Ehi everyone! I recently posted a piece about Rome in r/Europe and had a pretty good response. I thought it would interest you guys the part about gender equality in Rome. This is the complete post if you're curious about less known facts about ancient Rome, like werewolves, UFOs and shopping malls.

All of the following points were true from the early imperial period forward, though some were true also under the republic.

 

Despite popular belief that ancient times were hell on Earth for women, Roman society was surprisingly egalitarian compared to many other past civilization. That said they were still far away from equality. Here are some examples of what is believed only modern progressive policies:

  • Not only did Roman women were allowed to have material possession, wealth and land but they were extremely involved in the economy. They worked their estates, invested their funds, lent and borrowed. We know of one woman among Cicero's creditors, and two among his debtors, for examples. [Cicero was a very famous intellectual and lawyer, his views today would be considered very much on the right of the political spectrum]

  • Inheritance was equally distributed between sons and daughters. It was actually enforced by law to equally distribute inheritance between children regardless of gender and age. If such thing was not respected the child had the right to dispute the will of the deceased.

  • Women had the right to legal representation, could bring criminal prosecutions and defend themselves in trials.

  • Divorce was relatively common (especially in the upper class) and shame free. A man or woman could end a marriage simply because he or she wanted to, and for no other reason. Contrary to today though, unless the wife could prove the spouse was worthless, the husband kept the children.

  • There were rather strict laws against domestic abuse and it was considered culturally unacceptable. Plutarch wrote: "[...] the man who struck his wife or child, laid violent hands on the holiest of holy things”.

  • Similarly rape was recognized as a separate crime and severely punished . The victim was not considered guilty even in otherwise unlawful circumstances (like adultery). Like domestic abuse it was considered a foul action. Protection from rape was even granted to non citizens except when a city was taken in an armed assault. Slaves were not protected however, since slaves lacked legal personhood and so none could be prosecuted because of actions carried against them. Furthermore rape did not have a temporal limitation, like adultery, which had to be prosecuted within 5 years. Rape was a capital crime. Male rape was recognized and punished, also it did not carry social stigma for the victim, unless the man was prostituting himself (the action was still illegal however).

  • Bonus fact: rape was called “stuprum” from which the Italian “stupro” comes from, the English word rape comes instead from “Rapio” which means kidnapping.

  • Female gladiators existed, but were fairly uncommon. Their lives though differed very little from their male counterparts.

  • Women had two big prohibitions: they could not vote or participate in political affairs and could not join the army. Women with considerable political power however existed, just like in the middle ages, but their power existed and was used only behind the scenes.

 

Despite all of this Roman society was by and large a true patriarchy. The relative freedom that women enjoyed in Rome was born by the awkward spot they occupied in Roman law in the early and late republic: women (and uderaged children) were legally bound to their fathers, that is any action they took had to be approved by the father of the family (pater familias in latin). This legal control did not extend on the husband. Even when married a woman would remain under control of the father, but would not live under his roof and so under his scrutiny. In time this relative freedom grew into the policies cited above.

 

Sources:

Annelise Freisenbruch, The First Ladies of Rome: The Women Behind the Caesars is a good read on the topic if you're curious.

Hallett, Judith P. Fathers and daughters in Roman society: women and the elite family. is another good one.

 

I hope it was a good read, if you have question or you noticed mistakes let me know.