Women

=The Roles of Women in the Roman Republic  =  Women did not write history, men did. Therefore we don’t have an actual reference to what daily life was actually like for the women in the Roman Republic. What we do know is that the rights and freedoms given to them were not equal to the rights and freedoms of the men. Men thought women had very little history importance and therefore women do not show up in history very often. (J.P.V.D Basdon, p.25) For the women of the Roman republic, behavior was rigid. Women were degraded and many times divorced for reasons such as leaving the house with their heads uncovered. Life for these women was tough. “No offices, no priesthoods, no triumphs, no symbol of office, no gifts, and no spoils of war could come to women”, is one of the models women had to live by. Even though women could move freely around in public and participate in activities, most believed that the women’s main purpose was to tend to the household and children, if they had any. Some women stayed in the house at all times, as their husbands wished but most left the house and went in public. The law of the republic started that women could not own land independently and could not participate in business. These women of the Roman Republic sat the stage for the later women of Rome as the laws loosened up and gave them more freedom. (Rights and roles of women, p.139, 140) Women were expected to be Pudicitia or sexually pure until married and once married to stay faithful to their husbands. If a occasion came up when the women were either unfaithful or had premarital sex then they were sought to sacrifice themselves rather than live a sin. Most women married at a young age and became widows because their husbands would get killed in war. If the husband survived the war then the distasteful life of the women carried on. If the husband and wife were in public then the wife was expected to be quiet and obedient towards the husband, even if the women talked a lot at the home. Women were always supposed to present themselves in a controlled and modest way.If the women were not presented in this way then men would think that they were unfaithful and were more likely to give into sexual acts and greed. (Proper behavior for women, p.141). =Bibliography = = =
 * http://www.romanempire.net/romepage/images/ArtGallery/Toga/party/partypage/bacchanalla3.gif
 * http://www.farm4.static.flickr.com/3072/2593583472_0df9f99d59.jpg?v=0
 * Moulton, Carroll. "Rights and Roles of Women."__Ancient Greece and Rome__. 1st ed. 1998.
 * Moulton, Carroll. "Proper Bahavior of Women."__Ancient Greece and Rome__. 1st ed. 1998.
 * Balsdon, J.P.V.D. __Roman Women__. 1st. New York: a divison of Harper and Row publishers, 1962.