Roles Of Roman Women

The last time period covered is that of the late Republican and Imperial Rome. The time highlighted in during the beginning of reign of the Roman Empire, from first century B.C.E. to A.D. third century. The most popular professions of women of this time period are based on domestic occupations. One of these popular domestic jobs, and possibly the most popular, is that of hairdressing. This job could be done by either a family slave or an independent contractor. Similar jobs work the same way, they are done either by a highly trained slave or someone contracted to do the work. Other example of these types of jobs are, personal attendant, dresser, masseuse, midwife, wet nurse, and doctors. On the other side of the spectrum there is the lower
Women retailers sold a diverse set of products, mainly in food industries such as: fish, seeds, beans, barley, preserved food, or honey. Many of these women had confirmed permanent locations while others worked as mobile dealers with temporary locations. Almost as an extension of these jobs, women also worked as merchants, wholesalers, and some even owned their own ships. These jobs were for more wealthy women, ones who could afford to maintain these businesses. As with both previous time periods, women worked the perfume industry. Rome gives examples of women working to create perfumes, and selling them. Middle-class women could own workshops, shops, or sell raw materials, all areas in which she personally worked. Higher-class women owned workshops and shops, they then hired someone else to manage their business on their behalf. Roman woman’s jobs required little physical exertion, there is very few examples of women working in physical industries and these women are almost exclusively slave women. There is a list of ten women labeled as blacksmiths, but it is unclear if these women actually worked metal or just sold it. There is however, example of women personally working in
Normally a husband and wife duo, where the man does the manual labor, while the woman keeps the books and sells the product. This can be seen in multiple different industries, blacksmiths, bakers, nail makers, and lime cutters. It is unclear if this is for women being confined to familial business or if it is just for convenience reasons. Like with previous civilizations women were not allowed to hold public office. Even though women still were not allowed to work in government they were far freer that their Greek counterparts. Unlike Greek women, Roman women lived relatively public lives this made their public jobs more socially acceptable. According to Becker, “Whether doctors, singers, shopkeeper, perfumers, workshop managers, or workshop owners, it is clear that women played vital roles in feeding, clothing, entertaining, supplying, and even build Rome and its empire.” If a workshop in which a woman worked had a large number of employees, women might be allowed to specialize in a particular task. This gives women more autonomy within their industry. Compared to previous women, Greek women are extremely autonomous, but women still lack a great deal of