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Espinosa, Sarahmae

Barryte

Shakespeare

28 November 2018

Women in Rome

The role of women in Ancient Rome and now have many differences and similarities;

depending on how one perceives women. Women in ancient Rome were basically housewives,

whereas in today’s society, women now have jobs and careers outside of the home. Women were

treated unfairly due to their abilities of conceiving children and being perceived as weak and

fragile; their only “job” in the Roman society was to be good wives and take care of their

husband and children.

In The Horizon Book Of Ancient Rome by Robert Payne, he lists many leisures of the

women, such as how they married young, bore children, and ran the household with very little

time to themselves. (Page # 178-181) Depending on what class they were in, women in the low

class had apartments and sometimes had no place for cooking; meanwhile, the middle class

women had a duplex apartment with little gardens; high class women had townhouses and

country villas. Since they were married young, the women didn’t have a youthful childhood and

had to listen to their husbands. Their only job was to stay at home.

Women were just to be a man’s pleasure and caretaker. In the Tragedy of Julius Caesar

by William Shakespeare, Portia says, “Am I yourself But, as it were, in sort or limitation, to keep

with you at meals, comfort your bed, And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs of
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your good pleasure? If it be no more, Portia is Brutus’ harlot, not his wife.” (Act 2. Sc. 1; Lines

304-310) Portia describes herself as just being a pleasure to Brutus and not his wife. Women

didn’t have a lot of say in many situations such as being at home or even in politics. In Act 2,

Scene 2 of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Calpurnia tells Caesar about her horrifying dream and

tells him not to go out. Neglecting Calpurnia’s words, Caesar dismisses her and goes to the

senate.

Additionally, (In the article 7 Things you (probably) don’t know about Roman

Women.)https://www.historyextra.com/period/roman/ancient-rome-women-girls-facts/ stated,

“By law, Roman girls and women were almost always under the jurisdiction… a woman might

pass from the control of one male to another- most typically from father to husband.” Society in

ancient Rome was convincing women to be overruled by men from an early part of their lives;

not receiving youthful growth.

Women did not have a voice. According to Ancient Greece and Rome by Susan Hill

Gross, “They were expected to devote their attention and energy to their households, and their

most important responsibility was having children.” The men were not equal with women. Gross

also wrote, “...one husband in early Rome divorced his wife because he learned that she had gone

outdoors with her head uncovered.” The men thought they were more superior than women and

limited the rights that us women have now. (P. 138-140)

Women in ancient Rome were treated with inequality. Men thought they were more

superior than women. Women nowadays are powerful. We are the future and we can do great

things. Even then, many men still believed that women belong in the kitchen. There are many

different perspectives on the role of women such as having a voice or just being a pleasure. It all

depends on the person and how they view women. Men either respect women or not. Some men
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now still think that they are more superior than women. The role of women is not biased; it has

many different opinions, mostly depending on how you were raised. Either way, women are very

strong independent women.

Works Cited

Bingham, Marjorie Wall, and Susan Hill Gross. Ancient Greece and Rome. Glenhurst
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Publications, 1983, pp. 138-140.

Hale, William Harlan. The Horizon Book of Ancient Rome. American Heritage Pub. Co.; Book

Trade Distribution by Doubleday, 1966. Pp. 178-181

Shakespeare, William, et al. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. New American Library, 1987.

“7 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know about Roman Women.” History Extra, 3 Oct. 2018,

www.historyextra.com/period/roman/ancient-rome-women-girls-facts/.