. Some careers and public offices were still close to women at this time; however women were business owners and could pick and choose their destiny. Another big development that occurred in the new kingdom of Egypt was Queen Hatshepsut becoming pharaoh. Her reign was very prosperous too. She is credit for the temple dedicated to her “Bahri.” From a historical perspective Hatshepsut becoming the first female pharaoh was the beginning of the evolution of women.
The emergence of women like, Hatshepsut made women realized that they could do so much better than merely been housewives. The Hebrews of the bible has a patriarchal household, and women submit completely to their husbands. However, Deborah a woman played an important and very heroic role during her time. She played a role that helped defeat the Canaanites at mount Tabor. Women like Deborah paved way for others after her to decide a career in the military if they want to. Another area in which women have greatly evolved is in politics.
Women have come a long way from the time of men dominance in the political arena. In ancient Greeks, women were not allowed to participate in any part of the public life, but they were allowed to participate in most religious cult. In classical Athens a woman’s place was in the home according to the book. In Spartan households, women care for the families because their husbands were gone so much, yet they still could not make any major decisions even when their husbands were away. In politics today women are heads of state, and they are also involved in the process of law making. Women like Angela Markel, who has been German chancellor since 2005 shows how far women have come. In The United States women like Hillary Clinton has defied odds by running for president of the country. Since the conception of the senate, and the house of representative women role in each governing body has increased dramatically. Compare to the early and late Middle Ages when a woman sole purpose was to get married early, and become a full time house wife, it is good to say the progress has been remarkable. In Canada, the new Canadian prime minister’s cabinet has fifty percent of women. In the days of the Barons, such things would have been a taboo. The Hellenistic society had a perceptible feature, and that was the opportunity it created for women, or at least the upper class women. There was freedom of movement for women from
all class. Women’s role has changed dramatically since the beginning of western civilization. Although, women have broken some glass ceiling by becoming pharaohs, Chancellor, Business owners, and even educators there is still a long way to go for women in the western world to be seen as equal to men.
Arts
The classical Greeks were great inventors, their trend setting artwork, and writing is unparalleled to anything the 21st century has done in that aspect. Been in this class exposed me to the arts of that time period. Homer the great Greek poet lasting legacy still endures today because of the meaning of his words. The Iliad, and the odyssey the first great epic poems of early Greece were based on stories that has been passed on from generation to generation according to the text. His poems were also used as a standard text for the educations of Greek males. Historic poet like, Virgil; the most distinguished poet of the Augustan age was remarkable. His greatest work the Aenied an epic poem rivals the work of Homer. Before taking this course I had no idea about how much impact Greek civilization had on literature. The relevance of literature today cannot be denied.
The emergence of the “sophist” the wandering scholars who tutored the aristocrat’s children the art of public speaking are very relevant in today’s world.
Every parent, especially affluent parents wants their children to be ahead in everything so that they can be ahead of their peers. Greek civilization is worthy to emulate because of how refined they were when it comes to education. I was also quite impressed with philosophers like Socrates who invented the Socrates-method, a method that is still much known today. Also, Pluto who is regarded as the greatest philosopher of western civilization wrote a lot. He wrote about the reality. And finally a philosopher like Aristotle is still one of the greatest of philosophers of all times. He tutored Alexandria the great, and wrote on ethics, logic, politics, geology, biology and also physics. Everything he did is still been studied today. The likes of the above philosophers that I mention is very rare to come by today, and that makes them very interesting individuals. Classical Greek and the impact they left on the western world is very inspiring. The Supreme Court building in Washington DC is modeled after the pantheon a historic Greek
building.
Greek civilization relevance to today’s world cannot be over emphasized, from their literature to various building designs that have been emulated throughout the entire western world the Greeks were, and are still a force to reckon with. History 101 taught me a whole lot about Greeks relevance in today’s world.