Verified Document

Inequality Between The Genders Today Term Paper

Women could not take part in political discussions and were not allowed to hold public positions, but in the years of empire such principles were changing. Attitude of Romans towards home and family made them seek advices of their wives, in fact women began to enjoy some basic public freedoms.

In years of empire woman got a right to control her own finance, which made her financially independent in case of divorce. Roman women worked seldom, labor was typical only for women from poor classes and slaves.

Since Roman society was based on slave-owning economy, gender roles were also observed among slaves. Female slaves were in more favorable position than male. Female slaves worked mainly at households and took part in child upbringing of their masters.

As we can see, gender roles in Ancient Rome contributed to the development of modern gender relations as they set the basic principles of family ethics.

In the middle Age epoch gender inequality was contributed by the Catholic Church strict canons about family ethics and morality. The life of medieval woman had to be close to the life of Virgin Mary: faithful wife, loving mother and housekeeper. Women could not participate in social life, hold offices, all their public life was restricted to activities, which had direct relationship to church only. Family life in Middle Age Europe was protected not only by the norms of current legislature but also by church. Divorce was prohibited and adultery was considered to be a mortal sin. Nevertheless love began to play a more important role in family relations of man and woman, especially if they wee from upper classes.

Illiteracy was common for the majority of medieval women, only women from upper...

Nevertheless, Catholicism did not always restrain women of medieval epoch:
Women used cosmetics, dyed their hair,...and plucked their eyebrows too, although by these practices they committed the sin of vanity" (Tuchman, 54).

Though Catholic Church and Christianity in general firmed the institute of family and equality of husband and wife, Medieval Europe was a classic patriarchal society. Man in many cases had unlimited power over his wife, family violence was a common practice and in reality women were not protected by the law.

But the changes in economical and political life of the Medieval Europe, development of trade, development of national economies required new principles of governing and administration, which had to be more secular. Such tendencies were also observed in gender relations. But it took several centuries until democratic freedoms and rights of both genders laid into modern constitutions and some two centuries more to break outdated patriarchal stereotypes.

Bibliography

Tuchman, Barbara W. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989.

Lipsitz Bem, Sandra The Lenses of Gender: Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality Yale University Press, 1994

Shulamith Shahar A History of Women in the Middle Ages Routledge, 2003

Appendix

Roman Empire (Map from Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection) http://z.about.com/d/ancienthistory/1/0/I/C/romanempire395west.jpg

Middle Age Europe (Map at (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Europein1328.png)

Inequality between the genders

Sources used in this document:
Bibliography

Tuchman, Barbara W. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989.

Lipsitz Bem, Sandra The Lenses of Gender: Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality Yale University Press, 1994

Shulamith Shahar A History of Women in the Middle Ages Routledge, 2003

Appendix
Roman Empire (Map from Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection) http://z.about.com/d/ancienthistory/1/0/I/C/romanempire395west.jpg
Middle Age Europe (Map at (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Europein1328.png)
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Gender Inequality One of the
Words: 2806 Length: 8 Document Type: Thesis

Body One important aspect that has to be handled while studying gender inequalities is the intermingling of the words sex and gender. The two words, sex and gender are usually intermingled in numerous formats of studies especially in many health studies. The main distinction between the realities of the two words within the social concept of gender is that sex mainly revolves around the physical and biological aspects of the individual

Inequality for All Documentary
Words: 353 Length: 1 Document Type: Essay

People First Inequality is one of the concerns that have been discussed at length on multiple fronts. Towards this end, some of the topics relating to inequality that have been explored in academia or on the policy front relate to, but they are not limited to; wage inequality, intergenerational income mobility, executive pay, gender pay gaps, wealth inequality, etc. Today, economists, social scientists, policy makers etc. continue to grapple with the

Gender and Sexuality
Words: 1361 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Gender and sexuality are very important for activists, practitioners and policymakers. Gender and sexuality have a big significance in people's lives in today's society. Sexuality encompasses gender roles and identities, sex and sexual orientation, intimacy, reproduction, pleasure and eroticism. Its expression can be found in behaviors, thoughts, roles, relationships, values, attitudes, desires and fantasies. While all these expressions characterize sexuality, an individual may not express or experience all of them.

Gender and Communication
Words: 1354 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Gender and Communication: Breaking Gender Barriers in the Workplace Gender barriers have existed within the workplace ever since women in America came out of the kitchen and went to work during World War II. Like with any new experience of empowerment, when the men came home, the country's women were wholly a changed group. Women had entered the workforce, and they were there to stay, despite the misgivings of much of

Gender Politics and the Nation
Words: 641 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

Gender Politics and the Nation The historical development of the nation has impacted the ability of women to participate in contemporary politics by reinforcing gender roles in the public sphere. Traditionally, the exclusion women from the international community was linked to ideas of gender roles and today, these ideas continue to exclude women from international politics. Traditionally, colonialism was driven by the Enlightenment ideal of using reason to obtain goals, a view

Gender Inequality in the Workplace
Words: 2531 Length: 8 Document Type: Research Paper

Gender Inequality in the Workplace Families, societies, workplaces, moreover the whole world at large is bubbling with inequality. Color, religion, ethnicity, age, financial status and mostly gender are the basis of this biasness. Families do not mingle with people outside their own community, they do not consider cross marriages. Societies look down upon lower statuses and the elite have their noses held high in the air where no conscience can reach.

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now