WOMEN


 * The Limited Role of Roman Women**

The women in ancient Rome were not equal to men under the law. A woman's life was controlled by a man at all times. Usually a woman was controlled by her father until marriage when authority over her would pass to her husband. Over time, women could get a little more control over their lives. Beginning in the first century AD, a woman could inherit and own property as long as she had a guardian in her "pater familias" (father's family). However, if she married "in manu", her husband would have total control of her. Women's legal status changed again when Augustus was the leader of Rome. Under Augustus, women were legally independent, or "sui iuris", even though they still had no political power. Women could not vote nor hold office. A good Roman woman would "demonstrate her wifely virtues", regardless of her class. (http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/women.htm) **Grace Carroll**

An average women in the Ancient Roman Society had much less power than that of men. Until women got married, they belonged to their father, and then they belonged to their husband. Women got a limited education, and had the power to control property. Also in the Roman Society, female slaves were not uncommon.They performed various tasks such as working on a farm, and being a made. Although women barely had power in the earlier times, they gained power later on, especially with the help of Augustus when he took over.

http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/women.html **Mona Scheiber**

Women were confined to the household of their husband and subject to the orders of men. Arts such as singing weren't encouraged and left to be performed by men. They had no power to vote or get in an official place of power. Nero was controlled by his mom however. For a while, women couldnt divorce their husbands even if they were cheated on. Men could slaughter them for having an affair however. They had no property and only were of note if they were married to an important guy. Also, they didn't get as much education as men and therefore prominent women were unheard of in Roman society. http://library.thinkquest.org/26602/society.htm **Stephen Liao**

Women were controlled/owned by their father or paterfamilias. When a daughter was married, she is then controlled by her husband. Women had little rights in Rome, they were not aloud to vote or contribute in politics. As the roman empire expanded, Roman people and women began to have more rights. By the end of the first century, women had achieved a high level of power which was higher than the amount of power women would have until he twentieth century. http://www.womenintheancientworld.com/women_in_ancient_rome.htm **Mollie Rouan**


 * A Change in the Role of Roman women**

Roman women’s role in society changed with the empire and as time went on they were gradually granted more freedom. In the founding of an ideal Rome families could have no more than one daughter implying their insignificance. In addition women were under complete control of their fathers or husbands. The men even reserved the right to control women’s life and death. With the foundation of the Republic laws were written in accordance with the initial proposal of Rome that women remain undercontol of what was now called paterfamilias. Overtime however, the rules were relaxded and there were some cases of women who were independent from men. Upper class women were well educated and had a certain influence over the male members of their family. Another liberation to women was money. In the later republic many people grew very rich from conquering land and women who had this money from their fathers or husbands were respected for their power. **Grace Cawdrey**

"Roman women." //World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras//. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 7 Nov. 2011 http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/576080?terms=roman+women


 * Political Influence**

Women in Rome seemed to have no say in the roman government and in politics but that is not completely true. Women played a major role in the government, but behind the scense. For example Cornelia Africana played a major role in the government. She was the mother of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, and had a lot of say when it came to their decisions as consul. She convinced her sons to remove laws or make new ones, she helped them with strategizing against other politicians, and helped them with the mental aspects of war. Also there were some very powerful roman goddess': Athena.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelia_Africana. **Ellee Kennedy**