Women In Sparta

At Sparta’s peak, the society was more lenient towards feminist ideas and norms than the Hellenistic time period of Egypt. Sparta was a Greek militaristic city-state. All Spartan men were raised to be warriors and when they came of age, men were sent off to fight. Since all the men were away from Sparta in battle, the women were left behind to govern the city-state. Though men were valued more since they were warriors, Sparta developed into a matriarchal society since women were running the city. In Hellenistic Egypt, Greek philosophies was spread throughout the Egypt and the Egyptian culture was greatly impacted. However, Egypt continued to remain a patriarchal society. Sparta shows more practice of feminism and modern values regarding women …show more content…
Appearance directly correlated with social class in Egyptian culture; Women in the upper class dressed exquisetly in elaborate makeup and jewelry while those from the lower classes dressed less extravagantly. These women wore head ornaments to signify their status and beauty. However in, Sparta appearance was not seen as significant to the majority of women. Women were permitted and even encouraged to exercise nude outside, similar to the boys. Spartan women strayed from being decorative and instead wore simple tunics made from long, rectangular pieces of fabric. The difference between the two styles of Sparta and Egypt relate to the objectification and equality of women. Egyptian women were dressed to be objects of beauty while in Sparta, women’s’ bodies were completely desexualized allowing them an identity outside of their clothing. The clothes of Spartan women were modest for the purpose of activity, they wore tunics that were worn above the knee along with high slits for mobility. The attire was meant to be purposeful and not decorative. In contrast, Egyptian women would not wear clothes as risqué as a Spartan woman’s nor wear no clothes at all for their bodies were sexualized by men which is a burden Spartan women did not have to …show more content…
Spartan women were given an education similar to their brothers’. Their education was continued even when their brothers were sent off at seven to be trained militarily, allowing for the girls to become philosophers and poets in their teens. Women still were trained in athletics, however, it had a different purpose than the men whose goal was to be able to fight while a woman’s was to be strong to have male children. In their education, excercising outdoors, unclothed, was a normal day to day event, something that would be completely unacceptable in Egypt. This proves that, in Sparta, women’s education was seen as equally important as men’s if not more since women’s education was continued further than their male counterparts. This was not the case in Egypt. Egyptian woman’s main role was the housekeeper and rarely was educated. Jobs such as caring for children, cleaning, and food management filled the missing space of education. Women were also seen as ladies of leisure in the wealthy community. This shows that Egyptian women were clearly not held as high as men in terms of education and even objectified in the upper class by showing that the women must lay around and be dependent on men. Clearly, Sparta’s education for women was held at a higher standard than Egypt’s and point to high standards of