Ancient Greek Civilization and Gender Roles

Jenny Rong, Verrazzano Class of 2025, completing major in SLS (1-6)

During my SLS 301 humanities course, I recognized how similar Ancient Greek civilization is related to recent times and culture and how our society had progressed since then. For instance, in the book Greek Tragedy by Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, I came to realize how mistreated women were during the sixth century BCE, specifically when female characters in Greek tragedies were acted out by males. This was because it was normalized that women stayed at home to take care of her family and only existed in terms of her bonds with men as they did not have any freedom of belonging or independence.

In plays like Oresteia, Oedipus Tyrannus, and Medea, women were disdained, similar to their ancient times and culture where men were superior, as women were displayed as manipulative, unscrupulous, and dishonorable. I thought about today where even now, some women struggle to find gender equality and control of their own reproductive health in several countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, and Africa.

In the last Greek tragedy play we read, Medea by Euripides, I discovered that even though during the Ancient Greek times households had male heirs in contrast to present time, where most women are respected as the head of the house and have the ability to decide whether they want to stay at home or achieve her own career goals to financially support herself and her family. Thus, women do not need a guardian and/or a male figure in life that would represent her for all legal and financial decisions, unlike the women during Ancient Greek times.

Ultimately, based on Medea’s term philia, a reciprocal relationship of friendship and kinship, it reminded me of my culture where friends and families are tightly bound by ties of affection and oath, and we always help each other out when needed in terms of acceptance. Personally, I am grateful that our society has advanced because women are more included in the community and have the opportunity to conquer their individual challenges and dreams that shape them into a person of their own instead of fitting into social norms.