Women's Roles in Society: Culture vs. Feminism

Ancient Greece: Athens and Sparta as Opposing Models

In ancient Athens, it was customary for women to be kept indoors. They were not supposed to appear in public places or mix with men. Such behavior was considered immodest and a breach of social manners. Though women could venture out for social reasons — such as to help family and friends or to attend festivals — their sphere was essentially domestic, and the home was where they were expected to remain. The famous Greek playwright Euripides captured this expectation in his play The Trojan Women: "What causes women a bad reputation is not remaining inside."

In ancient Sparta, however, the situation was quite the opposite: women there held positions of power and even played governing roles in the city-state. Spartan women could own land and enjoyed other rights that Athenian women did not possess.

This difference should not be surprising, because these same contrasts still exist today. The factors that lead some women to remain in the home while others pursue roles outside it are cultural — just as they were in ancient Greece. Athens was known for its artistic and political culture; Sparta was known for its warrior culture. The former was more refined and genteel, while the latter was regarded as essentially barbaric by educated Athenians — one reason Athens and Sparta never truly coexisted harmoniously.

Today, one can observe in America how different traditions and cultures produce the same kind of differences in the way women perceive their roles. In traditional Latino homes, for instance, many women still believe their role is to be housewives. They depend on their husbands for financial support and devote themselves to domestic work. Other women in more progressive American households believe it is both their right and duty to pursue a career and work as a professional. They look to the rights American women have won and feel compelled to continue carrying that torch. Thus, even in modern America, women's rights are neither universally celebrated nor universally pursued: it depends on the culture in which one is raised.

Traditional Family Values and the Domestic Role of Women

In some traditional families, feminism is still considered a harmful concept. Some people view it as destructive to families and family values. They see the rise of feminism as correlated with rising divorce rates and shrinking family sizes. They note that traditional families once had many children — now, with both parents working, many couples prefer to keep the family small. Their perspective is rooted in a culture that is not aligned with the modern progressive culture embraced by others in this country.

Traditional families — particularly Roman Catholics who hold fast to traditional ideals and roles — still embrace the notion that a woman's place is in the home and that a man's role is to go out into the world and earn a living to support his wife and family. The woman is tasked with maintaining the household, raising the children, and preparing meals. The man earns the income and handles repairs around the house when needed. Far from being offensive to traditionally minded people, this arrangement is genuinely preferred. It reflects a coherent set of values rooted in religious tradition and cultural identity rather than in ignorance of alternatives.

Legislative Milestones and the Feminist Movement

This traditional model, however, stands in sharp contrast to what women are expected — and encouraged — to do in America's broader progressive culture. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was a major victory for women in the twentieth century, as were the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. These pieces of legislation helped create an environment in which women could more comfortably take jobs outside the home and expect to be treated equally. They allowed women who wished to balance family and career to do so with greater legal protection.

Feminist leaders like Betty Friedan pushed the boundaries of what was socially acceptable for women at mid-century. Her book The Feminine Mystique made bold arguments that helped push American culture in a more progressive direction. Friedan lamented the condition of women trapped in purely domestic roles:

"We have made woman a sex creature… She has no identity except as a wife and mother. She does not know who she is herself. She waits all day for her husband to come home at night to make her feel alive. And now it is the husband who is not interested. It is terrible for the women, to lie there, night after night, waiting for her husband to make her feel alive."

Bibliography

Cauce, Ana Mari, and Melanie Domenech-Rodriguez. "Latino Families: Myths and Realities." Latino Children and Families in the United States: Current Research and Future Directions (2002): 3–25.

Euripides. The Trojan Women. http://classics.mit.edu/Euripides/troj_women.html

Fleck, Robert K., and F. Andrew Hanssen. "'Rulers Ruled by Women': An Economic Analysis of the Rise and Fall of Women's Rights in Ancient Sparta." Economics of Governance 10, no. 3 (2009): 221–245.

Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: W. W. Norton, 1963.

Lewis, Sian. The Athenian Woman: An Iconographic Handbook. Routledge, 2013.

Rice, Joy K. "Reconsidering Research on Divorce, Family Life Cycle, and the Meaning of Family." Psychology of Women Quarterly 18, no. 4 (1994): 559–584.