99: The Roles of Women in Roman Society

The Roman imperium spanned almost the entire known world at the time and their power was great and immense. This goal of this essay is to give a brief history of the roles of Roman women during the height of Roman empire and how their behaviors may have somewhat led to the decline of of the civilization. It will follow the roles of young female children through their birth, marriage, motherhood and death. There will be some emphasis on comparing and contrasting them with their American female counterparts.

The birth of a Roman child was actually a public affair. A mid wife would over see the birth along with a number of female aunts, sisters and cousins. The process of giving birth would happen in the home of the mother to be. A contrast between ancient Roman society and contemporary society would be the role of the father during thier child's birth. Roman fathers were not around at all during the birth. It was an entirely female ran event. Immediately after birth, a wet nurse was employed and many superstitous acts were instated to help to protect the child. The main goddess of childbirth was [Juno Lucina].

Only a select few, mostly aunts and the wet nurse had access to a Roman mother and newborn child. If the child was born as a girl, then the child would not have her own name, rather her father's name feminized.

The only man allowed to see the mother and newborn was the father. The father would be the one to be the "guardian" of the child. To contrast the roles of fathers, American fathers generally tend to run back and forth from delivery room with no restrictions at all.

And then after the delivery and birth, young Roman babies, boys and girls equally, had an uncertain and terrifying role even as they were just entering the world. Their fathers could choose to claim the children as their own, or the new born babies could be either killed or sold. The fathers would be the sole decision maker of a female child until the day that she got married. But that also leaves the question, Does the mother have any say in the decision to raise a child??? Some questions from authors of books on Roman society seem to think that a child was supported by a type of family council, called the [paterfamilias].

An unknown and interesting fact about young Roman children was the use of dolls. American girls, of course have their Barbie dolls and whatever other kinds are out there nowadays, but the manufacturing of dolls began sometime in Greece during the fifth century before the birth of Jesus Christ and were popular in Rome also. The Roman dolls were generally made of bone or wood. Even Plato and Aristotle felt the need for children to play. They even wanted to "regulate" a child's play from age three and up. Roman children had a wide variety of toys, including dollies, which were the most popular. But this raises the question of whether or not the dolls were given to male and female children or just to girls. American girls use dolls to represent the kind of woman they want to grow up to be or idolize, but it is unclear how they were used in Roman society.

The education of Roman girls was very different than here in America. Here, everyone, regardless of gender or economic standing has the freedom to go from Kindergarten through high school. However, in Ancient Rome, only girls from aristocratic backgrounds were allowed to enter into their version of primary school. They were generally taught, in my opinion, Women's Work. They were taught to fluently speak the Latin and Greek languages, which was very important for communicating with slaves and neighboring countries. But they were also taught singing, dancing, and how to play the [lyre]. I suppose that a good Roman wife would have to be not only smart, but quite, docile and entertaining.

In American society, there are three stages that girls go through which are: Childhood Years, Teenage Years and of course the Adulthood Years. Roman girls had two stages which were: Childhood Years and Adulthood Years. There was no time for a Roman teenager to actually be a teenager. Most Roman female teenagers were married off when they became adults, which actually meant that they could get married as early as age twelve. Age twelve?? Many American men and women would be appalled-they probably do not believe that twelve year olds are adults(because they are not) it just meas that they have had their first menstruation and are ready to spit out more Roman kids.

Adult Roman women did not have any rights to land or liberty, or their own lives. Their lives were in the control of their father. Roman women were married off young and the marriages were usually arranged by the fathers. Many girls were usually betrothed at a very early age and it was very scandalous if they were to be seen flirting or even talking to members of the male opposite sex.

However, married Roman women actually had a few "rights" that included free leave of their homes, they could shop, or visit friends. One surprising role of Roman wives was that of overseeing the slaves. It was not unusual at all to see the wife ordering them around. The Roman wives also were able to attend banquets, as long as they were sitting at their husband's side. They could not partake of drinking (boo!!!) at the parties and while the husband was passed out next to her, the wife had to sit up completely straight the whole and entire time. Of course, if a Roman woman wanted to get drunk by herself or with her slaves on wine in her own home, she probably could do that without the fear of social stratification. Hey, when her husband was not at home, she was the boss.

The Roman wife was also in charge of the early education of their children. Here is my rant for the day about that: How can a society deprive women of education when women are the primary caregivers and educators of children??? That makes no sense. How can a woman teach a child about the world if they have nothing to teach??? Through examining history, I have found that Roman fathers taught their sons and the Roman mothers taught their daughters. Now that makes some sense. If a girl's only place in life is to do women's work all day, then who better to teach them than their mother??

Of course, there was the rare and wonderful Roman professional woman (no, I'm not talking about the world's oldest profession, either) who actually contributed to society. There were Roman women who were doctors, teachers, secretaries (how would they take good notes on a clay tablet??), tailors, and hairdressers. A British museum even has pictures of female gladiators. This kind of led to the fall of the Roman empire because Roman women would hold protests during festivals, although, compared to other women living during that time period, they actually had some rights.