Women in History

I have a daughter that is two and a half now and I am so glad that things are not as they were so many years ago for woman as it was for Ban Zhao for example. To lay your new born daughter on the floor to tell her in a sense that she is lowly and weak to me is absurd. Woman today have earned so much equality as they probably deserved back then. I would and have never given my little girl the thought that she could not do or be more than she could ever dream. Then to hand her a broken piece of a pot to say now you must grow into your life of servitude and chores. Woman by all means can do chores and be a stay at home mom who loves to cook and clean, but by no means should that be what they are limited just moments after birth. Writers, artists, engineers, singers, even warriors all disregarded from birth because of their sex. For a society with such bright thinkers and forward thinking leaders they really botched this concept. At this time in history though they were not the only ones though.

Women who then got passed the embarrassing life placement after birth did grow up and they were then expected to follow four qualifications. The first was womanly virtue, which meant to be ordinary, as a woman, do not stand out, just be ordinary. The second qualification was womanly words, which meant to talk ordinary, no humor or clever talk, just ordinary. The third qualification was womanly bearing, which meant to be ordinary in appearance, no need for beauty just be ordinary. Then the last qualification was that a woman follow woman work, which meant do your job, no need to work harder than others but simply do what you are required to do. These four qualifications are appalling in today's society. Woman enjoy looking beautiful and are capable of working hard, in many cases harder than men, so they do. They also are funny and intelligent and the world deserves to know that. Again I am so glad that the world has changed. I raise my daughter in the complete opposite manner of what Ban Zhao witnessed in her time.

The women in Rome seemed to do as they were directed also though they did speak their mind when they felt wronged. After Hannibal invaded the Italian peninsula the Roman authorities looked to restrict women's use of luxury goods so to preserve the resources for the war to come through the Oppian Laws. Twenty years later the women wanted these laws repealed. They protested and demanded change, thus bringing Roman officials to the center of the issue. These women fought hard and won. The law was repealed and one of the first great signs of women's power in this world shined. Though just momentarily it was a big deal in history for women to have their voice heard in such a bold, brave, strong manner. I want the courage of these women to be taught to my daughter. I want her to aim for what she believes in and to fight on until she gets it.

History teaches us so much and I am glad that I read this piece on the Roman women. The Chinese women were a bit discouraging to read about when thinking of if women ever obtain power or a voice in this time. I do not know how much of a voice the Roman women continued to have but they at least had one for a period of time and that voice benefitted future little girls that would later grow up to be women themselves.