Classical Athens Work (Women) www.misterconnor.org

Women’s status Considered the property of a man – father first, then husband. Limited involvement in public life – government and running of the polis were a male-only sphere. Women gave their energies to running the oikos. The female head of the household was the kyria.

Expectations on women Cooking, spinning, running the household (family budgeting, purchasing slaves, etc.). Most girls were given instruction in this role from an early age. Women had no other expectation for themselves – they were conditioned to accept this position.

The Rich Wealthy women had slaves to direct to different tasks inside and outside the home. "It will be your job to remain indoors and to send out those of members of the household who must work outdoors, and to supervise those who must work indoors, and to receive what is brought in and to allocate what each must spend, and you must decide what surplus needs to remain, and watch that the expenditure set aside for a year is not used up in a month. When fleeces are brought to you, you must take care that they become cloaks for those who need them. And you must take care that the grain that is stored remains edible. One of your duties, however you may find unwelcome, which is, if one of the household slaves is ill, you must see to it that he is looked after.” - Xenophon

The Poor Poor women had to work long hours to make ends meet, with little or no help from slaves. “My husband died in Cyprus and left me with five young children to look after. It was as much as I could do to keep them alive. I had to sell sprigs of myrtle at a stall in the market.”

Generally Women had few rights. Women had to spend much time in their own quarters of the oikos (the gynaikon). Women could not attend dinner/drinking parties hosted by their husband. “The best reputation a woman can have is not to be spoken of among men, either for good or evil.” - Pericles

Uncertainty Some men treated their wives well, and showed love for them. Some men valued the role women played in running the home. Women have been commemorated on funeral urns and vases, indicating attachment between them and their family. Women must have had some kind of status in order to make them central protagonists of great dramas – Medea, Antigone, Lysistrata, etc.

The Skinny Women had little status beyond the home. They were expected to run households. Key tasks: spinning, weaving, cooking, raising children, managing the money. Wealthy women instructed slaves; poor women took the burden of work on themselves. Some men valued their wives highly, and commemorated them in funeral urns/ aphorae/ etc.

Sources Pomeroy, S. B., et al. (2015). A Brief History of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society, and Culture. New York: Oxford University Press. Hornblower, S., & Spawforth, A. (2004). The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Renshaw, J. (2008). In search of the Greeks. London: Bristol Classical Press.