Women in the Ancient World

The role of women in ancient Persia, Rome, Egypt, Greece, and China

7 min readDec 20, 2020

I lived in Iran until I was 29. During my university years, despite many female classmates, I had one female professor. Later on, at work, I was always the only woman in the group. I moved to Hungary to study a Master’s degree in electrical engineering, and in most classes, I was the only woman! After graduation, I worked in Hungary and the Netherlands, and again I was the only female on the team!

I always felt comfortable working and studying with male colleagues, but something caught my attention wherever I lived. Everywhere I worked, I was the only female on the team! It seems there are fewer women in tech than men, is that true? Unfortunately, the number of working women is less than men globally. However, it may differ in each industry.

“The current global labour force participation rate for women is close to 49%. For men, it’s 75%. That’s a difference of 26 percentage points, with some regions facing a gap of more than 50 percentage points.” — International Labour Organization

The fact that the female workforce is still way behind globally in the 21st century is shocking. Across the globe, men and women agree that the most significant barrier for women in paid work is the struggle to balance it with family responsibilities. This intrigued me to study women's status in the ancient world in order to understand how far we progressed!

No doubt that in the ancient world men dominated government, public life, and society. However, only a few women could rise to the very top of their society. Here, I will share some facts about the women in ancient Persia, Rome, Greece, Egypt, and China.

1. Women in Ancient Persia Received Equal Pay

In ancient Persia, women were highly respected and equal to males. They could own land, run businesses, and travel on their own. The Persian paradigm of freedom of religion and expression established by Cyrus, founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (c. 550–330 BCE), was responsible for maintaining every class woman's dignity and autonomy. The Parthian Empire claimed the same paradigm ((227 BCE — 224 CE), as well as the Sasanian Empire(224–651 CE).

“Persian women would continue to enjoy this high status in ancient Persian culture until the invading Arab Muslims in 651 CE and the fall of the Sassanian Empire. Afterwards, women were treated as second-class citizens, inherently sinful, and requiring male guidance and control.” — Joshua J. Mark

When the Sassanian Empire fell in 651 CE, Persian women did not accept this attack on their rights and joined their men in resisting the occupying forces' oppression. The best-known figure along these lines is Banu, wife of Babak Khorramdin (d. 838 CE). She led a resistance cell with him until they were betrayed, captured, and executed under the Abbasid Caliphate.

The stories of the great women of the past continue to be told on different festive occasions, in their honor and to encourage the same level of respect for women in the present as the Persian empires accorded them in the past.

2. Women in Ancient Rome Were Considered to Have a Weak Judgment

Roman women were tied with their perceived role in society, meaning the duty of nurturing a family and looking after the home, a consequence of which was an early marriage, sometimes even before puberty to ensure the woman had no sexual history which might embarrass the future husband.

In public life, Roman women had a minimal role. They could not attend, speak in, or vote, and they could not hold any position of political responsibility. However, exceptionally, some women with powerful partners might influence public affairs through their husbands.

“Some Roman women did rise above the limited role of family and household guardian that society prescribed and reached positions of real influence. Hortensia is one of the earliest. In 42 BCE, she gave a famous speech in Rome’s Forum in defiance of the triumvirate’s proposal to tax the wealth of Rome’s richest women to fund the war against Caesar’s assassins.” — Mark Cartwright

In summary, Roman social norms and law were heavily weighted in favour of males. But there are also countless texts, inscriptions, and even idealised portrait sculpture which point to the Roman male’s appreciation, admiration, and even awe of women and their role in everyday life. In general, Roman males had an ambivalent attitude regarding their women that is best summarised by Metellus Numidicus:

“Nature has made it so that we can not live with them particularly comfortably, but we can’t live without them at all.” — Metellus Numidicus

3. Women in Ancient Egypt Exercised Considerable Power and Independence

In ancient Egypt, the gods were both female and male, and each had their own equally important areas of expertise. Women could travel, hold what job they liked — within limits — and marry who they wanted and divorce those who no longer suited them.

“Whether rich or poor, any free person had the right to the joys of marriage. Marriage was not a religious matter in Egypt — no ceremony involving a priest took place — but simply a social convention that required an agreement, which is to say a contract, negotiated by the suitor on the family of his prospective wife. The agreement involved an exchange of objects of value on both sides. The suitor offered a sum called the “virginity gift” when appropriate, to compensate the bride for what she would lose, indicating that in ancient times virginity was prized in female brides. The gift did not apply in the case of second marriages, of course, but a “gift to the bride” would be made even in that case. In return, the family of the bride-to-be offered a “gift in order to become a wife”. In many cases, these two gifts were never delivered since the pair soon merged households. However, in the event of divorce, either party could later sue for the agreed gift.” — Brier and Hobbs

In the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040–1782 BCE) and New Kingdom of Egypt (1570–1069 BCE), the most important position a woman could hold was God’s Wife of Amun. God’s Wife was an honorary title given to a woman who would assist the high priest in ceremonies and tend to the god’s statue. The God’s Wife of Amun was equal in power to a king and effectively ruled Upper Egypt in the Third Intermediate Period (1069–525 BCE).

However, there were a few female rulers in ancient Egypt, many queens had a decisive influence. Unfortunately, their activities and duties remain undocumented or untranslated, but there is no doubt that these women exerted considerable influence over their husbands, the court, and the country. With the rise of Christianity, women’s status began to decline in Egypt in the 4th century CE, and women were of less value and less to be trusted than men. Later on, the Arab invasion of the 7th century CE brought Islam to Egypt and ended the kind of equality women had known in the country for almost 3,000 years (Joshua J. Mark).

4. Women in Ancient Greece Had Limited Roles in Society

In Ancient Greece, women could not own land, vote, or inherit. Women had limited roles in society, but they looked after the home and nurtured the family. There were some professional women that worked in shops and as prostitutes and courtesans that are less well-documented. The social rules applied to them are even vaguer than for the citizen families’ female members.

“Some exceptional women rose above the limitations of Greek society and gained lasting acclaim as poets (Sappho of Lesbos), philosophers (Arete of Cyrene), leaders (Gorgo of Sparta and Aspasia of Athens), and physicians (Agnodice of Athens).” — Ancient.eu by Mark Cartwright

Female babies were at a higher risk of being abandoned at birth by their parents than male offspring. Girls and boys were educated similarly, but for girls, there was a greater emphasis on gymnastics, dancing, and musical accomplishment. The ultimate goal of a girl’s education was not to stimulate intellectual development but to prepare her for her role in rearing a family.

5. In Ancient China, It Was Better to Be Born a Male

In Ancient China discrimination would start from the moment a female child was born. A male child would grow up to perform rituals, perpetuate the family name, and contribute financially to the family. In contrary, a woman could not earn money, and she was raised to leave the family and join her husband’s. Therefore, families would abandon a female child after birth.

“Those girls who survived were named Pearl, Thrift, or the names of flowers and birds hoping that the girl would live up to that name and receive attractive offers of marriage.” — Ancient.eu by Mark Cartwright

Ban Zhao (41 — c. 115 CE) was one of the most famous female scholars. She wrote commentaries on Confucian classics. Her most famous Nuje or “Instructions for Women” expanded on the four virtues expected of women: speech, virtue, behaviour, and work. However, Zhao believed that women should remain subservient to their husbands. She expressed the benefits of women educating themselves to help their husbands' work better.

Although women’s status in ancient Egypt and ancient Persia were surprisingly high, women have far fewer rights and a much lower position in current Egypt and Iran, unfortunately. Yet, when I look at women’s status in European countries, I feel positive. I read about women’s status now in different countries and the recent improvements, and I believe we live in the best time in history. We can learn from the past, and take a step forward to unite against gender discriminations and provide an equal environment for every gender to thrive.