Introduction
Women who made their way into the history of antiquity are associated with greatness and deities. They are represented by vivid images of goddesses who tried to help people and were merciful. The goddesses were beautiful and statuesque; the antique statues and Indian frescoes are striking in their elegance. Was the life of ordinary women full, good, and easy? The answer is obvious since the surviving materials describe women’s lives and livelihoods as complex and constrained, and men controlled them in everything. The destinies of ancient Greek and ancient Indian women depended on the will of men. The paper compares men’s and women’s statuses, roles, and lives. Emphasis is placed on the fact that women were primarily disenfranchised and restricted in their freedom.
The barriers of antiquity
Women in ancient Athens were significantly limited in their rights. They had no access to many areas and faced the strongest public censure if they tried to interfere there. Such severe restrictions were coupled with advanced rights, such as the possibility of divorcing in case of adultery and getting back the entire dowry. However, these rights could not be seen as part of matriarchy since ordinary domestic things were often prosecuted (Morris 76). The status of women was viewed differently: Aristotle believed in the biological superiority of women, while Plato, on the contrary, equated all people. However, all men did not think women were worth communicating with them and used them for their purposes. Women’s legal status was restricted and far below men’s: no political rights or access to the courts, family decisions were made only by men, and women could not make transactions or acquire land on their own. Accordingly, women’s economic status was also limited, but a large dowry allowed them to make decisions in land relations.
Women were second-class citizens, devoid of any talents and destined solely to bear children and run the household. Many philosophers believed that a woman’s role was serving her husband and performing all household chores. Women were teaching girls how to dance, sew, sing, cook, and clean (Silver 73). Most of the time women in Athens were housewives, staying at home since they were not permitted to go out without maids accompanying them and only with their husbands’ permission (Guia and Stevens 274). The main women’s tasks were marriage, childbirth, and child-rearing, and society considered mature women only after marriage.
A woman’s life was restricted; she was not allowed to go to public places or be in the company of men. For women, it was inappropriate to be around male relatives. A woman was burdened with her domestic duties, so society was practically inaccessible. Nevertheless, some rites and sacrifices were not performed without women. Power was still in the hands of men, but at such events, women were in the leading role. A festival in honor of Demeter, called Thesmophoria, was organized only due to women (Guia and Stevens 274). The reputation of the women who participated in such events did not suffer, but only men obtained permission to go.
Ancient India: the influence of religion on a women’ life
In the history of ancient India, there were times when women enjoyed considerable autonomy, freedom, and power. In Hindu mythology, one can observe the equality of gods and goddesses. The situation changed at the end of 300 B.C. The Laws of Manu were drawn up in the second century B.C. to the second century A.D. These strict rules regarded women as eternal children needing constant protection (Kapur). The woman must live under the care of her father, then her husband, and finally her son. A woman should never take care of herself or live alone. A wife was to serve her husband as a god, even if he was weak or seeking pleasures on the side, or deprived of virtues. A woman was considered a weak and lustful creature, and therefore should stay at home and need constant supervision and guarding if she went outside of it (Pal 182). All this led to the low and unimportant status of women. Men were buying women and making them their property. Only the man had legal authority: the right to divorce, cheat, and resell his wife.
The primary women’s role was to bear and bring up children, especially sons, who were obliged to make memorial rites for their deceased ancestors. Offspring, like cattle, were recognized as the main type of wealth. For this reason, the mother’s husband was considered the legal father of the child, regardless of who the husband was in fact. A woman was equated with domestic animals, slaves whose offspring belonged to the master. The marriage’s conditions did not forbid but Arthashastra set the young age of marriage (Kapur). Girls knew no other life but being controlled by men. Women were recognized as non-sufficient because of the weakness of their minds, so it was her duty to be dependent on men. Obedience and submission were thought to guarantee glorification in heaven. Thus, a woman in ancient India was regarded only as a man’s property, so she could not control her destiny and could not complain about it.
Women in ancient India lived in restraints due to religion, among other things: normal physiological processes were considered sinful. Unpleasant statuses were imposed on women about their impurity and depravity; no one took their opinion into account. Women had no access to education because religion did not recognize them as real people (Pal 184). Some religious documents indicate that women were taught the basics but focused on domestic duties: cooking, cleaning, and pleasing the husband. Women were abused before and after marriage: sometimes, one woman became the wife of several brothers. It conditioned the age of marriage, and it was only 10-12 years old. Adult men abused girls and, unfortunately, saw nothing wrong with it. Religious beliefs and the general social structure in ancient India did not allow women to think critically, and men sought their superiority.
Conclusion
Women’s history counts persecution and violence worldwide, confirmed by written documents. In ancient Greece, women were assigned the role of mothers and maids who had to take care of men. They were considered inferior in status and could not participate in political and economic discussions. They also had no access to society except for closed women’s events, controlled by men. The life of ancient women consisted of endless circles of serving their husbands and raising children. In ancient India, there is a dual situation: initially, in mythology, women were elevated as sacred beings. However, this changed after the Laws of Manu, which described women as non-sufficient and foolish. The laws obliged women to worship and serve their husbands as gods. Religion restricted them and prevented them from realizing their plight; men ruled society and rarely favored women.
Works Cited
Guía, Miriam Valdés, and Anne Stevens. “Women Citizens’ Festivals, Debates and Justice on the Areopagus (Athens, Fifth Century BCE).” Women, Gender, History, no. 45, 2017, pp. 266-294.
Kapur, Radhika. Status of Women in Ancient India. 2019.
Pal, Bhaswati. “The saga of women’s status in ancient Indian civilization” Miscellanea Geographica, vol.23, no.3, 2019, pp.180-184. Web.
Silver, Morris. “‘Wife’ as a Multidimensional Status in Ancient Greece: Supplementary Evidence.” Slave-Wives, Single Women and “Bastards” in the Ancient Greek World: Law and Economics Perspectives, Oxbow Books, 2018, pp. 71-76, Web.