The Most Serious Duty: Motherhood, Gender, And Patrician Culture

This week’s reading revolved around the topic of patrician society. The essay, “The Most

Serious Duty”: Motherhood, Gender, and Patrician Culture was very informative and I learned a

lot concerning gender roles and norms. The essays opens with “Educatio liberorum, pars uxorii

muneris fructuosa et longe gravissima;” meaning the upbringing of children, which is surely a

rewarding and by far the most serious of a wife’s duties.

This chapter ventures the configuration of gender involving two sets of relationships. The

first, between men and women, and the second between individuals of each sex and the cultural

norms governing gender. What helped me understand this essay from the beginning was the

triangle metaphor from the author.