Download Lesson Plan: What roles and rights did women have in the ancient

Lesson Plan: What roles and rights did women have in the ancient world?
1. Introduce the Topic: Women’s rights has always been one of the forgotten civil rights
struggles. Women have had to fight for their rights throughout history, and over time
their rights and the roles that they have had in society have changed. Today, we are
going to be talking about women in the ancient world, starting with ancient Greece.
Provide background info on ancient Greece as needed. Students should at least know
what it is.
OPTIONAL: Hand out Lysistrata document at end of introduction to the topic. It is a
cool document to get the kids into the topic, and the main take away is that women are
highly sexualized, with the only power they possess is the power of sex. Some students
might say that this is nonetheless a power, which is true, but still provides a rather sexist
depiction.
2. Brief mini-lecture. Students need to know there were two dominant city-states in
particular in ancient Greece, and that those were Athens and Sparta. Today, we will
start by investigating the these two cities and what roles and rights their women had.
3. Hand out Oeconomicus (Document A) and Life of Lycurgus (Document B)
- Students complete both documents and questions in pairs
- Debrief documents afterwards. Students will see that Athenians and Spartans
viewed women quite differently, and women in Sparta had more freedom.
However, spend time particularly on the last question for Doc B where
students compare Athens and Sparta. Students MUST see that, while
Spartan women had more freedom, their primary role was still to simply
produce children like the women of Athens (Lycurgus’ education is to provide
for this, and even what Gorgo says relates back to making children)
4. Transition: Greece was not the only powerful ancient society around at this time.
There were strong civilizations in the east as well, especially places like Egypt and
Persia. The Greeks interacted with these civilizations and recorded a lot about them.
Let’s see what roles and rights their women had.
5. Hand out Herodotus in Egypt (Document C). Have students read the document
and answer the questions in pairs. Debrief the questions after, in particular spending
time on whether or not the students trust Herodotus. He is a Greek writing about
Egyptians. Is he the best source? Why might he exaggerate? The Greeks did think of
the Egyptians as barbarians after all.
6. Hand out Status of Women in Egypt (Document D). Have students answer
questions in pairs and debrief. Once again, spend time in particular on the last question
Assessment Option: Have students an informative paragraph answering the prompt
“What roles and rights did women have in the ancient world” using evidence from the
documents.
Xenophon (Document A)
Source: The following is an excerpt from the Oeconomicus, written by
the Greek historian Xenophon in 362 BC. The Oeconomicus was mostly
about household management. In this excerpt, Xenophon describes the
instructions of an Athenian man to his new wife.
Isomachus addressed (spoke to) his new wife: ‘It seems to me, my dear,
that the gods coupled men and women together with great care. In the
first place, they are joined in marriage to make children.
Secondly, the gods made the man’s body and mind more capable of
enduring cold and heat, and long journeys and wars. Therefore, the gods
gave to the man the outdoor tasks. To the woman, since the gods made
her body less capable of enduring these hardships, I believe that the gods
have assigned her the indoor tasks.
Your duty as a wife will be to remain indoors and send out the servants
whose work is outside. Also, you will watch over the servants who work
indoors, and you will receive and greet guests. When wool (a fabric) is
brought to you, you must make clothes for the people that want them.
When corn is brought to you, you must make food.”
Oeconomicus (Document A)--Indoor vs. Outdoor
GENERATING ANTONYMS
Antonyms are words that mean the opposite of each other. Sometimes when we are
learning new words it is useful to think about the opposite word!
Indoor
Outdoor
Indoor activities are things done
inside, usually in the home. Indoor
activities usually refer to household
activities such as chores or family
activities.
Outdoor activities are things done
outside in the open air. Outdoor
activities usually refer to physical
activities such as running, fishing,
and hunting.
Practice: Write a sentence describing something that is an outdoor activity that
you do. ____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Tell your partner about an indoor activity that you do: Do you have any chores
that you do to help out around the house?
Can you think of the antonyms for the words below? Remember, antonyms are
words that mean the opposite!
Word: Wealthy
Word: Young
Antonym:
Antonym:
__________________________________________
According to Xenophon (Document A), women are responsible for the
INDOOR/OUTDOOR tasks [circle one]. List THREE of these tasks that women
have. ______________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Life of Lycurgus (Document B)
Source: The following is an excerpt from the Life of Lycurgus, written
by the Greek historian Plutarch in 67 AD. The Life of Lycurgus was a
biography of Sparta’s legendary founder Lycurgus. In this excerpt,
Plutarch describes Lycurgus’s views on Sparta’s women.
Lycurgus considered education to be a lawgiver's most significant job.
He took particular care about educating the women as well as the men.
He made the young women exercise their bodies by running and
wrestling and throwing the javelin (spear), so that their children would
be strong because they would be born from strong mothers. The women
themselves would also be able to use their strength to withstand the pain
of childbirth.
Lycurgus freed women from softness and sitting in the shade and all
other girly habits. He made it normal for girls to walk naked in
processions (religious parades) just like the boys did. The nudity of the
girls was not disgraceful because they did it with modesty and there was
nothing sexual about it. Rather, this education produced in girls simple
habits and an intense desire for physical fitness. It gave the women a
taste for nobler things, since they shared with the men a desire for virtue
and glory.
The girls made jokes about young men who had done something wrong,
and sang songs to the young men who deserved them. The man who was
praised for his courage went away proud because of their praise. But the
sting of their jokes and mockery was as sharp as serious scolding from
other male citizens or even the kings.
Once, an Athenian woman is reported to have said to Gorgo, the wife of
king Leonidas, 'You Spartans are the only women who can rule over
their men', Gorgo replied, 'Because only we Spartan women are the
mothers of real men.'
Guiding Questions
Oeconomicus (Document A)
1. Source: Who wrote this document? What is he describing?
2.
Close Reading: According to Isomachus, what are the two reasons the gods “coupled
male and female together”?
3. Close Reading: What are some of the specific jobs/duties of Isomachus’ wife? List at
least three
4. Thinking Critically: Based on this document, what role do you think women had in
ancient Athens?
Guiding Questions
Life of Lycurgus (Document B)
1. Source: Who wrote this document? What is he describing?
2.
Close Reading: What type of education did Lycurgus believe Spartan women needed?
Why did he believe they needed this education?
3. Close Reading: How did Lycurgus view female nudity? What was the purpose of this?
4. Thinking Critically: How do you think the role of women in ancient Sparta was different
from ancient Athens? How do you think it was similar? Explain.
Herodotus in Egypt (Document C)
Source: The following is an excerpt The Histories written by the Greek
historian Herodotus in 440 BC. The topic of The Histories is the struggle
of the Greeks against the “barbarians” of the East. Herodotus spent
much of his life traveling to collect information for his book. The
following is Herodotus’ account of interactions between men and women
in Egypt.
The Egyptians, because of their climate which is unlike any other, and
because of the Nile River, which has a different character from all other
rivers, have manners and customs that are opposite to other men in
almost all other lands.
Among the Egyptians, the women are the ones that go to the market and
carry on trade (have jobs), while the men remain at home and weave.
The men carry their burdens (heavy things) upon their heads in baskets
and the women carry their loads upon their shoulders in packs. The
women even make water (go pee) standing up and while the men do it
crouching down!
Guiding Questions
Herodotus in Egypt (Document C)
1. Source: Who wrote this document? What is he describing?
2.
Close Reading: According to the author, why did the Egyptians develop customs
different from other people?
3. Close Reading: What are some of the ways men and women behave differently in
Egypt? Name three ways.
4. Thinking Critically: Do you trust Herodotus’ description of Egypt? Why might he be telling
the truth? Why might he be exaggerating?
Status of Women in Egypt (Document D)
Source: The following is an excerpt from a secondary source titled The
Status of Women in Egyptian Society written by Joyce Tyldesley in
1998. Tyldesley is a British professor of archaeology and Egyptology
that works for Cornell University.
An exception (very different) to most other ancient societies, Egyptian
women achieved equality with Egyptian men. They enjoyed the same
legal and economic rights, at least in theory, and this concept can be
found in Egyptian art and documents from the time period. Any
differences between people's legal rights were based on differences in
social class and not on gender.
Egyptian women's rights extended to all areas of Egyptian civilization.
Women could manage, own, and sell private property, which included
slaves, land, livestock, and money. They could make business
agreements, they could free slaves, and they could make adoptions.
Women appeared as equal partners in marriage contracts, and were
entitled to sue even their husbands.
This amount of freedom was at odds with that of the Greek women who
required a man to represent her in all legal contracts and procedures. It is
interesting that when the Greeks conquered Egypt in 332 B.C.E.,
Egyptian women were allowed more rights and privileges than Greek
women, who were forced to live under the less equal Greek system
Guiding Questions
Status of Women in Egypt (Document D)
1. Source: Who wrote this document? What type of source is it?
2.
Close Reading: According to the author, how was Egyptian society different from other
ancient societies?
3. Close Reading: What are some of the rights women had in ancient Egypt? Name AT
LEAST THREE.
4. Thinking Critically: Based on the information in this document, why might Herodotus
(Document C) have thought Egyptian society was so strange?